CHAPTER 14 THE MAN BEHIND AURORA

"Hello, Lena."

The man's voice was calm.

Too calm.

Lena stared through the windshield.

She remembered that voice.

Not from her first life.

From the laboratory.

The voice that had spoken about her as if she were an experiment.

Ethan's hand tightened around the steering wheel.

"Who are you?"

The man smiled.

"You already know."

"No," Lena said. "I don't."

"Not yet."

He stepped closer to the vehicle.

He was older than Ethan, perhaps in his late forties, dressed in a dark suit beneath a long coat.

There was no anger on his face.

Only certainty.

That frightened Lena more.

Ethan tried the ignition again.

Nothing.

The man laughed quietly.

"Don't waste your time. The vehicle has been disabled."

Ethan looked at Lena.

"Stay inside."

He opened the door.

The man immediately raised a hand.

"Mr. Cross, I wouldn't."

Ethan stopped.

Several men surrounding the SUVs raised their weapons.

Lena's stomach tightened.

Ethan slowly stepped back.

The man smiled.

"Good decision."

"Name."

"My name is Adrian Vale."

Lena's eyes narrowed.

The name meant nothing.

But Ethan reacted.

"You founded Vale Technologies."

Adrian smiled.

"Impressive."

"I know what your company does."

"Then you know why we're here."

Ethan's expression hardened.

"You're behind Aurora."

"One of the people behind it."

Lena opened the door.

Adrian's attention immediately shifted to her.

"Don't."

She ignored him.

"Why me?"

The question silenced everyone.

Adrian studied her.

"Because you survived."

"That's not an answer."

"It is the only answer that matters."

Lena stepped away from the vehicle.

Ethan moved beside her.

Adrian watched them.

"You weren't supposed to remember anything."

"Yet I do."

"Yes."

His gaze moved to Ethan.

"And now he does too."

Ethan looked at the silver mark on his wrist.

"What did you do to us?"

Adrian's expression became serious.

"We didn't create what happened to you."

"Then who did?"

Adrian looked toward Lena.

"You did."

Lena froze.

"What?"

"You changed the experiment."

"I didn't do anything."

"You died."

His words were quiet.

"That was supposed to be the end."

Lena's breathing became shallow.

Adrian continued.

"But your brain didn't shut down the way it should have."

Ethan looked at him.

"You're saying she caused her own return?"

"No."

Adrian shook his head.

"Something happened during the final stage."

"What?"

"We don't know."

Lena stared at him.

"Then why are you hunting me?"

"Because you're proof."

"Proof of what?"

"That consciousness may survive biological death."

Silence.

Lena looked at Ethan.

He was staring at Adrian.

"And the apocalypse?" Ethan asked.

Adrian's expression changed.

"The apocalypse wasn't caused by Aurora."

Lena's chest tightened.

"Then what caused it?"

Adrian looked toward the distant horizon.

"The same thing that caused the fever."

Lena's blood ran cold.

"The virus?"

"Not exactly."

"What does that mean?"

Adrian didn't answer.

Instead, he reached into his coat.

Ethan immediately stepped forward.

But Adrian pulled out a small photograph.

He held it toward Lena.

She looked at it.

Her face went pale.

It showed the laboratory.

The same room from her memories.

But there was something else.

A second person stood beside her unconscious body.

Ethan.

Lena stared.

"No."

Ethan took the photograph.

His expression changed.

"I've never seen this."

"You were there," Adrian said.

"I would remember."

"You don't."

"Why?"

"Because your memories were removed."

Lena looked at Ethan.

"Why would they erase your memories?"

Adrian answered.

"Because you weren't supposed to remember each other."

The words hit harder than Lena expected.

She thought about the first timeline.

Meeting Ethan.

Falling in love.

Surviving together.

Dying together.

Had all of it been part of an experiment?

Or had something happened that even Aurora couldn't control?

"Why did we meet again?" Lena asked.

Adrian looked at her.

"Because the system paired you."

"Paired us?"

"You were primary."

He pointed toward Ethan.

"He was secondary."

"What does that mean?"

Adrian's voice became quieter.

"When one subject returned, the other was designed to follow."

Ethan's expression darkened.

"So our memories are connected."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because the system predicted that separation would destabilize both subjects."

Lena shook her head.

"This is insane."

"Perhaps."

Adrian looked at the sky.

"But the evidence is standing in front of me."

A phone rang.

One of Adrian's men answered.

His expression changed.

He walked over and whispered something.

Adrian's face hardened.

"How long?"

"Six minutes."

Adrian looked at Lena.

"We have to go."

"Go where?"

"Somewhere safe."

Ethan laughed coldly.

"You kidnapped us and now you're offering protection?"

"I'm not kidnapping you."

Adrian looked directly at him.

"I'm trying to keep you alive."

Lena stepped forward.

"From whom?"

Adrian hesitated.

Then he said:

"The people who want Aurora destroyed."

"Who are they?"

"Governments."

Lena stared.

"Which ones?"

"Several."

"And why?"

"Because Aurora isn't the only project."

Her blood ran cold.

"What do you mean?"

Adrian looked at her.

"There are seven."

Lena's silver mark suddenly appeared.

Ethan's appeared at the same time.

Adrian's expression changed.

"Too late."

A distant rumble echoed through the night.

Not thunder.

Engines.

Dozens of them.

More vehicles were approaching.

Adrian turned toward the road.

"We have to move."

Lena looked at Ethan.

"Do we trust him?"

Ethan didn't answer immediately.

Then he looked at Adrian.

"No."

Adrian nodded.

"Good."

He stepped toward a waiting SUV.

"You shouldn't trust anyone yet."

Lena followed Ethan.

But before she entered the vehicle, she looked at Adrian.

"Seven projects."

He nodded.

"Seven."

"And Aurora is only one."

"Yes."

"What are the others?"

Adrian's face became unreadable.

"We'll discuss that after we survive tonight."

Another sound echoed through the darkness.

This time, it came from the sky.

Lena looked upward.

A red light moved between the clouds.

Then another.

Her palm burned.

A message appeared on the device Adrian carried.

TIMELINE DEVIATION: 14.8%.

Adrian stared at it.

His face finally showed fear.

"What?"

Ethan looked at him.

Adrian whispered:

"The apocalypse wasn't supposed to move this early."

Lena's blood ran cold.

"How early?"

Adrian looked at her.

"Three years."

A pause.

"Now we may have less than one."

To be continued....