Chapter 26 - THE HALL OF NAMES
The footsteps stopped before the three of them could identify their source.
Silence returned.
Daniel motioned for everyone to stay close.
They advanced cautiously through the corridor until it widened into a circular chamber unlike anything they had expected.
The room resembled a museum.
Glass display panels lined the walls.
Digital screens remained powered on despite the apparent isolation of the facility.
At the center stood a polished black stone monument.
Hundreds of names were engraved into its surface.
Alex stepped closer.
Most names meant nothing to him.
Some had dates beside them.
Others had only identification numbers.
Daniel suddenly froze.
"No..."
Bennett looked at him.
"What is it?"
Daniel pointed toward one name halfway down the monument.
Michael Donovan.
Beside it appeared only one word.
Guardian.
Alex immediately searched for another familiar name.
"Hannah Reed isn't here."
"No," Daniel murmured.
"But look."
Lower on the monument, another engraving had been polished much more recently than the others.
The letters looked almost new.
Alex Carter
Nothing else.
No title.
No date.
Only his name.
Alex stepped backward.
"I've never been here."
"I know," Bennett replied quietly.
"But someone expected you to."
Daniel examined the surrounding display screens.
Each contained personnel records, psychological evaluations, and surveillance photographs of different individuals.
Some files were decades old.
Others appeared recent.
Alex noticed something strange.
Every file eventually ended with the same line.
Observation Complete.
Except one.
His.
Across the bottom of his profile appeared different text.
Observation Ongoing.
Suddenly every screen in the chamber flickered at once.
The same face appeared on each display.
The silver-haired man who had smiled into the airport surveillance camera.
He looked directly toward them through the screens.
"Good evening," he said calmly.
"My name is Elias Voss."
"This is the first time we've met..."
He smiled faintly.
"...although I've been watching you for a very long time, Alex."
Daniel immediately stepped in front of Alex.
"What do you want?"
Voss ignored the question.
Instead, he looked at Alex.
"You believe your story began at the airport."
"It didn't."
"You believe Donovan was protecting you."
"He was."
"You believe Orion chose you."
He paused.
Then his smile faded.
"That assumption is the one that will get people killed."
Before anyone could respond, every monitor went black simultaneously.
A hidden door slid open behind the monument.
Inside was another room.
Unlike everything else on Level C...
May you like
...it looked exactly like Alex's childhood bedroom.
Down to the smallest detail.
