CHAPTER 14: The Echo Foundation
749 Words
The chapel fell into complete silence.
The old radio hissed with static before finally going dead.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Sophia's whispered words echoed in Elena's mind.
"They're still alive..."
Grace slowly turned toward her.
"Sophia... what is the Echo Foundation?"
Sophia's face had become even paler.
She struggled to breathe.
Samuel quickly adjusted the bandages around her wound.
"You shouldn't be talking."
Sophia ignored him.
"If I don't..."
"...there may not be another chance."
Elena knelt beside her mother.
"I'm listening."
Sophia took a slow, painful breath.
"Twenty years ago..."
"...Project Echo officially ended."
She looked directly into Elena's eyes.
"But it never really ended."
"It simply changed its name."
Samuel's expression darkened.
"The Echo Foundation."
Sophia nodded.
"They presented themselves as a charity."
"A foundation that funded hospitals, orphanages, and research centers."
"But behind closed doors..."
"...they continued the experiments."
Elena felt a chill run through her body.
"What experiments?"
Sophia hesitated.
Then she whispered,
"They wanted to control memory."
The room froze.
Adrian frowned.
"Memory?"
Sophia nodded.
"They believed memories could be erased..."
"...rewritten..."
"...or even implanted."
Elena's heartbeat quickened.
"My memories..."
Sophia reached for her daughter's hand.
"They erased parts of your childhood."
"They tried to make you forget."
Elena remembered the flashes.
The white hallways.
The doctors.
The voices.
The nightmares.
"They succeeded."
"Only partially," Sophia replied.
"Your memories are returning because the mind never truly forgets."
---
Samuel walked toward one of the old bookshelves.
From behind several dusty books, he removed a metal box.
Inside were dozens of newspaper clippings.
Every headline carried the same theme.
CHILD MISSING
FAMILY STILL SEARCHING
NO LEADS FOUND
Samuel spread them across the table.
"There are hundreds."
"Maybe thousands."
Grace slowly sat down.
"We only managed to investigate a small number."
Adrian picked up one photograph.
His face immediately changed.
"What is it?" Elena asked.
He silently handed her the newspaper.
The article was dated eighteen years earlier.
The headline read:
THREE CHILDREN DISAPPEAR FROM SUMMER CAMP
Below it...
Were three photographs.
The first child.
Elena.
Age five.
The second.
A little boy.
Adrian.
Age ten.
The third...
A girl neither of them recognized.
Her name was...
Lily Dawson.
---
Elena looked up.
"I don't remember her."
"You weren't supposed to," Sophia whispered.
"Lily was the reason we went there."
Grace's eyes widened.
"You found her?"
Sophia nodded weakly.
"For a moment."
"What happened?"
Sophia closed her eyes.
"They took her back."
Silence filled the chapel.
Samuel quietly asked,
"Did she survive?"
Sophia opened her eyes.
"I don't know."
---
Adrian continued searching through the newspaper.
Then something caught his attention.
At the bottom corner of the page...
A small photograph.
He froze.
His breathing stopped.
Elena noticed immediately.
"Adrian?"
He slowly turned the newspaper around.
The tiny photograph showed a smiling woman standing outside a hospital.
Below it was the caption:
Dr. Evelyn Blackwood joins the Echo Foundation as Senior Neurologist.
Adrian's hands began shaking.
"No..."
Elena looked at him.
"That's your mother?"
He nodded silently.
"But..."
He stared at the article.
"They told me she died in a car accident."
Sophia slowly shook her head.
"She never died that day."
Adrian looked at her in disbelief.
"What are you saying?"
Sophia's eyes filled with regret.
"Victor lied to you."
The room became deathly quiet.
"Your mother..."
"...worked undercover."
Adrian stepped backward.
"No."
"She infiltrated the Foundation with Thomas and me."
His face drained of color.
"You mean..."
Sophia nodded.
"For eighteen years..."
"...your mother has been missing too."
---
Suddenly...
A loud knock echoed through the chapel.
Everyone froze.
Three slow knocks.
Exactly the same pattern Samuel had used before.
Samuel immediately reached for his pistol.
"No one should know we're here."
Another knock.
Then a familiar voice.
"Samuel..."
"It's Sheriff Daniel Brooks."
"I know you're inside."
Grace looked terrified.
"The sheriff?"
Samuel frowned.
"He was one of Thomas's closest friends."
Adrian slowly shook his head.
"Or at least..."
"...that's what we believed."
The sheriff spoke again.
"I've come alone."
"I want to help."
Elena looked toward Adrian.
"Can we trust him?"
Before Adrian could answer...
Sophia whispered one word.
"No."
The room fell silent.
Sophia struggled to lift her hand and pointed toward the stained-glass window.
Outside...
Hidden among the trees...
Tiny red laser dots appeared on the chapel walls.
One...
Then two...
Then five...
Then ten.
Snipers.
They weren't surrounded by police.
They were surrounded by professional assassins.
And Sheriff Brooks had just led them straight to the safe house.
- Writer
