The room was silent as Evelyn flipped open the Project Siren file. Inside were documents so highly classified, even the CIA wouldn't admit they existed.
Gene modification. Mind programming. Behavioral conditioning.
She stared at a page with her own photograph. Underneath, in bold:
SUBJECT 09 – CODENAME: ECHO
Her blood ran cold. "They didn't just experiment on me," she whispered. "I was the experiment."
Noah didn't flinch. "You were never supposed to find out."
Evelyn looked up sharply. "And yet, here we are."
⸻
Meanwhile – Hart Group Headquarters
Adrian leaned against the glass window, watching the rain fall across the skyline. Beside him stood Marcus, his loyal security chief.
"Sir, we traced the file's last transmission. It originated from Geneva. A private lab under a shell company."
"Pull every string. I want boots on the ground in twelve hours."
"Under whose name?"
"Mine," Adrian said without hesitation. "And make sure Evelyn never knows."
⸻
Back in the penthouse
Evelyn walked to her private bar, poured herself a drink with a shaking hand.
"I trusted you once," she said. "You left me bleeding on a steel table, surrounded by men in masks. I was 21, Noah."
He stepped forward, guilt in his eyes. "I tried to save you."
"You tried?" Her laugh was bitter. "You injected me with something that turned me into a government weapon."
Noah sat down slowly. "And now you're the only one who can stop what's coming."
⸻
Scene shift – Geneva, Switzerland
Inside a hidden research lab, monitors beeped. A young scientist stared nervously at a screen.
"Director," she said, "we've got a breach. Subject 09's file has been accessed. From Milan."
A shadowed figure stepped into frame.
"Then it's time to awaken Subject 10."
In the background, a cryo-chamber lit up. Inside, a woman identical to Evelyn lay sleeping—except her hair was jet black and her eyes twitched beneath closed lids.