Chapter 49 - THE MAN WHO KNEW ETHAN
The voice echoed upward through the hidden staircase, calm and unmistakably familiar.
"I've been waiting for you, Ethan."
Alex remained motionless.
No one beside him had spoken.
Yet hearing the name stirred something deep inside him—a feeling beyond memory, somewhere between recognition and instinct.
Daniel looked toward the darkness.
"Show yourself."
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then footsteps began climbing the stone stairs.
Slow.
Measured.
Confident.
A man in his early forties emerged into the light. His dark hair showed streaks of gray at the temples, and his face carried the quiet exhaustion of someone who had spent years waiting for a moment he was never certain would arrive.
He stopped several feet from Alex.
His eyes never left him.
"You've changed," the man said softly.
Alex frowned.
"We've never met."
The stranger smiled sadly.
"Not as Alex Carter."
Arthur suddenly inhaled sharply.
"I know you..."
The man's attention shifted toward Arthur.
"It's been a long time, Doctor."
Arthur whispered the name before he seemed to realize it.
"Noah..."
Daniel immediately looked between them.
"This is Noah?"
The man slowly shook his head.
"No."
"My name is Gabriel."
He reached into his jacket and removed an old photograph.
It showed the same two boys beneath the oak tree.
Standing behind them was Gabriel, much younger, smiling with one hand resting on each child's shoulder.
"I was assigned to protect both of you."
Alex studied the picture carefully.
"You were there."
"Every day," Gabriel answered.
"Until the night everything collapsed."
Before anyone could ask another question, Gabriel's expression hardened.
"We don't have much time."
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"They're already inside Level C."
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