MY DAUGHTER, THE ASSASIN

CHAPTER TEN: THE FACE IN THE DARK

"Me."

The word seemed to come from everywhere.

Sophia turned toward the voice.

Nothing.

Only darkness.

She heard Eleanor gasp.

Then a metallic click.

Cassian moved instantly.

"Down!"

Gunfire tore through the room.

Sophia dropped behind a concrete pillar as bullets struck the walls.

Cassian fired toward the muzzle flashes.

Victor dragged Eleanor behind cover.

"Stay down!"

Sophia listened.

Three shooters.

No.

Four.

One above them.

Two near the entrance.

Another behind the western wall.

Her training took over.

She closed her eyes.

Listened.

A magazine clicked into place.

She moved.

Sophia rolled from behind the pillar, fired twice, and the shooter near the entrance collapsed.

Another shot came from above.

She looked up.

A shadow moved across the balcony.

Sophia fired.

The figure disappeared.

Cassian moved beside her.

"How did you know where they were?"

"I heard them."

"You heard four people through gunfire?"

Sophia looked at him.

"I told you."

"I know."

He almost smiled.

"You don't forget."

A scream came from behind them.

"Eleanor!"

Sophia turned.

Her mother was gone.

Victor stood alone.

Sophia's heart stopped.

"Where is my mother?"

Victor looked around frantically.

"She was right beside me."

Cassian grabbed him.

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know."

Sophia's eyes scanned the room.

Then she noticed something.

The back door was open.

A trail of blood led toward it.

She ran.

"Sophia!"

Cassian followed.

They entered a narrow service corridor.

The lights flickered.

At the end of the corridor stood Eleanor.

She was motionless.

A gun was pressed against her head.

Behind her stood a woman.

Sophia stopped.

The woman stepped into the light.

Sophia's breath caught.

She had seen that face before.

In photographs.

In memories.

In nightmares.

It was Lily.

Her sister.

The resemblance was undeniable.

Same dark eyes.

Same sharp cheekbones.

Same features.

But Lily looked older than Sophia expected.

Colder.

She wore a black coat and held the gun steadily against Eleanor's temple.

Sophia lowered her weapon.

"Lily."

The woman smiled.

"Hello, sister."

Sophia stared at her.

Twenty-one years.

Twenty-one years of believing she had been alone.

Twenty-one years of believing the little girl in her fragmented memories had disappeared.

And there she stood.

Alive.

"Let my mother go."

Lily's smile disappeared.

"She isn't your mother."

Sophia's eyes hardened.

"Don't."

"She lied to you."

"So did you."

Lily tilted her head.

"Did I?"

"You've been watching me."

"Yes."

"You attacked us."

"No."

Lily looked almost offended.

"I brought you here."

Sophia's eyes narrowed.

"Why?"

"Because I needed you to remember."

"Remember what?"

Lily looked at Eleanor.

"The night we were separated."

Eleanor's face had gone pale.

Sophia stepped forward.

"Tell me."

Lily's grip tightened on the gun.

"Ask her."

Sophia looked at Eleanor.

"Mum?"

Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.

"I wanted to save you."

Lily laughed bitterly.

"You always say that."

Sophia looked between them.

"What happened?"

Eleanor finally spoke.

"Your grandfather ordered us to choose."

Sophia frowned.

"Choose what?"

"Which child would be taken."

The corridor went silent.

Sophia stared at her.

"You chose me."

Eleanor shook her head.

"No."

Lily's voice was cold.

"She chose you."

Sophia looked at Lily.

"Why?"

"Because you were easier to hide."

Sophia felt a strange ache in her chest.

"I don't understand."

Lily lowered the gun slightly.

"Your grandfather wanted one of us to become his perfect weapon."

She looked at Sophia.

"But your mother wanted something different."

Eleanor whispered:

"I wanted both of you."

Lily's expression hardened.

"You could have come for me."

"I tried."

"You stopped trying."

"I thought you were dead."

"You believed them."

"I was told you died!"

Lily's eyes filled with anger.

"Because you never looked."

Eleanor broke down.

Sophia stood frozen between them.

She had spent years blaming Helena.

Then Victor.

Then The Black Room.

But now she realized the truth was much closer.

Her family had been making decisions about her life before she was old enough to understand what a decision was.

Lily looked at Sophia.

"Do you know why they call you Subject 017?"

Sophia shook her head.

"Because there were sixteen before you."

Sophia's stomach tightened.

"Sixteen children?"

"Sixteen attempts."

"At what?"

"Creating someone who could remember everything."

Sophia looked at her.

"And you?"

Lily smiled sadly.

"I was Subject 018."

Sophia stared.

"You were after me."

"Yes."

"Then why did they say I was the only successful subject?"

"Because they wanted you to believe that."

Sophia felt dizzy.

"Why?"

"Because they were afraid of us finding each other."

A voice came from behind Sophia.

"They had good reason."

She turned.

Helena stepped into the corridor.

Marcus walked beside her.

Sophia's eyes widened.

"Marcus?"

He was standing.

His shirt was stained with blood, but he was alive.

Cassian appeared behind Sophia.

His weapon was raised.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Marcus smiled faintly.

"I've survived worse."

Cassian's attention shifted to Helena.

"You're not taking anyone."

Helena looked at him.

"Still carrying your father's anger."

Cassian's jaw tightened.

"You killed my family."

"No."

Helena's voice was calm.

"Your family was killed by people who feared what your father had discovered."

"Who?"

Helena looked at Sophia.

"That's why we're here."

Cassian stepped forward.

"Answer me."

Helena finally looked at him.

"Your brother wasn't killed twenty-one years ago."

Cassian went completely still.

Sophia looked at him.

"What?"

Helena continued.

"He disappeared."

Cassian's voice became dangerously quiet.

"Don't."

"His body was never recovered."

"My father identified him."

"Your father identified a body."

Cassian's face drained of color.

"You're lying."

"I don't need to."

Helena looked toward Lily.

"Ask her."

Everyone turned to Lily.

Lily lowered her weapon.

"I saw him."

Cassian stared at her.

"When?"

"The night we were separated."

Sophia's heart began pounding.

"What was he doing there?"

Lily looked at Cassian.

"Trying to rescue us."

Cassian's breathing changed.

"My brother came for you?"

"He came for Sophia."

Cassian looked at Sophia.

"Why?"

Lily answered.

"Because your brother knew what Project Echo really was."

Cassian's expression hardened.

"What did he know?"

Lily took a step forward.

"That Sophia wasn't the experiment."

Sophia frowned.

"Then what was I?"

Lily looked directly into her eyes.

"The key."

Silence.

Sophia felt the world narrowing around her.

"The key to what?"

Helena smiled.

"That is what your father has been hiding."

Everyone turned toward Victor.

He stood at the far end of the corridor.

His face was devastated.

Sophia looked at him.

"Dad."

Victor didn't move.

"What am I the key to?"

He closed his eyes.

Then he said:

"The Black Room."

Sophia stared at him.

"What does that mean?"

Victor looked at Helena.

"You promised me she would never find out."

Helena's expression softened.

"I promised you nothing."

Victor looked back at Sophia.

"The Black Room isn't just an organization."

"What is it?"

"It's a system."

Cassian frowned.

"A system for what?"

Victor swallowed.

"Control."

Sophia felt a chill.

Victor continued.

"Governments. Corporations. Intelligence agencies. Financial institutions. Political leaders."

He looked at Sophia.

"The Black Room has spent decades collecting information on the most powerful people in the world."

Sophia's voice was quiet.

"And me?"

"You were created to hold the information they couldn't store anywhere else."

She shook her head.

"That's impossible."

Victor looked at her with tears in his eyes.

"No, Sophia."

He paused.

"Your memory is not the key."

Sophia waited.

Victor's next words nearly broke her.

"You are the key to unlocking theirs."

A deafening sound suddenly came from above.

The building shook.

Helena looked toward the ceiling.

Her expression changed for the first time.

Fear.

Sophia noticed.

"What is it?"

Helena whispered:

"They found us."

Cassian raised his weapon.

"Who?"

Helena looked directly at Sophia.

"The people who own the Black Room."

Then every light in the building turned red.

A voice echoed through the speakers.

"SUBJECT 017 LOCATED."

Sophia froze.

The voice continued.

"RECOVERY PROTOCOL INITIATED."

Lily looked at Sophia.

For the first time, genuine fear appeared in her eyes.

"Sophia."

"What?"

Lily whispered:

"Run."

Then the windows exploded.