CHAPTER 3 – THE MAN WHO STOLE MY LIFE
The church basement fell into complete silence.
No one breathed.
No one moved.
The stranger standing in the doorway smiled as though he had just reunited with old friends.
Except he wasn't a friend.
He was Ethan.
Or at least...
He looked exactly like him.
The same dark hair.
The same piercing blue eyes.
The same scar above the left eyebrow—the scar Ethan had gotten when he was sixteen after crashing his father's truck.
Impossible.
Daniel's face turned pale.
"No..." he whispered.
"It can't be you."
The man chuckled.
"You always were the smartest detective, Daniel."
He stepped forward into the dim red emergency light.
The resemblance became even more terrifying.
Every wrinkle.
Every movement.
Even the way he breathed.
Lily buried her face against Ethan's coat.
"That's him..."
Ethan looked down.
"The man from your nightmares?"
She nodded without speaking.
The stranger smiled at Lily.
"You've grown exactly as expected."
Daniel raised his gun.
"One more step and I'll shoot."
The man laughed.
"You've already tried that."
Before anyone could react—
BANG!
The basement echoed with the sound of gunfire.
Daniel fired first.
The bullet struck the stranger directly in the chest.
But instead of collapsing...
He simply looked down at the torn fabric.
No blood.
No wound.
Nothing.
The bullet had flattened against something hidden beneath his shirt.
He calmly removed the crushed bullet from his jacket and tossed it onto the floor.
"I told them your aim hadn't improved."
Ethan stared in disbelief.
"Who are you?"
The stranger tilted his head.
"I'm the question you've been asking for ten years."
Daniel grabbed Ethan's arm.
"The tunnel. Now!"
They ran.
Behind the altar was a narrow stone passage barely wide enough for one person.
Daniel pushed Ethan and Lily ahead.
"I'll slow him down."
"No!"
"GO!"
Another gunshot exploded behind them.
Then another.
Then silence.
Ethan wanted to turn back.
But Lily screamed.
"They're coming!"
Heavy footsteps echoed through the tunnel.
Not one person.
Several.
The underground passage led to an abandoned subway platform buried beneath the city.
Old trains hadn't run there in decades.
Broken lights flickered above rusted tracks.
Daniel stumbled out behind them, bleeding heavily from his shoulder.
"They have drones."
"What?"
"Run!"
A loud buzzing filled the tunnel.
Tiny flying machines emerged from the darkness.
Each no larger than a bird.
Each carrying blinking red lights.
"They're tracking Lily!"
The drones shot forward.
One crashed into a concrete wall.
Another exploded after Daniel fired at it.
The blast illuminated faded graffiti across the station.
Ethan froze.
Someone had painted a single sentence across the wall years earlier.
PROJECT MIRROR NEVER ENDS
Mirror.
The word hit him like lightning.
The stranger's face...
His own face...
Mirror.
"What is Project Mirror?" Ethan demanded.
Daniel hesitated.
"You were never supposed to know."
A deep mechanical voice echoed through hidden speakers.
"Subject E-17 located."
"Recover Asset Lily."
"Terminate all witnesses."
The station lights suddenly switched on.
Rows of armed soldiers appeared at both ends of the platform.
They wore black tactical uniforms with no national flag.
Only one symbol.
A broken silver circle.
The same symbol Ethan had seen on the men chasing them.
They were trapped.
Lily slowly stepped away from Ethan.
"No..."
She looked frightened.
Not of the soldiers.
Of herself.
Her eyes suddenly began glowing a faint golden color.
Daniel's expression changed from fear...
...to horror.
"It's starting."
"What is?"
"Lily..."
Her breathing became rapid.
Tiny cracks appeared across the concrete beneath her feet.
Without touching anything—
A rusted metal bench slid several feet across the platform.
The soldiers stopped advancing.
One whispered nervously.
"Level Three activation."
Another shouted,
"Sedate her immediately!"
Lily screamed.
Every light in the subway station exploded at once.
Glass rained from the ceiling.
The drones dropped lifelessly onto the tracks.
A deafening shockwave blasted through the tunnel.
Ethan shielded his face.
When the dust settled...
Every soldier had been thrown backward.
Lily collapsed unconscious into Ethan's arms.
Daniel stared at her with tears in his eyes.
"I prayed this day would never come."
Ethan looked at him.
"What did they do to her?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
"They didn't experiment on Emily."
"They experimented..."
"...because Emily was pregnant."
Ethan felt the world stop spinning.
"No..."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"They altered the baby before she was born."
"They turned your daughter into something humanity has never seen."
Before Ethan could speak...
A slow clap echoed from the darkness.
The man with Ethan's face stepped out unharmed.
He smiled proudly at Lily.
"Perfect."
He looked directly into Ethan's eyes.
"You've spent ten years believing someone stole your wife."
He paused.
"They didn't."
"They stole your entire family."
Then he reached into his pocket...
...and tossed Ethan a small flash drive.
"Watch what's inside."
"You'll finally remember..."
"...what YOU did the night Emily disappeared."
The stranger vanished into the darkness.
Ethan stared at the flash drive in his shaking hand.
May you like
Because engraved on its metal surface were three words that shattered everything he believed:
PROPERTY OF ETHAN COLE
