Chapter 50 - The Butterfly Protocol
Kevin Ross hurried toward another workstation.
"There has to be a backup feed."
He connected directly to the facility's internal surveillance archive.
Hundreds of cameras appeared.
Most were still operational.
He searched for Brooks.
Nothing.
Every camera covering the entrance corridor had gone offline simultaneously.
Detective Ortega examined the system log.
"That's impossible."
Marcus looked up.
"What?"
"The cameras weren't disabled."
She enlarged the timeline.
"They were reassigned."
"To where?"
Kevin followed the routing table.
A hidden section of the facility appeared.
One that had never existed on any blueprint recovered from Evergreen.
Observation Wing
Rachel frowned.
"What is that?"
Kevin clicked the directory.
Instead of rooms, a list of names appeared.
Each linked to live video archives.
Families.
Schools.
Hospitals.
Neighborhood parks.
Rachel slowly recognized one address after another.
Her apartment.
Noah's elementary school.
Lily's preschool.
The local grocery store.
The community library.
Every place her family regularly visited.
Marcus whispered,
"They built an entire wing just to watch people."
Kevin continued scrolling.
Another menu appeared.
Observer Assignments
Every Observer carried a numbered profile.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Each had active families under their supervision.
Rachel's profile remained assigned to Observer 001.
But something else had changed.
A flashing notification appeared beside her file.
Assignment Updated
Marcus opened it.
The screen displayed a new entry.
Primary Observer: Suspended
Replacement Pending
Rachel stared at the monitor.
"What happened to her?"
Nobody knew.
Just then another file opened by itself.
A short internal memo.
> Observer 001 violated Protocol Butterfly.
Detective Ortega immediately remembered the paper butterfly.
"So Butterfly isn't just a toy."
Kevin searched further.
Protocol Butterfly appeared heavily classified.
Only its opening sentence remained readable.
> Emotional attachment between Observer and Subject is strictly prohibited.
Rachel slowly looked at Marcus.
"The woman..."
Marcus nodded.
May you like
"She broke one of their rules."
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