Clear Water, Hidden Danger

Chapter 28 - The Man They Thought They Knew

For the first time since the pulses began, the control room felt small.

Not because of the walls.
Because of the people standing in it.

Alex kept a hand on my shoulder, thumb still brushing a line on my skin like she was making sure I stayed in this reality. Cruz hovered near the table, gloves half-off, eyes tracking every micro-tremor in my hands. Carmen stood behind her, breath tight, jaw tighter. Wolf had taken up position against the broken frame of the door, arms crossed, expression locked somewhere between concern, calculation, and what the hell did we just watch.

No one moved.
No one spoke first.

They were waiting for me to say something.

I didn’t.

I was still staring at the monitor, at the frozen frame of my own face strapped to an ECHO chair, eyes vacant, pulse flatlining, the timestamp burned into the corner like a brand.

Alex finally broke the silence.

“RJ… baby… talk to me.”

Her voice was soft.
But the room felt heavy enough to crush bone.

I pushed myself upright with slow, deliberate hands. My limbs still felt electric, like the seizure had wired me into something I wasn’t meant to touch.

Cruz crouched in front of me. “Blink twice if you feel dizzy. Once if you feel nauseous.”

“I’m fine.”

“That was not ‘fine.’” She gestured at the floor. “People don’t just drop like someone flipped a switch.”

Wolf shifted. “It looked like a trigger response.”

Carmen’s voice tightened. “Trigger from what?”

I should’ve said I don’t know.

I should’ve lied.

But every pair of eyes in that room had earned the truth — or at least the part I could manage to speak without feeling the floor tilt again.

I pointed at the frozen frame on the monitor.

“That… was me. Years ago. And whatever that pulse under Well House 27 is — it’s connected.”

The air seemed to thin.

Wolf straightened off the door frame, arms unfolding. “So what? They… what — programmed you?”

Cruz’s breath hitched.

Alex squeezed my arm harder, like the idea alone made her stomach twist.

“No,” I said, voice even but low. “Not programmed. Conditioned. There’s a difference.”

Wolf frowned. “One leads to the other.”

Silence again.

The kind that makes people reevaluate everything they thought they knew about the man standing in front of them.

Hawk appeared in the doorway — quiet, sharp, eyes flicking to the screen. He froze.

“Jesus…” he whispered.

Cruz swallowed hard. “RJ… those files… they were memory wipes. Neural resets.”

Carmen’s jaw trembled. “You were one of them.”

Alex’s voice cracked, but she kept it steady. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t know.”

That landed like a dropped anchor.

I took a breath that felt like dragging barbed wire into my lungs.

“Look,” I said, scanning each face, “you all know who I am — or at least who I’ve been. Corrections. Contractor. Security. I’ve seen things. Done things. But this—” I pointed at the footage “—this isn’t one of the things I remembered.”

Wolf’s brow creased. “And now?”

“…Now I’m remembering pieces someone didn’t want me to.”

Hawk spoke softly. “From Kandahar?”

The word made my skull throb.

Sand. Heat. The tone. The mirrored shades. The calm voice ordering another frequency test. My own voice whispering not again.

I nodded once.

Cruz put a hand over her mouth.

Alex closed her eyes like she was trying to keep from breaking in front of everyone.

Wolf looked at me like he was counting new variables.

Carmen whispered, “My God…”

Then Lin rushed in, breathless, tablet in hand.

“The hum,” he said. “It’s back. Stronger. It’s running through the pipes and the south conduit. Whatever’s under Well House 27… it’s active again.”

Everyone turned toward me like I was the piece of equipment that suddenly developed sentience.

Not scared.

Not angry.

Just realizing they didn’t know the man they thought they did.

I stood fully, steady now.

“I’m still me,” I said. “I’m still the man who kept this place standing. Who got you through the worst days we’ve had.”

Alex pressed her forehead against my shoulder. “I know who you are.”

Wolf didn’t look away. “But you’re connected to whatever started this.”

I didn’t deny it.

Couldn’t.

“Then we figure it out,” I said. “Together. Same as always.”

The lights flickered once — soft, almost polite.

Like something beneath our feet had just acknowledged me.

And for the first time, no one doubted it.

Not even me.

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ANONYMOUS FIELD LOG — ENTRY ALPHA
CLASSIFIED — PROJECT ECHO CLEARANCE REQUIRED:
Subject Zero exposed to archival Neural Cleanse footage, triggering partial mnemonic resurfacing and elevated resonance output detectable across CWP. Incident produced acute physiological distress but no permanent impairment. Core group maintained cohesion despite psychological shock; Subject reasserted leadership role and stabilized team response. South conduit oscillation increased concurrently, indicating sublevel recognition of Anchor activity. Recommend continued shadow-range proximity as alignment between Subject and subterranean node is accelerating.
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ANONYMOUS FIELD LOG — ENTRY BRAVO
CLASSIFIED — PROJECT ECHO CLEARANCE REQUIRED:
NLC registered a synchronized hum surge during CWP activation event. Leadership initiated closed-door analysis; no identification of Anchor involvement. Patient agitation in south wing escalated in exact resonance window, consistent with regional oscillation bleed. Internal hierarchy remains strained but functional, increasing observational reach for embedded asset. Recommend continued monitoring of command discussions as facility moves toward pre-mobilization posture.