Chapter 11
The next morning came with a pale sun casting long shadows across the base. Kaelyn barely slept. The file with the image of Subject M-2 burned in her thoughts like a fire she couldn’t put out. She kept replaying the question over and over—who was she? A clone? A sister? Another experiment?
Down in the command center, Zayn was already going through the new intelligence from the fallen Tamar outpost. Screens glowed with red-highlighted documents, personnel logs, and a staggering list of names—some dead, some missing, some still embedded deep within allied governments and corporate structures.
Kaelyn walked in, dropping the folder on the table in front of him. “We have a problem.”
Zayn looked up. “More than usual?”
She opened the file and pointed to the photo. “Her. They called her M-2. It’s me—but not.”
Zayn’s eyes narrowed. He tapped the database, running a biometric scan. The screen blinked, and a match popped up—95.8% DNA match. Status: active. Location: blacked out.
“They created more than one of you,” he said grimly.
Kaelyn nodded. “Looks like I wasn’t the only miracle child.”
Zayn leaned back in his chair. “Ilsa’s not talking. She claims the rest of the data is locked behind something called Protocol Omega. Encrypted so heavily it’d take a dozen AIs a year to break.”
Kaelyn’s eyes flickered. “Then maybe we should stop asking her and start making her watch everything she built fall apart.”
Zayn raised an eyebrow. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
She gave a small, fierce smile. “It’s time we go public.”
By noon, every major media channel on the continent was playing clips from the Tamar facility: footage of broken labs, genetic engineering stations, interviews with former test subjects who were rescued from cryo-storage. Names of high-ranking officials were leaked. Public outrage exploded.
Ilsa was moved to an underground bunker for safety—not hers, but the public’s. She refused to speak to anyone.
Except Kaelyn.
That night, Kaelyn entered the cold interrogation room. Ilsa sat handcuffed, still pristine, still calm.
Kaelyn sat across from her and placed a single photo on the table. The girl—M-2.
“Tell me about her,” Kaelyn demanded.
Ilsa stared at the picture, then at Kaelyn. “You two were part of the same batch. Designed with slightly different enhancements. You—speed, sensory adaptation, tactical thinking. Her—emotional manipulation, influence.”
Kaelyn felt her stomach twist. “So she’s out there. Being used.”
“She was… more obedient than you,” Ilsa said with a small smile. “But she was sent on a long-term mission years ago. Deep cover. I don’t know where.”
“You sent her alone?”
“No,” Ilsa replied. “She was paired with another.”
“Another what?”
But Ilsa only smiled and leaned back, her silence louder than words.
Kaelyn stood, her jaw clenched. “If she’s being controlled, I’ll find her. And I’ll bring her back.”
Ilsa spoke softly as Kaelyn turned to leave. “What if she doesn’t want to be brought back?”
Kaelyn didn’t stop walking.
Outside the interrogation wing, Sebastian was waiting. “She say anything useful?”
Kaelyn’s face was like stone. “She told me everything I needed to know.”
Sebastian walked with her through the dim corridor. “So what now? You going to start hunting down ghosts?”
“No,” she said firmly. “I’m going to find my sister.”
The word felt strange on her tongue, but right. No matter who M-2 had become, no matter what Tamar had done to her, she wasn’t going to abandon her.
Even if it meant going to the darkest corners of the world.
Even if it meant becoming the very weapon Tamar tried to forge her into.
Because now Kaelyn had a mission.
And nothing would stop her.