Chapter 12 - THE TRUTH ABOUT ELIAS VOSS
After the video ended, nobody moved.
Because the truth was no longer something I was chasing.
It was something standing in front of me.
I had spent years believing I was the detective who solved the biggest case in Chicago.
Now I discovered I might have been the reason the case existed.
I left the station alone.
I needed answers from the only person who knew the beginning.
Elias Voss.
I found him in an abandoned warehouse near the river.
He was waiting.
Like he knew I would come.
“You saw the video.”
I pointed my gun at him.
“Tell me what happened.”
Elias looked tired.
Not dangerous.
Just tired.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Then you won’t like it.”
I stepped closer.
“Try me.”
He looked at me.
“When Victor Kane found me, I was not a killer.”
I stayed silent.
“He made me one.”
The warehouse became quiet.
“He studied trauma.”
“He studied fear.”
“He studied how people break.”
Elias looked down.
“Then he found you.”
I felt anger rising.
“What did I have to do with you?”
Elias answered:
“Everything.”
He explained.
Victor needed two subjects.
One to become the monster.
One to become the hunter.
Elias was the monster.
I was the hunter.
A perfect cycle.
A killer.
A detective.
A never-ending story.
“You weren’t investigating me,” Elias said.
“You were designed to.”
I lowered my weapon slightly.
“Why?”
“Because Victor believed every monster needed a hero.”
“And every hero needed a monster.”
My phone vibrated.
Another message.
A location.
An old police storage facility.
The message:
“The original evidence is waiting.”
Elias looked at the screen.
“That’s a trap.”
“Probably.”
“You’re still going?”
I looked at him.
“I’ve spent my entire life following clues.”
A pause.
“I’m not stopping now.”
When we arrived, the storage facility was empty.
Too empty.
Inside was one box.
My name on it.
I opened it.
Inside were case files.
Photographs.
Recordings.
Everything.
But one file caught my attention.
The title:
THE FIRST SUBJECT.
I opened it.
The first page had my photograph.
Not from twenty years ago.
From childhood.
The notes underneath were written by Victor Kane.
“Subject James Miller.”
“Age: 8.”
“High intelligence.”
“Strong emotional attachment.”
“Perfect candidate.”
My hands started shaking.
Because the date on the file was impossible.
Project Mirror didn’t start twenty years ago.
It started when I was a child.
Then the lights turned off.
A voice came from the darkness.
“You finally found your first file.”
I turned.
A figure stepped forward.
Not Victor.
Not Hayes.
Someone else.
May you like
Someone I recognized.
My father.
