CHAPTER 6 – The Woman Who Should Have Been Dead
The FBI immediately launched a nationwide search for the woman in the photograph.
Their facial recognition system found nothing.
No passport.
No driver's license.
No tax records.
According to every government database...
She had never existed.
Until forty-eight hours later.
Emma received a package with no return address.
Inside was a single newspaper clipping.
"Woman Dies in House Fire — 1998."
The photograph showed the exact same woman.
Emma's heart pounded.
She had supposedly died nearly thirty years ago.
Beneath the article was a handwritten note.
"She didn't die."
At that exact moment, Emma's phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
Again.
This time, she answered immediately.
A woman's trembling voice whispered,
"Emma..."
Tears instantly filled Emma's eyes.
"I've been looking for you your entire life."
"Who are you?"
A long silence followed.
Then came the answer that stopped her heart.
"I'm your mother."
Before Emma could speak again...
A loud crash echoed through the phone.
Men were shouting.
Glass shattered.
The woman screamed.
Then one final sentence.
"They found me... Don't trust the FBI!"
The call ended.
Seconds later, every television in the FBI headquarters suddenly switched on by itself.
The same man dressed in black appeared on every screen.
He smiled directly into the camera.
Then calmly said,
"Congratulations, Emma."
"You've just started a war that has been buried for twenty-eight years."
The broadcast cut to black.
And on every monitor, one countdown appeared in bright red numbers.
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23:59:59
Exactly twenty-four hours remained before whatever Project ORACLE had been hiding... would be unleashed.
