Chapter 4 FOUR

Kael's face cracked into a fierce grin. "Aye, sir! They've been anticipating this." He immediately produced a small, locked comms device and began tapping in a coded message.

Ethan faced Linda. "This Ares Project. Where is it?

"We don't know where," Linda admitted. "It's a mobile laboratory. It moves to be avoided. But we do know who runs it. A scientist named Dr. Aris."

"Yes, can we find him?"

"Yes, possibly," Kael said, looking up from his device. "We have some of our old contacts in their supply chain. We can apply pressure. Get them to spill.".

"Good," Ethan answered. His head was clear now, his mind focused on one thing. "We need a plan. We can't just rush in. "

"First, we get you to my main clinic," Linda insisted. "Your body is still recovering. The brainwashing they used is strong. Your memories can be unstable. Your body can turn against you at the wrong moment."

Ethan folded his hand in. He did experience deep tiredness in his bones. "How long will that take?"

"No more than two days. Maybe three. I have to run some tests. I need to know what they did to you."

Kael finished sending his message. "I've sent the message. The old team will start to assemble at the rally point. It's an abandoned warehouse close to the docks. We can meet with them there in three days."

"What about Sophia?" Ethan asked. The name tasted bitter on his lips.

"She will be looking for you," Linda said to him. "She knows you are with me now. She will use all of her family resources to find us."

"Let her look," Ethan said, his voice low. "She thinks I am a lost, confused man. She doesn't know that I am remembering."

We can have that," Kael said. "Let them think that they are still chasing a vulnerable target. It will make them complacent."

"Exactly," Ethan agreed. He looked at the two of them. "We've got three days. Linda, you get me ready. Kael, you deploy our men and gather everything you can on Dr. Aris and where the mobile lab is."

"Weapons?" Kael asked.

"Get the basics. Guns, rifles, armor. Nothing too bulky to begin with. We have to move fast and quietly to start with."

Kael nodded. "As you've commanded, General."

"Don't call me that," Ethan said. "Not yet. To all of them, even your team, I am only 'Ethan.' The less they know, the better. The Syndicate has ears on the street."

A good idea," Linda said. She looked at him, a glint of new respect in her eyes. "The man you used to be is definitely coming back."

""

"He has to," Ethan said. "Or we'll all be dead."

""

Kael's device beeped softly all of a sudden. He read the new message, his face darkening.

""

"Bad news?" Ethan asked.

"The Syndicate is moving faster than we thought," Kael said. "They have guards on all main roads out of the city. They're stopping and questioning cars. They are looking for you two."

AI huhAI Explain:

"Then we won't use the roads," Ethan said matter-of-factly. "Is the old sewer pipe out of the Black Zone still clear?"

Kael was surprised. "You remember the sewers?"

"Yes. It's coming back piecemeal. Is it clear?"

"It should be. We used it for smuggling people out. It comes up near the old river, by your clinic, Linda."

"Perfecto," Linda said. "It's dangerous, but safer than the roads."

"Then it's done," Ethan said. "We take four hours here. Then we exit out the sewers. Kael, you exit separately. Take the rooflines. Get to the rear door of the clinic at dawn."

Kael stood and saluted again, this time with a sharp nod. "It shall be so." He moved soundlessly to the door, looked down the corridor, and was gone.

The room was quiet once more. Ethan eased back into the couch once more. Simply the act of planning, of issuing commands, was as much a part of him as respiration.

"I am different," Linda stated. "The confusion is gone.".

Four hours had elapsed, and the gentle knock on the door signaled that it was time. Ethan was on his feet already. The short rest had not dissipated the weariness from his body, but it had sharpened his mind.

The fog was lifting.

Linda handed him a black jacket and a scratched backpack. "Stuff. Food, water, small med-kit."

He put it on without comment. He checked the pistol Linda had given him initially, ensuring that it had a bullet in the chamber before he tucked it into his waistband.

"It's ready?" Linda said, having strapped on her pack.

"Ready."

They left the safe house, not through the front entrance, but through a hidden panel inside the closet of the bedroom that led into a thin service corridor. The air was filled with dust. They moved silently, their feet light on the concrete floor.

It was a ten-minute walk after that. They reached a heavy metal door. Linda jammed a key into a rusted lock. It groaned open deafeningly. Beyond was a flight of stairs descending into darkness and the damp smell of rot and wet earth.

"The sewers," Linda whispered, producing a small flashlight from her pocket. "Come close. The path is not straight."

The tunnel was big, with a narrow track down the side of a sluggish stream of water. The air was cold and damp. All they could hear were their footsteps, the dripping of water, and the distant squeak of rats.

As they went, other fragments of memory flooded back to Ethan. He remembered leading troops over trenches that smelled exactly like this. He remembered carrying command, the burden of every decision.

"Ethan told me I was a War God," Ethan said, far-off in his tone. "Was that true?"

Linda shone her light down the road before them. "It was what your soldiers referred to you as. They believed you unbeatable. You never lost a fight until. Kalgar Pass."

"And what about you? What did you believe?"

Linda was quiet for a moment. "I believed in the man, not the myth. I saw the cost. The burden you bore. You were an excellent commander, Aethelgard, but you were nevertheless only a man."

Her words sounded true. The memories, as they returned, were not so much of victory. They were of loss and hard choices.

Suddenly Linda stopped dead and put up a hand. She played her light across the water. Something floated by. A small, hollow syringe.

"This is not city maintenance stuff," she breathed, her eyes squeezed into a narrow line. "This is medical grade. The Syndicate uses these."

Ethan's hand fell onto his gun. "Are they down here?"

"Maybe. Or one of their spies. We have to move faster."

They hurried, their gentle tread now a desperate trot through the glistening shadows. Every shadow seemed to move. Every echo was like a step. The safe house was a world removed.

The purpose is clear now," Ethan said. "They took my past. They tried to use me. Now, I will use everything I am to take them down." He checked his hands, no longer trembling. "Let's get some rest. We have a long night to go."