Beneath the Billionaire Mask - Chapter 65: Chapter 65

Safehouse Echo – Command Room – 4:09 PM
The air buzzed with static. A storm rolled over Bogotá, thunder rumbling like distant gunfire.
Elena sat in front of the cracked surveillance monitor, replaying the clone’s final words again and again.
“You should’ve known… you left me buried under Bogotá.”
Not a warning. A reminder.
Adrian stood behind her, arms crossed, trying not to let the weight of it sink in. But it already had.
One clone was a crisis.
Two meant conspiracy.
But three?
It was war.
“If there’s one still active beneath the city,” Adrian said, “then someone buried her there. Fed her. Trained her.”
Liana leaned against the doorframe, pale but composed. “Or someone activated her… after watching you for years.”
Elena clenched her jaw. “I need to go back.”
Adrian moved immediately. “No. You’re not going underground alone.”
“I have to see it. Whatever’s down there—it started with me. I need to finish it.”
Adrian stared at her like he was watching her slip into something he couldn’t follow.
“What if they’re using your instincts against you?”
“Then I’ll use mine first.”
Bogotá Subterranean Transit Line – Access Shaft 17B – 6:41 PM
Dust choked the air. Old rail tunnels, half-flooded, half-abandoned, stretched for miles beneath the city. Elena’s flashlight flicked across rusted signage and scorch marks. A ghost of the city that once lived.
Adrian followed a few paces behind her, steps silent but sharp. Liana flanked them, armed and tense.
They reached a concrete door sealed by a biometric lock—one with a hand scanner Elena recognized instantly.
Hers.
“How does it recognize you if you’ve never been here?” Liana asked.
Elena didn’t answer.
The door opened with a low hiss.
And behind it, a room bloomed with soft white lights and mirrors.
Every surface reflected her.
Or what looked like her.
Photos lined one wall. Surveillance stills. Heat signatures. DNA readouts.
And in the center—a glass tank filled with a silvery fluid.
Something moved inside.
Slowly.
Gracefully.
Until its eyes opened.
And they were hers.
“Welcome back,” said the voice behind them.
They turned—guns up.
A woman stepped forward in a tailored black coat, heels echoing on steel.
Not Elena. Not exactly.
But close.
“CR-01 Prime,” she said, smiling. “It’s time we stopped pretending we’re strangers.”
Safehouse Echo – Medical Wing – 3:02 PM
Elena sat on the edge of the examination table, fingers absently tracing the scar behind her ear—the one that had begun to burn again. It wasn’t coincidence. Not anymore.
Adrian entered quietly, closing the door behind him.
“They’re tracking you,” he said. “Every time you get close to the truth… something flares.”
She nodded. “It’s like a leash I never knew I had.”
“We’ll break it.”
She gave him a tired smile. “You say that like it’s easy.”
“It’s not. But it’s necessary.”
There was a knock. Liana stepped in with a tablet in hand and a pale face. “I decrypted another layer of the registry. CR-01 wasn’t the first Elena clone. She was the last.”
Adrian stiffened. “How many before her?”
Liana hesitated. “At least five.”
Elena looked up sharply. “What happened to the others?”
“Terminated,” Liana said. “Or vanished. But one—one was listed as Integrated.”
Elena’s blood chilled. “Integrated?”
“Merged with an original host through neural mapping.”
Adrian’s eyes snapped to Elena. “They didn’t just copy you. They tried to overwrite you.”
She stood slowly, mind spinning.
“What if they succeeded?”
Liana handed her the tablet. A name glowed across the screen.
CR-01 Prime. Status: Mobilized. Directive: Assimilate.
“She’s not trying to replace you,” Liana whispered.
“She thinks she already is you.”
Elsewhere Underground Relay Station Unknown Coordinates
CR-01 Prime sat at a terminal, her fingers dancing across controls as she synced files from the Black Archive.
Behind her, a figure approached tall, broad-shouldered, with a voice like poison.
“They’re reacting faster than expected,” the man said.
She didn’t turn. “That’s what trauma does. It sharpens instincts. But instincts won’t save them this time.”
He placed a small box on the table. Inside was a ring a match to the one Elena wore in Bogotá.
Identical.
“Phase Three?” he asked.
She smiled.
“Let’s see what happens… when she watches herself burn.”
Safehouse Echo – Tactical Room – 4:20 PM
Rain lashed the windows, a warning in every droplet.
Elena stared at the still image of her double on the screen. Her clone. Her shadow. CR-01 Prime. The resemblance was flawless down to the tilt of her jaw, the heat in her gaze.
But it wasn’t her.
It couldn’t be.
Adrian paced nearby, his fists clenched as Liana overlaid new data from the Black Archive into a digital map of South America. Points lit up across it like a plague—nodes, installations, relay stations. Each one linked to Sleepwalker.
“There are at least nine replication facilities still dormant,” Liana muttered. “But Prime wasn’t created to be passive. She was made to infiltrate. To observe.”
“To replace,” Adrian corrected.
Elena whispered, “They didn’t build her as backup. They built her as a contingency.”
She turned from the screen.
“If I died.”
The words hung in the air like ash.
Adrian stepped closer. “You didn’t. You’re here. You’re you.”
She turned her gaze on him, jaw trembling. “How do we know that anymore? I have memories I can’t explain. Reflexes I never trained for. The scar behind my ear—Adrian, what if I’m not the original?”
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Then Adrian stepped forward, cupped her face gently, and said—
“I don’t care if you were born in a hospital, a lab, or in the wreckage of something they tried to destroy. You are Elena Cruz. You’re the one who made me choose the light. Who saw through the mask I spent a lifetime hiding behind.”
He touched her scar.
“They might have engineered pieces of you. But your soul? That was never theirs to copy.”
Her breath hitched.
Then Liana interrupted—her voice tense. “We have movement.”
They rushed to the console. A camera feed flickered from a train station in Cartagena. On it, CR-01 Prime walked through the crowd, unnoticed, eyes scanning with perfect calm.
Elena leaned in.
“She’s looking for someone.”
Adrian nodded grimly. “Or something.”
Liana tapped the keyboard, enhanced the footage.
“There. In her hand.”
They zoomed in. CR-01 Prime held a silver cylinder with Black Archive markings—and a barcode tagged to Elena’s father’s final project.
“Project NIGHTFALL,” Elena breathed. “She found it.”
Adrian looked to Liana. “Where does that station lead?”
Liana’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. “A shipyard. Off-grid. No customs. No questions. And according to ghost-satellite tracking… a black vessel left port two hours ago.”
“Destination?”
“Uncharted waters. Floating lab. Codename: The Spine.”
Adrian grabbed his gear. “Then we go after it.”
But Liana raised her hand. “Wait—there’s more.”
She pulled up a biometric heat signature overlay. It matched CR-01 Prime perfectly except for one small detail.
“She’s not alone.”
Another figure walked beside Prime. A man.
The image focused.
And Elena’s blood froze.
It was Marcus Vale.
Elsewhere – The Spine – Aboard the Floating Lab – 7:14 PM
Marcus poured a drink with lazy precision. Prime stood at the window, watching the ocean swallow the horizon.
“Why her?” he asked. “Out of all the clones, why does this one haunt you?”
Prime didn’t answer.
He stepped closer, swirling the glass.
“Because she was first? Or because she beat you to him?”
At that, Prime turned.
“Because she never had to pretend.”
Marcus raised a brow. “And yet here you are. Wearing her face. Studying her moves. Chasing a man who’ll never love you back.”
She didn’t flinch.
“He will. Once I’ve erased the flaw.”
“Which one?”
Prime smiled.
“Her.”
Safehouse Echo – Elena’s Room – 9:47 PM
Elena sat by the window, watching the storm roll in. Adrian joined her, silent.
She leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I’m scared.”
He reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers.
“Then let’s be scared together.”
She turned to him. “Promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“When we face her… don’t hesitate.”
“Elena”
“Don’t look at her like she’s me. Don’t talk to her like she’s me. Because if she wins, even for a second—then I lose everything.”
Adrian swallowed hard.
“You won’t.”
Outside, the thunder rolled louder.
Inside, Elena whispered
“I hope you’re right.”
Bogotá – Safehouse Echo – Surveillance Bay – 10:03 PM
The rain hadn’t stopped.
On the wall-sized screen in front of her, Elena watched herself.
CR-01 Prime’s image paused mid-stride, frozen in an eerie mirror of her gait. The only way to tell the difference was the coldness in the eyes. Or maybe that was projection. Maybe the line between them was thinner than she wanted to admit.
“She doesn’t blink like me,” Elena murmured.
Liana, seated beside her, looked up from the screen. “How do you mean?”
“When she walks. When she talks. The pacing’s right. But when she blinks… it’s off. Programmed, not natural.”
Adrian leaned in. “So she’s learning. Improving.”
“Yeah,” Elena whispered. “To become me.”
Liana looked between them, voice tight. “Then we’re on a clock.”
She tapped her tablet again, zooming in on a data transmission picked up from the ship. Marcus had activated a secure channel—a direct line to someone labeled only as “Archivist Zero.”
“Who the hell is that?” Adrian asked.
“No idea,” Liana said. “But Prime reports to them. Not Marcus.”
Elena’s heart skipped. “So he’s not the mastermind.”
“No,” Liana said. “He’s just a messenger. A scalpel. But whoever the Archivist is… they’ve had eyes on Project Blackwood for years.”
Adrian stood, rage simmering under control. “Then this isn’t just about Elena. This is about all of us.”
“It’s bigger,” Liana agreed. “Replicas, deep surveillance, neural backups… NIGHTFALL was only the surface.”
Elena turned away from the screen. “And it’s time we stopped being pawns in someone else’s experiment.”
Off the Coast of French Guiana – Aboard the Spine – 11:41 PM
CR-01 Prime stared into the polished steel of the corridor’s mirrored wall. Her fingers traced her reflection’s cheekbone. Perfect symmetry. Identical flaw.
She pressed her forehead to the steel.
Behind her, Marcus approached with a soft chuckle. “Talking to yourself again?”
“I’m reprogramming the parts she tried to bury.”
“You mean the parts that made her human?”
She turned.
“The parts that made her weak.”
Marcus held up a drive. “I’ve got full access to her childhood logs now—thanks to her father’s clearance. Every trauma. Every lie. Every betrayal.”
Prime’s smile was sharp. “Good. Then I’ll know exactly how to take everything from her.”
“And when you do?”
She stepped closer to him, the lights in the lab flickering above them.
“I’ll erase the last piece of her from existence.”
A door hissed open behind them. A tall figure stepped in.
The man wore a slate-gray coat, his eyes veiled behind circular black lenses. The room chilled.
“Is she ready?” the man asked.
Marcus stiffened. “You’re early.”
“We’re late,” the man corrected. “Phase Three begins at dawn.”
CR-01 Prime tilted her head. “And what’s Phase Three?”
The man smiled faintly.
“The collapse of memory. If the world forgets who Elena Cruz ever was—then no one will question the face that remains.”
Safehouse Echo – Elena’s Quarters – 12:03 AM
Elena stood at the mirror.
This time, her reflection moved in sync.
“Not letting you win,” she whispered to her own eyes. “I’m not your shadow.”
Adrian entered quietly. She didn’t turn.
“You ever wonder if there’s a version of you out there that never took the deal?” she asked softly. “The one who stayed safe. Unbroken. Loved.”
Adrian stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Then that version never met you.”
Their eyes met in the mirror—both weary, both forged in fire.
“We take the fight to them tomorrow,” she said.
“We do,” Adrian confirmed. “But not just to stop them.”
She nodded. “To remind them I’m not a product. I’m not a copy. I’m Elena Cruz. And I’m coming for every lie they ever told.”
Safehouse Echo – Rooftop Surveillance Post – 1:17 AM
Bogotá’s skyline bled into the horizon, the city lights flickering like coded pulses beneath the rain. Elena stood alone at the edge of the rooftop, her coat clinging to her frame as wind coiled around her. In her hand was a file—one Julia had decrypted just an hour ago. One labeled simply: “Blackwood Backup Protocol: Echo Profiles.”
Inside were snapshots of test subjects from Project NIGHTFALL replicated memories, surgical scars, personality overlays.
And her name appeared twice.
One entry marked CR-01: Host Designate.
The second: CR-01 Prime: Adaptive Asset.
Her stomach turned.
“Reading in the rain?” Adrian’s voice came from behind her.
She didn’t turn. “Trying to remember which parts of me were mine before all this.”
He stepped beside her, silent for a moment, then said, “Your fire? That was never programmed.”
She finally looked at him, eyes glassy but resolute. “Then why does she move like me? Think like me?”
“Because she studied you. She mimicked you. But she doesn’t feel like you.” He reached out, fingers brushing hers. “She can’t. That’s the difference.”
Elena closed the file and slipped it inside her coat. “They gave her all my rage and none of my regret. That makes her dangerous.”
“She’s still a shadow,” Adrian said. “You’re the fire she couldn’t control.”
Elsewhere – Maritime Signal Relay Node #7 – 2:02 AM
The corridor was clinically white. At its core stood Archivist Zero—the man behind the mirrors.
He watched the holographic feed of both Elena and Prime side by side. Their movements. Voice modulations. Neural spike readings.
“Initiate Phase Three,” he said calmly.
The technician beside him hesitated. “There’s a risk if they converge in real time—”
“That’s the point.”
He leaned closer to the screen.
“Let the real one see what she was supposed to become. And let the replica remember what she was built to erase.”
Behind him, the walls shimmered—revealing tanks. Eleven bodies. Floating. Breathing.
Only two were active.
For now.
Safehouse Echo – Strategy Room – 2:44 AM
Liana slammed her hand on the desk. “They’ve activated the Sleepwalker Loop. It’s broadcasting low-frequency neuro-triggers across all Blackwood facilities. Prime’s being guided remotely.”
“Can we block it?” Adrian asked.
“Not without alerting them we cracked the signal. We need a diversion.”
Elena’s gaze sharpened. “Then we give them what they want.”
Liana frowned. “What do you mean?”
“We let her find me. We let them watch.”
Adrian shook his head. “No. That’s exactly what they’re counting on.”
“They think I’m still running scared,” Elena said, stepping forward. “It’s time I gave them a reason to be afraid.”
Maritime Relay Ship – 3:00 AM
CR-01 Prime stood in the corridor, facing her own reflection in a steel panel.
The mirrored image flickered.
Then Elena’s voice crackled from an overhead comm link.
“Looking for me?”
Prime stiffened. Her head turned slowly toward the nearest terminal, where Elena’s face appeared in real time.
“You’ve been wearing my face,” Elena said. “Let’s see if you can carry my fire.”
Prime’s fingers twitched.
“Location received,” came a voice behind her. Archivist Zero’s tone was amused. “It’s time.”
Prime smiled calm, deadly.
“Let’s show her what perfection looks like.”