Chapter 15 - THE FALL OF DETECTIVE MILLER
I stood there surrounded by police officers.
Weapons pointed at me.
People I worked with.
People I trusted.
Now looking at me like I was the enemy.
The officer stepped forward.
“Drop your weapon.”
I looked around.
No one believed me.
No one saw the truth.
They saw the evidence Victor wanted them to see.
A missing detective.
A secret experiment.
A connection to Elias Voss.
A conspiracy.
Everything pointed toward me.
Slowly, I placed my Glock on the ground.
I raised my hands.
And I smiled.
Because Victor Kane had made one mistake.
He underestimated detectives.
He believed evidence was everything.
But he forgot one thing.
Detectives also study people.
And Victor Kane had just revealed himself.
I was taken to interrogation.
The same room where Elias Voss once sat.
The same room where everything began.
The door opened.
A familiar face entered.
Captain Hayes.
I laughed.
“Of course.”
He sat across from me.
“You’re angry.”
“You think?”
He looked at the glass behind him.
“Everyone is watching.”
“Good.”
He looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because now they will see what happens next.”
Hayes leaned forward.
“James, you need to understand.”
“No.”
I interrupted.
“You need to understand.”
I placed the old notebook on the table.
His expression changed.
“You found it.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then I asked:
“Did you know my father was alive?”
Hayes looked away.
That was enough.
I closed my eyes.
Another betrayal.
Another secret.
But then Hayes whispered:
“I was trying to protect you.”
I shook my head.
“Everyone says that.”
He leaned closer.
“Because everyone failed.”
A long silence followed.
Then he said something I never expected.
“Victor Kane is not the leader.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
Hayes opened a file.
Inside was a name.
A name I had never seen.
A person above Victor.
Above Project Mirror.
Above everything.
He pushed the file toward me.
The first page contained one sentence.
“Project Mirror was approved by the person who created the system.”
I read the name.
And my entire body froze.
Because the person behind everything…
Was someone I knew.
Someone I trusted.
Someone who had been watching my career from the beginning.
The person who recommended me for homicide.
The person who made me Detective Miller.
My own father’s closest friend.
The former police commissioner.
And underneath the name was a handwritten note.
“Subject James Miller was the final test.”
“Failure means elimination.”
“Success means activation.”
I looked at Hayes.
“What does activation mean?”
He didn’t answer.
Because at that exact moment…
Every screen in the interrogation room turned on.
Victor Kane appeared.
But this time…
He wasn’t smiling.
He looked worried.
And he said only one sentence.
May you like
“James…”
“They activated the others.”
