Chapter 7 - THE SINGLE SHOOTER
The Defense Continuity Program could not maintain multiple identical shooters forever.
Contradictory records had begun appearing.
Different missions.
Different wounds.
Different DNA samples.
If independent investigators compared them, the network would collapse.
Voss planned a final authentication event.
Each Elena would fire at the same target under identical stress.
The one whose biometric response matched the archive best would become legal.
The others would be declared impostors and eliminated.
Marcus believed helping select the survivor would earn him command.
Ryan knew the archive’s weakness.
It relied on one emotional trigger:
Humiliation followed by corrective violence.
Every Elena had been trained to prove herself after being mocked.
I had fired too.
But I destroyed the relay, not a person.
That response corrupted the profile.
Claire warned that Voss would force another shot.
Then the bunker doors locked.
Gas entered through the vents.
Ryan collapsed first.
Dylan covered his mouth.
Aaron found the emergency valve.
Marcus’s voice came through the speaker.
“Elena, take the rifle and the door opens.”
I looked at the weapon.
One round.
One target screen.
The target showed Marcus.
He wanted me to shoot an image and complete the aggression pattern.
I removed the firing pin.
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Then used it to open the vent housing.
Read Chapter 8 to see how restraint became the escape route.
