Chapter 13 - The Woman With My Name
The woman recovered from the river looked enough like me to stop conversation across the entire command tent.
Same dark hair.
Same height.
Same gray eyes.
But she was younger by at least eight years.
And she had no scars.
"My name is Dr. Claire Mason," she repeated.
I stood across from her wrapped in a military blanket.
"No," I said. "It is not."
She looked at Walter.
"Tell her."
Walter closed his eyes.
Vivian stared between us.
"How many people did you lie to?"
The woman touched a hospital bracelet on her wrist.
"I was part of Project Nightglass. A biometric duplicate."
Briggs stepped closer.
"A clone?"
"No. Plastic surgery, behavioral training, falsified records. Vale planned to replace officials with controlled doubles. I was assigned to Commander Mason."
I felt colder than the river.
"Why?"
"Because the key recognizes more than blood. Voice, gait, pulse patterns. Vale needed someone who could get close enough to activate you."
Noah leaned against the table, pale from blood loss.
"Where have you been?"
"Vale kept me below the tunnel. When the node exploded, my cell opened."
She looked at me.
"I know things about your life because they forced me to study you."
"Then tell me something Vale could not know."
Her eyes filled.
"Your mother called you Little Star when you were afraid of thunderstorms."
My chest tightened.
Only my mother and Walter knew that.
My mother had died when I was nine.
I turned to Walter.
"How does she know?"
He could not meet my eyes.
The woman answered.
"Because your mother is alive."
The tent went silent.
"No," I said.
"Vale kept her alive to design the biometric system. She tried to sabotage it."
Walter whispered my mother's name.
"Helen."
The woman nodded.
"She is being moved right now."
"Where?"
Before she could answer, a shot tore through the command tent.
The woman jerked backward.
Blood spread across the blanket around her chest.
May you like
Noah drew his weapon.
Outside, someone shouted that Marcus Cross had escaped.
