Chapter 6 - The Architect
The blast doors slammed shut behind us, sealing us in the underground tomb.
The female operative placed her pistol on the desk, completely unbothered by our presence.
She introduced herself as Agent Thorne, a specialist in psychological warfare.
I aimed my gun directly at her head and demanded to know where my real daughter was.
Thorne smiled and tapped a button on her keyboard.
A large monitor on the wall flared to life, showing Emily locked inside a glass cell.
She looked terrified, and the bloody bandages on her back proved she was the real one.
Thorne explained that the hospital incident was a carefully staged theater.
They needed me to react predictably, so they could lure me directly to this bunker.
David stepped forward, his hands shaking as he pointed his gun at Thorne.
He asked her what they wanted from us.
Thorne ignored him and stared directly into my eyes.
She said the syndicate didn't want anything from David.
They wanted the decryption algorithm I had stolen from the military twenty years ago.
I froze, realizing my darkest secret had finally caught up with me.
Decades ago, I had hidden a dangerous cyber-weapon code to prevent it from being used in a global war.
I told Thorne I didn't have the code anymore and that it was destroyed.
Thorne shook her head and pointed at the monitor showing Emily.
She revealed that I hadn't destroyed the code; I had hidden it inside Emily’s mind using experimental hypnosis when she was a child.
The words carved into her back were the trigger phrase designed to unlock her repressed memories.
Thorne reached under the desk and pulled out a detonator.
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She told me she was going to flood Emily's cell with nerve gas unless I gave her the command sequence.
I had ten seconds to decide between saving the world and saving my little girl.
