CHAPTER 7 – The Countdown Reached Zero… But It Wasn't a Bomb
The giant red countdown echoed across every screen inside FBI headquarters.
00:00:10...
Agents rushed through the command center.
Satellite feeds.
Military channels.
Emergency broadcasts.
Everyone expected explosions.
Cyberattacks.
Missile launches.
Emma stood frozen.
The mysterious man in black had promised the world would change forever when the timer ended.
The final seconds ticked away.
3...
2...
1...
Zero.
Nothing happened.
Silence.
Several agents sighed in relief.
"False alarm."
But Emma noticed something everyone else had missed.
The monitors hadn't turned off.
They had changed.
Instead of the countdown...
Every screen now displayed thousands of faces.
Children.
Teenagers.
Adults.
Different races.
Different countries.
Each face had one thing in common.
The exact same silver birthmark hidden behind the left shoulder.
Emma instinctively touched her own shoulder.
The room fell silent.
One agent whispered,
"My God..."
"There aren't dozens..."
"There are thousands."
A classified database had just been exposed to the entire world.
Every person on that screen had once been declared dead.
Every single one.
Then the mysterious man's voice returned.
"If you're seeing your face..."
"...you're not who you think you are."
Emma suddenly spotted someone familiar.
Daniel.
His face appeared among the thousands.
She couldn't breathe.
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Daniel wasn't hunting Project ORACLE.
He had been created by it.
