The lies we tell

A Dead Woman's Secret

Tricia's hands trembled as she flipped open the leather-bound file.

Inside, pages of classified documents stared back at her, lab reports, psychological evaluations, records of experiments conducted on her. Each one confirming what Alden had just told her.

She wasn't Tricia Hale.

At least, not originally.

Her real name was buried under layers of deception.

But before she could process it, Alden spoke again.

"There's more," he said, reaching into his coat. "Something Maya left behind."

Tricia's breath caught. Maya.

Her bestfriend. Her protector. The woman who had died to keep her safe.

Alden pulled out a small encrypted flash drive and held it up between his fingers.

"Consider this my last gift to you," he said, tossing it to her. "Maya recorded the truth before she died. If you really want answers, you'll listen."

Tricia caught the drive, her pulse hammering.

Alden turned to leave, but not before throwing one last look over his shoulder.

"Be careful, Tricia. Some truths are better left buried."

Then he was gone.

And she was left standing there, holding the last message from a dead woman.

The Hidden Recordings

Back at the motel, Jared and Nathan hovered as Tricia inserted the flash drive into Nathan's laptop.

The screen flickered. A single folder appeared.

MAYA – FOR TRICIA

Tricia clicked it open.

Inside were video files.

Dozens of them.

Her chest tightened as she selected the first one.

The screen lit up with static, then resolved into Maya's face.

She looked different, tired, haunted, afraid.

Then she spoke.

"If you're watching this, Tricia, it means I didn't make it."

Tricia's stomach clenched.

Maya took a shaky breath.

"There's something you don't know, something I never told you. And I'm sorry. But I did it to protect you."

Tricia's hands balled into fists.

She had trusted Maya with everything. And now, even from beyond the grave, Maya was still keeping secrets.

Maya swallowed hard before continuing.

"Your past, it's not what you think. The name Tricia Hale? It was given to you. Your real name is,"

The video cut to static.

Tricia's breath hitched. "No, no, no!"

She clicked the next file.

Maya's face reappeared, urgency burning in her eyes.

"They're lying to you, Tricia. S.O.L.A.C.E. didn't just experiment on you. They created you."

Tricia's world stopped.

Created?

Jared muttered a curse. Nathan paled.

Maya continued.

"You weren't just another test subject. You were designed. Engineered. Everything you are, your skills, your instincts, it was all programmed."

Tricia's breathing grew ragged.

This couldn't be true.

She was human. She was real.

But Maya wasn't done.

"And the worst part?"

"You weren't the only one."

The room fell into silence.

Tricia felt like she was drowning.

If Maya was telling the truth…

Then who else was out there?

The Director's Agenda

The silence in the l room was suffocating.

Tricia's hands trembled as she hovered over the next video file. Maya's revelations had shattered everything she thought she knew. She wasn't just an experiment, she was engineered.

And she wasn't alone.

Jared and Nathan exchanged uneasy glances. They had heard the same words, but neither dared to speak first.

Finally, Tricia clicked the next video.

Maya's image flickered onto the screen, her eyes shadowed with exhaustion.

"There's something you need to understand, Tricia. This was never about you alone. You were part of something bigger, a prototype. A proof of concept."

Tricia's looked blank.

Prototype?

Maya leaned forward, her voice urgent.

"And the one behind it all… is the Director."

The screen cut to static.

Tricia shot to her feet. "Who the hell is the Director?"

Nathan folded his arms. "I was hoping you'd tell me."

Jared ran a hand through his hair. "We've been chasing ghosts, but this guy, he's the one pulling the strings."

Tricia clicked on another video.

Maya appeared again, her face lined with frustration.

"The Director isn't just some scientist or some bureaucrat running S.O.L.A.C.E. from the shadows. He's something worse."

"He's the reason we all ended up here."

"His real name is Dr. Malcolm Voss."

Nathan stiffened.

Tricia noticed. "You know him."

Nathan hesitated before nodding. "Voss wasn't just a scientist. He was a strategist. A war architect. He didn't just create S.O.L.A.C.E., he designed it like a machine, piece by piece, experiment by experiment."

Tricia's fingers clenched around the edge of the table.

She had spent so long chasing Lorne , convinced he was the mastermind.

But Lorne was just a pawn.

The real monster had been lurking behind the scenes all along.

The video continued.

"Voss isn't content with what he's already done. He's looking for the final piece."

Maya's face darkened.

"And that piece… is you."

The screen cut out.

The room was silent.

Then Jared exhaled sharply. "We have to find him before he finds us."

Nathan's expression was grim. "You don't 'find' Malcolm Voss."

Tricia's eyes burned with rage.

"Then we make him come to us."

Breaking the Code

The motel felt smaller with every passing second. Tricia paced near the window, staring into the night, her thoughts tangled. Dr. Malcolm Voss. The name carried a weight that suffocated her. He wasn't just another piece of the puzzle, he was the architect of everything she had suffered.

Nathan sat at the table, flipping through the last of Maya's files, while Jared checked their weapons. Reed leaned against the far wall, silent. The revelation of Voss had changed everything, but they still had no way to track him.

Then the burner phone on the nightstand buzzed.

Everyone tensed.

Tricia grabbed it, her voice steady despite the dread curling in her stomach. "Who is this?"

A distorted voice crackled through the speaker. "Someone who wants Voss dead as much as you do."

Tricia exchanged glances with Jared before answering, "Then tell me something useful."

The voice hesitated. "You want the location of the main S.O.L.A.C.E. archive? I have it. But there's a price."

Tricia clenched her jaw. "What price?"

"You come alone. Meet me at the old Monroe train depot in one hour."

The line went dead.

Nathan stood. "It's a trap."

"Of course it is," Jared muttered.

Tricia exhaled slowly. "We don't have a choice. If this person really has access to the archives, we might finally have a way to stop Voss."

Reed shook his head. "You walk in there alone, you don't walk out."

Tricia turned to Jared. "Then don't let me go in alone."

The Deal with the Devil

The Monroe train depot was a graveyard of rusted rails and forgotten machinery, cloaked in the eerie glow of flickering streetlights. Tricia walked in first, her boots crunching against the dirt-covered floor. Shadows stretched along the walls, each one a potential threat.

Then she saw him.

A man stood near an abandoned ticket booth, half-hidden in the dark. He wore a hood, his posture rigid. Tricia took another step forward, her hand brushing against the knife strapped to her thigh.

"Show me your face," she demanded.

The man exhaled sharply before pulling back his hood.

Tricia froze.

It was Dr. Lorne.

Jared and Nathan emerged from their hiding spots, guns raised. Lorne barely flinched. His face was gaunt, his usual arrogance dulled by something more desperate.

"You're supposed to be dead," Jared growled.

Lorne's lips twitched. "I've been dead to S.O.L.A.C.E. for a long time. That's why I'm here."

Tricia's mind reeled. Lorne had been their enemy for so long, the scientist responsible for so many horrors. Yet here he was, looking less like a villain and more like a hunted man.

"You have five seconds to tell me why I shouldn't kill you," she said coldly.

Lorne raised his hands. "Because I'm the only one who can get you into Voss's archive."

Nathan's finger hovered over the trigger. "Why would you betray him now?"

Lorne hesitated. His eyes, sharp even under exhaustion, met Tricia's.

"Because I finally understand what he's planning," Lorne said. "And if you don't stop him, he won't just erase your past, Tricia. He'll erase your future."

A chill ran down her spine.

"Explain."

Lorne exhaled. "Voss isn't just continuing the experiments. He's evolving them. The children S.O.L.A.C.E. used before? They were trials. You? You were the blueprint. But the final product?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "It's already in motion."

Jared stepped closer. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Lorne swallowed. "I can't say more here. The moment I turned against him, I became a loose end. He has people everywhere. We have to move,"

A gunshot rang out.

Lorne stiffened, his eyes widening in shock before blood bloomed across his chest. He collapsed.

"Sniper!" Nathan shouted.

Tricia dove for cover as more bullets tore through the station. Jared fired back, but the shooter was well-hidden.

Lorne gasped, blood trickling from his lips. Tricia crawled to him, pressing a hand against his wound.

"Where is the archive?" she demanded.

Lorne coughed violently. His shaking hand reached for the inside of his jacket. He pulled out a blood-stained flash drive and shoved it into her grip.

His voice was barely a whisper.

"Voss… is already one step ahead."

His body went limp.

Voss had just silenced his own man.

Which meant Lorne wasn't lying.

And now, they had the key to breaking the code.

The Safehouse Betrayal

Tricia clenched the blood-stained flash drive, her mind racing. Dr. Lorne had died giving her this, proof that Voss was already ahead of them. But the sniper attack proved something worse. Someone had tipped him off.

They weren't just being hunted. They had a traitor in their midst.

Jared dragged her to cover as another bullet ricocheted off a rusted beam. Nathan fired back, his expression tight with fury. The shooter was skilled, their position shifting after every shot. They weren't just killing Lorne. They were covering their tracks.

"We need to move, now!" Reed shouted.

Tricia didn't argue. She stuffed the flash drive into her pocket and ran.

The train depot was a death trap. Bullets whizzed past as they darted between abandoned carriages, their boots slamming against the damp concrete.

Nathan led the way, guiding them through a collapsed tunnel that reeked of mildew. They emerged behind a crumbling brick wall near the street, just as a black SUV screeched around the corner.

Jared shoved Tricia into the back seat before diving in after her. Nathan slid behind the wheel, slamming his foot on the gas.

Reed was the last to enter, his face grim. "That wasn't just some random hit squad."

"No," Tricia muttered, gripping the flash drive. "Someone told Voss we'd be there."

Silence filled the car. No one denied it.

Someone inside their circle had betrayed them.

The Warning

Nathan took them to a safehouse, a rundown cabin deep in the Wisconsin woods, the tension was suffocating. The second Nathan killed the engine, Tricia stormed inside.

"We need to talk," she snapped.

Jared locked the doors behind them. "Yeah. We do."

Nathan folded his arms, his sharp gaze sweeping over them. "Who knew we were meeting Lorne?"

"Only us," Reed said.

Jared's eyes darkened. "Then one of us set him up."

Tricia pulled out the flash drive and set it on the table. "Lorne died for this. If Voss wanted it destroyed, he would've made sure it didn't get to me."

Nathan leaned forward. "Then why didn't the shooter kill you?"

That question hit like a punch to the gut.

Tricia's pulse quickened. Someone had wanted Lorne silenced, but not her.

She looked at the faces around her. Nathan, Jared, Reed. She had trusted them with her life.

Had one of them been working against her all along?

The Betrayal Revealed

Nathan pulled out his laptop and inserted the flash drive. Files flickered across the screen, encrypted data, old reports, surveillance logs.

Tricia leaned in. "Can you break it?"

"Give me a second."

Jared and Reed stood on opposite ends of the room, their hands close to their weapons. No one spoke. The air was thick with distrust.

Then the screen changed.

Accessing last known log…

Authorized by: Reed Calder

Tricia froze.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she turned to Reed. His name was on the system.

Reed stiffened. "That's not possible."

Nathan's fingers flew over the keyboard. "It's pulling up login records. You accessed the database two nights ago. Directly from our last safehouse."

Jared drew his gun. "Tell me you have a damn good explanation for this."

Reed's face hardened. "I didn't sell us out."

Tricia clenched her fists. "Then how the hell did Voss know exactly where we'd be?"

Reed's jaw tightened. "You think I planned this?"

Nathan's voice was cold. "I think you have two seconds to convince us otherwise."

Reed exhaled sharply, then lifted his hands. "I didn't betray you. But someone used my credentials."

Tricia narrowed her eyes. "Who else had access?"

Reed hesitated. Then his expression shifted, realization hitting him like a freight train.

"Wait," he muttered. "That's not possible."

Jared's grip on his gun tightened. "What?"

Reed swallowed hard. "The only other person who knew my access codes…"

His voice dropped.

"Was Maya."

A Ghost in the System

Silence.

Tricia felt the ground shift beneath her. Maya. The woman who had left behind recordings, clues, secrets.

Jared's voice was sharp. "Maya's dead, Reed."

Reed shook his head. "That's what I thought, too. But what if, what if she left something behind?"

Nathan's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

Reed turned to Tricia. "What if Voss isn't the only one playing us?"

Then their enemy wasn't just Voss.

It was someone who knew Maya.

The End of the Beginning

The air in the safehouse was thick with tension. Reed's revelation changed everything. If someone had been using Maya's credentials to track them, it meant their enemy was closer than they'd ever imagined.

Tricia paused, her mind racing. Voss wasn't the only one playing them. Someone else had access to Maya's past, and worse, they had manipulated Reed's credentials to set them up.

"We don't have time for theories," Jared said sharply. "Whoever is behind this is still watching us. We need to move."

Nathan's fingers tapped against the laptop. "There's another problem."

Tricia turned. "What?"

Nathan exhaled. "I decrypted a partial file from Lorne's flash drive. It contains coordinates."

Jared frowned. "To what?"

Nathan's expression darkened. "A location linked to Project S.O.L.A.C.E. But there's more." He hesitated. "The files mention you, Tricia. And your real name."

Tricia's breath hitched. Her real name. The one she had never known.

She swallowed hard. "Where is it?"

Nathan hesitated before turning the screen to her. The coordinates blinked back at her.

Langley, Virginia.

The location wasn't just anywhere, it was in the heart of CIA territory. If Project S.O.L.A.C.E. had ties to Langley, it meant this went deeper than she had ever imagined.

But it also meant one thing: she needed help.

Jared was already shaking his head. "No way. You're not going in there alone."

Tricia turned to him. "We don't have a choice."

Nathan crossed his arms. "What's the plan?"

Tricia exhaled. "We make a trade."

Reed frowned. "A trade for what?"

Tricia tapped the flash drive. "We have data from Lorne's files, evidence of what Voss has been doing. We use it as leverage."

Nathan's eyes narrowed. "You're talking about handing this over to the CIA?"

Tricia met his gaze. "If it gets us answers, yes."

Jared looked at her like she had lost her mind. "Tricia, the CIA isn't our friend. If S.O.L.A.C.E. has connections in Langley, they'll bury this. And us along with it."

Tricia clenched her jaw. "Then we make sure they can't."

The Meeting

Twelve hours later, Tricia stood outside a non-descript government building in D.C., her heart pounding. Nathan and Jared were in the van down the street, monitoring everything.

Reed was next to her, tension written all over his face. "You sure about this?"

Tricia exhaled. "No."

Then she stepped inside.

A woman in a black suit was waiting in the dimly lit conference room. Her sharp green eyes locked onto Tricia the moment she entered.

"Miss Hale," the woman said smoothly. "Or should I say, Subject T-045?"

Tricia stiffened.

The woman smiled. "I'm Director Evelyn Rhodes. And I've been expecting you."

The Final Choice

Tricia didn't sit. "Then you know why I'm here."

Rhodes leaned back. "You want answers. And you're willing to trade for them."

Tricia placed the flash drive on the table. "This contains evidence of Project S.O.L.A.C.E. of the experiments, the human testing, the disappearances."

Rhodes studied her. "And what do you want in return?"

Tricia's voice was steady. "The truth."

Rhodes smirked. "That's a dangerous thing to ask for."

Tricia didn't flinch. "So is keeping it from me."

Rhodes was silent for a long moment. Then she folded her hands. "Very well."

She reached into her desk, pulling out a file. "Everything about you, your real identity, your connection to Maya, even why you were spared."

She slid it across the table.

Tricia stared at it.

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" Rhodes said.

Tricia's hands trembled as she reached for the file.

And then,

Rhodes pressed a button under her desk.

Alarms blared.

Tricia's stomach dropped. It was a setup.

The doors burst open, armed agents flooding in.

And in that moment, Tricia realized, this wasn't the end.

It was just the beginning of something far worse.