"Richard?" Elena's voice cracks with disbelief. "You're alive?"
"In a manner of speaking." His tone is strangely detached, like he's reading from a script. "Though I suspect that will change soon."
Marcus gestures frantically for Elena to keep him talking while mouthing, "Trace the call."
"Where are you?" Elena asks. "Richard, I saw your body. There was so much blood"
"What you saw was the end result of Memory Protocol activation. I'm currently in containment at the Blackwood Institute, sublevel three. A location I believe you're familiar with."
Elena's breath catches. Sublevel three houses the experimental memory chambers—rooms designed for complete sensory isolation during memory extraction procedures.
"Richard, who's doing this to you?"
"The same people who extracted your memories, Elena. The same people who are going to extract mine in approximately four hours and thirty-seven minutes."
Marcus pulls out a notepad, writing: Keep him talking. Get details.
"Why?" Elena asks. "What do they want?"
"The completion of Memory Protocol development. Specifically, the implantation procedures you refused to research."
Elena's stomach drops. Three months ago, their Department of Defense liaison had requested they expand their research from extraction to implantation the ability to insert false memories into subjects. Elena had refused, calling it a violation of everything they stood for.
"I won't help them weaponize our research," she whispers.
"You already have." Richard's voice remains eerily calm. "The extraction procedure you perfected is only half the equation. But your refusal to develop implantation techniques forced them to use cruder methods."
"What kind of methods?"
"Physical coercion. Psychological manipulation. Classic brainwashing enhanced with memory extraction." Richard pauses. "Elena, they didn't just steal your memories of Friday night. They replaced them."
The warehouse seems to spin around Elena. "Replaced them with what?"
"False memories of committing murder. The guilt, the terror, the certainty that you killed me all artificially implanted."
Marcus grabs the phone. "Dr. Blackwood, this is Detective Kane. Who's holding you?"
"Detective. I wondered when you'd become involved." Richard's voice shifts slightly, becoming more human. "The people holding me work for a government contractor called Mnemonic Solutions. They've been developing memory warfare applications based on our research."
"Memory warfare?"
"Imagine being able to make enemy agents believe they're working for you. Or making witnesses remember crimes that never happened. Or extracting state secrets without leaving physical evidence."
Elena takes the phone back, her scientific mind racing. "Richard, the implanted memories how sophisticated are they?"
"Crude but effective. They can implant emotions and basic scenarios, but not complex technical knowledge. That's why they need you alive, Elena. Your expertise is required for the advanced procedures."
"What happens in four hours?"
"They extract my remaining memories of the advanced protocols, then dispose of me. With both of us eliminated, they'll have our research without the inconvenience of ethical objections."
Marcus writes: Location of the facility?
"Richard, where exactly are you being held?"
"Blackwood Institute, as I said. But Elena, the building you know is just the cover. The real facility extends five sublevels underground. Military-grade security. You can't simply walk in."
"We have to try."
"No." Richard's voice becomes urgent, more like himself. "Elena, they're monitoring this call. They wanted me to contact you. This is a trap."
The line goes dead.
Elena stares at the silent phone, pieces clicking together in her mind. "Marcus, they're not trying to kill me. They're herding me."
"What do you mean?"
"Every step of this the framing, the assassination attempt, even Richard's call it's all designed to make me do exactly what I'm about to do."
"Which is?"
Elena looks at Marcus with grim determination. "Break into the most secure facility in Seattle to rescue my mentor and stop my research from being weaponized."
Marcus is quiet for a long moment. Then: "When do we leave?"
"We?" Elena shakes her head. "Marcus, they threatened Isabella to manipulate you. I won't let you risk"
"Elena." Marcus steps closer, his hand cupping her face. "Five years ago, you made a choice that broke us apart. You chose your work, your research, your calling over our relationship."
Elena's heart clenches at the pain in his voice.
"But now I understand why," Marcus continues. "Your work matters. The research you're trying to protect could help millions of people, or it could destroy them. This isn't just about us anymore."
"If we do this, there's no going back. Your career, your reputation, your life"
"Will be meaningless if I let you face this alone." Marcus's thumb brushes across her cheekbone. "Besides, you're going to need someone who knows how to break into secure facilities."
Despite everything, Elena almost smiles. "You know how to break into government black sites?"
"No. But I know someone who does."
Elena raises an eyebrow.
Marcus grins, and for a moment he looks like the man she fell in love with. "My ex-partner Jake Morrison. He left the force five years ago to work private security. Turns out, the best way to protect a facility is to know how to breach it."
"Will he help us?"
"For the right price. And Elena?" Marcus's expression grows serious. "Jake specializes in impossible extractions. If Richard's really in that facility, Jake can get us in."
Elena's phone buzzes with a text from an unknown number: Time is running out, Dr. Vasquez. Tick tock. The Architect
Attached is a live video feed showing Richard strapped to a chair in a sterile white room, electrodes attached to his temples. A timer in the corner of the screen shows: 04:23:17... 04:23:16... 04:23:15...
Four hours and twenty-three minutes until they extract his memories and kill him.
Elena looks at Marcus, seeing her own determination reflected in his eyes.
"Make the call," she says.