Chapter 23: My Brother

For a moment, I couldn't move.

I stared at him.

He looked older.

Thinner.

There was a scar above his eyebrow and another one disappearing beneath the collar of his shirt.

But those eyes...

I knew those eyes.

"Daniel..." I whispered.

"It's really him," Daniel said.

My legs suddenly felt weak.

"Michael?"

My brother smiled.

"Hi, little sister."

I ran towards him.

He caught me in his arms.

For three years, I had imagined this moment.

I had imagined screaming at him.

I had imagined asking him why he left.

I had imagined telling him how much I hated him for making me believe he was dead.

But when I finally held him...

I couldn't say anything.

I just cried.

He held me tighter.

"I'm sorry."

"You were alive."

"I know."

"You were alive all this time!"

"I know."

"You let me mourn you!"

His arms loosened.

"I had to."

"No, you didn't!"

My voice broke.

"You could have come home."

"If I came home, they would have killed you."

I stepped away from him.

"Who are they?"

Michael looked at Daniel.

Then at the road behind us.

"We don't have time."

"Everyone keeps saying that!"

I wiped my tears.

"Nobody tells me anything. Mum lied to me. Samuel lied to me. You disappeared. And now everyone expects me to trust them."

Michael's expression softened.

"You're right."

He reached into his jacket.

"That's why I'm going to tell you everything."

He pulled out a small black envelope.

"Your father left this for you."

I stared at it.

"What is it?"

"The truth."

Before I could take it, headlights appeared at the end of the street.

Michael's face changed.

"They found us."

Daniel looked behind him.

"How?"

Michael grabbed my hand.

"They put a tracker on the flash drive."

My heart sank.

"But the flash drive is gone."

"I know."

He looked at me.

"That's why they're not coming for the drive."

"They're coming for you."

A car turned into the street.

Then another.

Michael pulled open the back door of his car.

"Get in."

We jumped inside.

He started the engine.

The cars behind us accelerated.

Daniel looked through the rear window.

"How many?"

Michael glanced at him.

"Four."

"Can we lose them?"

Michael smiled faintly.

"I've been running from them for three years."

He pressed the accelerator.

"I know exactly how."

The car sped into the darkness.

I looked down at the black envelope in my hands.

There was something written on the front.

Not my name.

Not my father's.

Just three words:

THE FIRST LIE.

I looked at Michael.

"What does this mean?"

His hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"It means..."

He took a deep breath.

"...your father wasn't the first person to start Project Echo."

I stared at him.

"Then who was?"

Michael looked at me through the rear-view mirror.

"Your mother."