CHAPTER 8: Harrison's Final Secret
The underground vault was swallowed by darkness.
No alarms.
No gunfire.
Only the calm female voice repeating through hidden speakers.
"Authorization confirmed."
"Welcome back... Director Harrison."
Every assassin froze.
Their leader frowned.
"Impossible."
Harrison looked around in confusion.
"I've never been here before."
The voice answered immediately.
"Correction..."
"Your conscious memory has never been here."
A hidden wall slowly opened.
Inside was a small medical chamber.
At its center stood an old computer unlike anything Harrison had ever seen.
Its screen lit up automatically.
One sentence appeared.
PROJECT PHOENIX
Then—
A video began to play.
Harrison stared in disbelief.
The man on the screen...
Was himself.
But nearly thirty years younger.
He looked directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this..."
"...then my memory wipe failed."
Maya covered her mouth.
"What memory wipe?"
Young Harrison continued.
"Thirty years ago, I discovered something no government could ever allow the public to know."
"The Councils didn't create Project Phoenix..."
"I did."
Silence crushed the room.
Even the assassins lowered their weapons.
Young Harrison kept speaking.
"I volunteered to erase every memory of the project."
"Because if I remembered..."
"They could force the truth out of me."
"I chose to become my own witness."
Present-day Harrison staggered backward.
"No..."
"That's impossible..."
Then the screen displayed classified footage from three decades earlier.
Young Harrison...
William Carter...
General Walker...
All standing together.
Laughing.
Working side by side.
Not as enemies.
As founders.
Maya whispered,
"You were one of them..."
Harrison shook his head violently.
"I don't remember any of this."
Young Harrison nodded on the recording.
"I know."
"Because I ordered my own memories erased."
"I trusted that one day..."
"...the better version of me would come back."
Suddenly, the female voice interrupted.
"Memory restoration available."
"Estimated recovery: 100%."
"Warning: Irreversible."
The room fell silent.
If Harrison restored his memories...
He might finally uncover every secret.
But he might also become the man who helped build the world's most dangerous organization.
Maya stepped forward.
"If you press that button..."
"I don't know who you'll become."
The assassins slowly raised their weapons again.
Their leader smiled.
"It doesn't matter."
"Whether you remember..."
"...or not."
"You're still our founder."
Harrison stared at the glowing button.
His hand slowly reached toward it.
One touch...
Would reveal the truth hidden for thirty years.
Just before his finger made contact—
The screen flashed red.
A new message appeared.
DNA MISMATCH DETECTED.
Everyone froze.
Harrison looked at the screen in disbelief.
"What does that mean?"
The computer answered calmly.
"You are not the original Harrison."
"You are Subject H-2."
The room went completely silent.
If he wasn't the real Harrison...
Then who had been leading this investigation all along?
And...
May you like
What had happened to the real Director Harrison?
TO BE CONTINUED...
