CHAPTER SIX: THE CHILD THEY CHOSE
1601 Words
Sophia stared at the medical report.
She read the final sentence again.
MEMORY CONDITIONING SUCCESSFUL.
The words didn't make sense.
They couldn't.
Her mind rejected them before she could even understand them.
She looked at Victor.
Then Eleanor.
Then Cassian.
"Someone is going to explain this."
Nobody spoke.
Sophia's voice became louder.
"Now."
Eleanor wiped the tears from her face.
"I was told you were sick."
Sophia frowned.
"When?"
"When you were born."
"That isn't what the report says."
"I know."
"Then what does it say?"
Eleanor looked at Victor.
He nodded reluctantly.
Eleanor took a breath.
"It says you were born with an unusual neurological condition."
Sophia stared at her.
"What condition?"
"They called it hypermemory."
"What does that mean?"
"You remembered everything."
Sophia's expression changed.
"Everything?"
"Faces. Sounds. Places. Conversations. Even things you saw only once."
Sophia looked at the screen.
Images flashed through her mind.
A red door.
A silver watch.
A woman crying.
A room filled with white lights.
A little girl's hand.
She pressed her fingers against her temple.
"I remember things."
Cassian stepped closer.
"How much?"
Sophia looked at him.
"Sometimes I remember things I shouldn't."
"From when you were a child?"
"Yes."
"How far back?"
Sophia hesitated.
"I don't know."
Cassian studied her carefully.
"Try."
She closed her eyes.
At first, there was nothing.
Then—
A room.
Bright.
White.
She was lying down.
She couldn't move.
There were voices.
A man's voice.
A woman's.
And another voice she couldn't identify.
Sophia opened her eyes.
"I remember a hospital."
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Sophia looked at her.
"You were there."
Eleanor nodded.
"What happened?"
Eleanor couldn't answer.
Victor did.
"You were six days old."
Sophia stared at him.
"What?"
"You were taken to a private medical facility."
"Why?"
"Because Helena believed your condition could be useful."
Sophia's stomach turned.
"Useful?"
"She believed your memory could be trained."
"To do what?"
Victor looked away.
"To create someone who could remember every detail of a mission."
Sophia's blood ran cold.
"So I was an experiment."
"No."
Victor looked directly at her.
"You were a child."
"That doesn't answer the question."
He sighed.
"You were both."
Sophia turned toward Eleanor.
"And you agreed to this?"
"No."
Eleanor's voice broke.
"I didn't know what she intended."
"But you signed the papers."
"I was told they were medical consent forms."
Sophia stared at her.
"You didn't read them?"
"I trusted your father."
Victor closed his eyes.
Sophia immediately turned toward him.
"And you?"
"I knew."
The room went silent.
Sophia's face hardened.
"You knew."
"Not everything."
"But enough."
"Yes."
"You allowed it."
"I believed I could control Helena."
Sophia laughed bitterly.
"You couldn't even control your own mother."
Victor accepted the accusation without defending himself.
"You are right."
Sophia turned away.
She walked toward the screen.
Her file remained open.
SUBJECT 017.
"What happened after I was born?"
Victor answered.
"They began monitoring you."
"For how long?"
"Fourteen years."
Sophia looked at him.
"Fourteen years?"
"They never stopped."
She shook her head.
"Then why don't I remember?"
Cassian answered this time.
"Because they didn't want you to."
Sophia turned.
"What?"
"They suppressed specific memories."
"How?"
"Conditioning. Drugs. Hypnosis. Repetition."
Sophia's face went pale.
"Can they do that?"
"To some extent."
She stared at the screen.
"So the memories I have..."
"Are the ones they allowed you to keep."
Sophia felt something inside her c***k.
Her entire identity had been built on memories that might not even belong to her.
She looked at Eleanor.
"Did you know they were doing that?"
Eleanor shook her head.
"No."
"Did you know I was being trained?"
"Not at first."
"When?"
"When you were twelve."
Sophia froze.
"Two years before they took me."
Eleanor nodded.
"I discovered that Helena had people following you."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was afraid."
"Of Helena?"
"Of losing you."
Sophia looked away.
Eleanor reached for her.
Sophia stepped back.
"I need space."
Eleanor's hand fell.
"I understand."
Sophia walked toward the exit.
Cassian followed.
"Where are you going?"
"Outside."
"That's not safe."
"Neither is staying here."
He stepped in front of her.
"You don't understand what you're dealing with."
Sophia looked up at him.
"Neither do you."
"I've spent ten years studying them."
"And I've spent seven years surviving them."
Cassian's eyes narrowed.
"Then you know better than anyone that running alone won't help."
Sophia said nothing.
Cassian's voice softened.
"You don't have to do this alone."
She looked at him.
"That's what everyone says before they betray you."
Something changed in his expression.
"You think I will betray you?"
"I think everyone eventually does."
Cassian held her gaze.
"I won't."
Sophia almost smiled.
"You can't promise that."
"No."
He paused.
"But I can promise you something else."
"What?"
"I'll never lie to you about what I know."
Sophia studied him.
She wasn't sure whether to trust him.
But there was something about his answer that felt different.
He hadn't promised loyalty.
He had promised honesty.
For someone like Sophia, that meant more.
---
Later that evening, Eleanor stood alone in the guest room.
She stared at an old photograph.
She and Victor.
Young.
Happy.
Before everything went wrong.
The door opened.
Victor entered.
Eleanor didn't look at him.
"You shouldn't have come back."
"I had to."
"You've already destroyed enough."
Victor stopped.
"I know."
"You knew Helena was watching Sophia."
"Yes."
"You knew she was being trained."
"Yes."
"And you let me believe our daughter was safe."
"I thought I could fix it."
"You always think you can fix everything."
Victor looked at the photograph.
"I made a mistake."
"You made several."
He nodded.
Eleanor finally turned.
"Tell me the truth."
"What?"
"Everything."
Victor was silent.
"What happened the night you disappeared?"
Victor sat down.
"I discovered Helena had made a deal with a foreign intelligence contractor."
Eleanor listened.
"They were creating assassins using children with exceptional cognitive abilities."
Her face tightened.
"And Sophia?"
"She was their most promising subject."
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"I never should have trusted you."
"I know."
"What happened that night?"
Victor's voice lowered.
"I tried to destroy the program."
"Did you?"
"Partly."
"What does that mean?"
"I destroyed the facility."
Eleanor stared at him.
"And the children?"
"Most were evacuated."
"Most?"
Victor didn't answer.
Eleanor understood.
"And Helena?"
"She survived."
"Of course she did."
Victor looked at her.
"But there was something else."
"What?"
"Someone helped her."
"Who?"
Victor's expression became grim.
"I don't know."
Eleanor frowned.
"Then how do you know someone helped her?"
"Because the person who destroyed my operation knew everything about us."
"About you?"
"About you."
Eleanor's face changed.
"Me?"
Victor nodded.
"They knew about your pregnancy. They knew about Sophia's condition. They knew where you lived. They knew when I would leave the house."
Eleanor whispered:
"Someone inside our family."
"Yes."
Silence.
Then Eleanor asked:
"Who?"
Victor looked at her.
"I still don't know."
---
Across the city, Sophia stood alone on the balcony of Cassian's safe house.
London stretched before her.
Beautiful.
Cold.
Unfamiliar.
She heard footsteps behind her.
Cassian.
"You should sleep."
"I don't sleep much."
"I noticed."
Sophia didn't turn.
"Why did you bring us here?"
"Because your father asked."
"That's not the whole reason."
"No."
She turned.
"What is the whole reason?"
Cassian leaned against the railing.
"I owe Victor a debt."
"What kind?"
"He saved my life."
Sophia studied him.
"When?"
"Years ago."
"From the Black Room?"
Cassian nodded.
"I was investigating them."
"And Victor helped you."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he knew what they had done to his family."
Sophia looked away.
"My family."
Cassian watched her.
"You don't have to forgive them tonight."
"I don't know if I ever can."
"That's your decision."
She looked at him.
"Have you ever forgiven anyone?"
Cassian's expression darkened.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because some things can't be forgiven."
Sophia understood.
Then Cassian's phone rang.
He answered.
"Yes."
His expression changed.
"How long?"
A pause.
"Are you certain?"
Another pause.
"Send it."
He ended the call.
Sophia watched him.
"What happened?"
Cassian looked at her.
"We found Helena."
Sophia's heart stopped.
"Where?"
Cassian hesitated.
Then he handed her his phone.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Helena Hayes.
Alive.
Standing in a crowded airport.
Sophia stared at the photograph.
Then she noticed the date.
TODAY.
Her grandmother wasn't hiding anymore.
She was coming for them.
But there was something else in the photograph.
Someone standing beside Helena.
Sophia zoomed in.
Her face went pale.
"No."
Cassian stepped closer.
"What?"
Sophia pointed at the screen.
The man beside Helena was someone she knew.
Someone she had trusted.
Someone who had been helping her for years.
Someone who had always claimed to be protecting her.
Sophia whispered:
"Marcus."
Cassian's eyes narrowed.
"You know him."
Sophia looked at him.
"He trained me."
Cassian stared at the photograph.
Then his phone rang again.
He answered.
This time, the voice on the other end was distorted.
"Mr. Black."
Cassian's expression hardened.
"Who is this?"
The voice laughed softly.
"You have something that belongs to us."
Cassian looked at Sophia.
"Who?"
The caller answered:
"Subject 017."
The line went dead.
Sophia felt a chill.
Cassian lowered the phone.
"They know you're here."
Sophia looked toward the city.
"Then they'll come."
Cassian nodded.
"Yes."
Sophia's expression changed.
For the first time since she had arrived in London, she smiled.
Not warmly.
Not happily.
It was the smile of someone who had finally stopped running.
"Good."
Cassian looked at her.
"Why?"
Sophia turned toward him.
"Because I'm tired of being their target."
She picked up her jacket.
"It's time they became mine."
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