Someone Else’s Skin

The vial clicked into place. The machine hummed to life, cold and clinical in the dim light. Jessica watched the needle sweep like a second hand, counting down to something no one in the room was ready for. The machine whirred softly, scanning the DNA against the database they had painstakingly built from stolen Vanguard records. Olivia worked at her laptop, running the serial number on the metal tag through whatever black-market databases she had access to.

The man—who had introduced himself as Elias stood at the window, back lit by the gray wash of sea light, fists opening and closing like he was trying to squeeze a memory out of muscle.

"Anything?" Jessica asked, crossing her arms.

Leanna glanced at the screen, brow furrowed. "Give it a few more minutes. DNA scans take time."

Olivia leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples. "The ID tag’s a dead end. It’s real, but there’s no digital footprint attached to it. Almost like whoever he was… never officially existed."

Elias exhaled sharply. "That’s what I’ve been afraid of. I wake up in a hospital, no past, no connections, just this." He motioned to the tag. "And these… flashes."

Jessica studied him. "Tell me about them. The flashes."

Elias hesitated, then spoke carefully. "It’s not like full memories. More like… reactions. I know how to disarm someone. I know how to speak Russian. I know exactly how long it takes a body to drown. I don’t know why."

Jessica and Leanna exchanged a glance.

"Conditioned reflexes," Leanna muttered. "It’s possible you were trained before your memory was erased."

The analyzer beeped. Scan complete.

Leanna leaned over, eyes scanning the results. She stiffened. "Oh, hell."

Jessica moved beside her, reading over her shoulder. The DNA matched a name in the database.

Elias Raines – Deceased.

Elias stepped forward, slowly. "What does it say?"

Jessica didn’t answer right away. She didn’t need to. It was written all over Leanna’s face. Finally, Jessica’s voice cut the space between them, quiet, but final. "It says you’re dead."

Elias didn’t move. No outburst. No denial. Just a stillness that felt heavier than shouting.

"Five years ago," Jessica added. "According to Vanguard’s records."

For a beat, all Jessica could hear was the faint hum of the analyzer behind them.

Then Elias’s jaw tightened, not shock exactly , but focus. "Somebody signed that lie," he said. "I want their name."

Jessica let the silence in the room linger, then she nodded once. "So do I."

Olivia broke the quiet, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. "There’s something else," she said carefully. "Your file... it’s cross-referenced with a project name."

Jessica felt her stomach knot before Olivia even said it.

"Project Lazarus."

Jessica’s stomach twisted. Lazarus. Leanna clicked into the file, but most of it was encrypted beyond their skill level. "I need time to crack this."

Elias shook his head. "I don’t have time. If I was supposed to be dead, that means someone out there knows I’m alive. And that means I’m not safe."

Jessica’s jaw tightened. "Then we’d better find out what they left inside you… before it wakes up."

And before he found out something about himself that he didn’t want to know.