Chapter 3: Ghosts in the Code

Aarya stared at the screen in front of her, the electric-blue glow of the monitors making her already pale face seem even more ghostlike. Data streamed across the screen—strings of code, encrypted fragments, files marked "TOP SECRET" with timestamps going back years.

“Who built all this?” she murmured, eyes scanning the layers of security firewalls.

Rivan stood across from her, arms crossed, the shadows of the room dancing over his sharp features. “Part me. Part Ilan. And part of someone neither of us should’ve trusted.”

Her head snapped toward him. “What do you mean?”

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he walked to one of the worktables, picked up a thick, beat-up folder, and tossed it in front of her. “Open it.”

Inside were photographs—grainy surveillance stills, printouts of chat logs, phone call transcripts. Her breath hitched as she saw her parents’ names scrawled on the top page: Project Helix – Subject: Kiran & Mira Velen – Status: Unknown.

Aarya’s fingers trembled as she flipped through the pages. Her parents had vanished when she was thirteen. She was told they’d died in a car accident. The funeral had been closed-casket. Too much damage, they said. No one questioned it.

But these files told another story.

“You knew about this?” she whispered, voice raw.

“I found fragments of it after Ilan vanished,” Rivan said. “At first, I thought it was unrelated. But then I started finding crosslinks—names, dates, signatures. Your father’s digital trail didn’t end at death. It just… went dark.”

Aarya’s eyes locked with his. “So you think they’re alive?”

Rivan exhaled slowly. “Possibly. Or at least, they were part of something that didn’t want to be remembered.”

The weight of years of questions slammed into her. “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me? Why didn’t Ilan?”

“He tried,” Rivan said gently. “The encrypted messages you’ve been decoding? They were his way of guiding you. But it wasn’t safe. Not with people watching you.”

Aarya’s jaw clenched. “And you? What’s your part in this?”

For a long moment, Rivan was quiet. Then he said, “I was part of Operation Echo Code—a classified project initiated by a joint task force between the government and a private tech syndicate.”

She blinked. “And my family?”

“Project Helix. Parallel development to Echo Code. They were trying to use predictive AI to detect patterns in global crime networks. Your parents were key scientists. Ilan was trained from childhood to take over if anything went wrong.”

“And what about me?” Aarya asked, her voice barely audible.

“You were the failsafe.”

Those words made her blood freeze. “What?”

Rivan looked pained. “I shouldn’t be the one telling you this. But if we’re going to survive what’s coming, you need to know… You’re not just a sister looking for answers. You were encoded into the entire system. Your brain, your patterns—your way of thinking. It’s what Ilan designed the decryption protocols around.”

She stumbled back, heart racing. “You’re saying I’m a key?”

“No,” he said softly. “I’m saying… you’re the last one who can open the truth.”

......................

Meanwhile, in a sleek glass building across the city, a woman in a lab coat adjusted her glasses as she watched a screen.

“She’s begun decoding Level 3,” she muttered.

A man behind her nodded. “Should we initiate Phase 2?”

“Not yet. Let her dig. She’s emotionally unstable. That will either break her… or unlock her.”

On the monitor, a live feed of Aarya flickered for a moment—just long enough to catch her look of fear.

“Besides,” the woman said, her lips curling into a smile, “it’s more fun when they think they’re free.”

......................

Back in the safehouse, Rivan poured two cups of black coffee and handed one to Aarya.

“You haven’t asked the obvious,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow.

“Why me?” he clarified. “Why am I helping you?”

She stared into her cup. “Because you failed my brother.”

“That’s part of it,” he admitted.

“And the other part?”

His expression turned distant. “Because I think we were all pawns in a game we didn’t know we were playing.”

He pulled out a flash drive. “This? This holds the last file Ilan uploaded before he vanished. I’ve never cracked it.”

“Why not?”

“Because he didn’t build it for me,” Rivan said. “He built it for you.”

Aarya took the drive slowly. Her hands were still shaking. “Then I guess we find out what he left behind.”

As she inserted the drive into the system, her eyes widened. A message popped up.

>Hello, sis!!.❤

"If you’re seeing this, I’m already gone.

But I left a trail. Just like we used to in treasure hunts.

Only this time… the prize is the truth.

Trust no one. Not even him.

Not even yourself."

......................

...**To Be Continued...**...

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***