Chapter 173 The First Memory
Chapter 173 The First Memory
Chapter 174 – The First Memory
The operations room had never felt so crowded.
Security officers moved quickly between glowing monitors while technicians worked to restore the surveillance system damaged during the explosion. Every few seconds another report came in, each one confirming the same unsettling truth.
Whoever had attacked the facility had vanished without leaving a trace.
Daniel stood before the central display with his attention fixed on the map covering the largest screen. Red warning lights still marked the destroyed entrance, but beyond that there was nothing.
No vehicles.
No heat signatures.
No movement.
It was as though the attackers had stepped into thin air.
"They wanted us distracted," he said quietly.
The room fell silent.
One of the analysts looked up from his workstation.
"So the explosion wasn't the objective?"
Daniel slowly shook his head.
"No."
His eyes drifted toward the observation room where Aria sat alone.
"She was."
\---
Aria wrapped both hands around the cup of tea someone had brought her earlier, though it had already gone cold. She had not taken a single sip.
The photograph still rested on the table beside her.
She kept looking at it, hoping that if she stared long enough another memory would return.
Nothing.
Only silence.
Then her fingers brushed across the faded handwriting at the bottom of the picture.
She must never know the truth.
A sharp pain exploded behind her eyes.
She squeezed them shut.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Suddenly she was no longer sitting inside the observation room.
She was standing in a wide garden filled with white flowers moving gently in the wind.
The air smelled of fresh rain.
Somewhere nearby a fountain splashed softly.
She heard footsteps behind her.
A woman laughed.
"Slow down."
The voice sounded warm.
Safe.
Loved.
The little girl running through the garden stopped and turned.
She smiled brightly.
"Mama!"
The vision shifted violently.
Another figure appeared.
A tall man walking toward them with concern written across his face.
"They're coming."
The woman's smile disappeared.
She knelt in front of the little girl, both hands gently holding her face.
"You have to remember something."
The child nodded.
"What is it?"
The woman struggled to keep tears from falling.
"No matter what they tell you..."
Her voice began to fade.
"...you were always loved."
The garden shattered.
Aria gasped awake.
The teacup slipped from her hands and crashed against the floor.
Daniel rushed into the room immediately.
"Aria!"
She stared at him, tears streaming silently down her face.
"I saw them."
He knelt beside her.
"Who?"
"My parents."
The words barely escaped her lips.
Daniel's expression froze.
"What did they say?"
She tried to steady her breathing.
"My mother..."
Her voice trembled.
"...she told me they were coming."
The room became deathly quiet.
Daniel exchanged a troubled glance with the others gathering in the doorway.
Before anyone could speak, one of the analysts ran into the room holding a tablet.
"Sir."
Daniel looked up.
"What happened?"
The analyst swallowed.
"We recovered part of the destroyed security footage."
"Did you identify the attackers?"
"No."
The man's face had turned pale.
"But we identified someone else."
He turned the tablet toward Daniel.
The screen displayed the stranger who had delivered the envelope.
The timestamp placed him at the front gate.
Then, without warning, another figure stepped into the frame beside him.
A woman.
Her face was blurred.
Her features impossible to distinguish.
But as she turned slightly toward the camera, everyone in the room noticed the same thing.
She wore the exact same silver pendant hanging around Aria's neck.
Daniel slowly looked toward Aria.
She was already staring at the screen.
Because somewhere deep inside her heart, a terrifying certainty had begun to form.
She had seen that woman before.
Not in a photograph.
Not in a memory.
Very recently.