4 Months Before It Happened, He Built a Secret Underground Shelter
Chapter 8
Daniel pulled Sophie behind the control console.
Martin raised his rifle.
The door opened slowly.
A man entered.
Daniel stared.
It was Martin.
Another Martin.
Identical.
Same face.
Same clothes.
Same voice.
Daniel couldn’t breathe.
The man looked at the real Martin.
“Hello.”
Martin raised the rifle.
“Who are you?”
The duplicate smiled.
“You already know.”
Daniel looked between them.
One was covered in blood.
The other looked perfectly clean.
The duplicate stepped forward.
“I am Martin Hayes.”
The real Martin shouted:
“He’s lying!”
The duplicate laughed.
“Am I?”
Daniel studied them.
He remembered something.
The real Martin had told him:
“They killed everyone on my team.”
But he had never mentioned the names.
Daniel asked:
“What was our first project together?”
The duplicate answered immediately.
“The Phoenix Grid.”
The real Martin said:
“Regional emergency ventilation.”
Daniel turned toward the duplicate.
He was lying.
Their first project had been the Redstone Water System.
The duplicate smiled.
“You’ve always been difficult.”
Daniel raised the crowbar.
“Who are you?”
The man stopped smiling.
“I’m someone Blackline created.”
Martin whispered:
“A synthetic identity.”
Daniel didn’t understand.
“The network uses biometric replicas,” Martin explained.
“People who can pass security systems.”
The duplicate looked at Daniel.
“And you were one of the engineers who made the technology possible.”
Daniel felt sick.
He hadn’t known.
The duplicate stepped closer.
“Your work was used to build us.”
Daniel stared at him.
“How many?”
“Enough.”
The control room alarms intensified.
The countdown continued.
03:41:12
Daniel returned to the console.
The duplicate watched.
“You can’t stop the activation.”
Daniel ignored him.
“I can.”
“You don’t have the director’s authorization.”
“I don’t need it.”
Daniel opened the system architecture.
He noticed something.
A hidden failsafe.
His original code.
He had written it years earlier.
It wasn’t designed to stop Blackline.
It was designed to stop an uncontrolled system.
If activated, it would force every connected facility into emergency manual mode.
No remote control.
No automated commands.
No central activation.
But the system required one thing.
A physical connection at the main server.
Daniel looked at Martin.
“Where’s the core?”
“Below us.”
“How far?”
“Three levels.”
“We’re going.”
The duplicate raised his weapon.
Martin fired first.
The shot hit the duplicate’s shoulder.
He fell.
Daniel grabbed Sophie.
They ran.
The elevator opened.
They descended.
Level one.
Level two.
Level three.
The elevator doors opened into a massive chamber.
At the center stood the main server.
Thousands of cables connected it to the network.
Daniel approached.
The failsafe terminal was there.
He inserted his access card.
The system asked:
CONFIRM MANUAL OVERRIDE?
Daniel pressed YES.
A second message appeared.
WARNING: ACTIVATION WILL DESTROY ALL BLACKLINE CONTROL SYSTEMS.
Daniel pressed YES again.
Nothing happened.
A final message appeared:
DIRECTOR AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Daniel’s heart sank.
Then he remembered something.
The director’s account.
He had access.
But he needed the physical authorization.
Martin looked around.
“Where is it?”
Daniel searched the chamber.
Then he saw it.
A small biometric panel.
He placed his hand on it.
The system rejected him.
UNAUTHORIZED.
Daniel tried again.
Rejected.
Then he remembered the duplicate.
Blackline had created replicas because some systems required specific biometric identities.
Daniel looked at Martin.
“We need the other Martin.”
