The Shadow Effect

A US senator is assassinated and his guards are killed by the assassin. The attacker detonates a grenade, blowing himself up along with several guards. The event marks the traumatic inciting incident that haunts Gabriel thereafter.

Gabriel wakes up every day with nightmares of the senator's murder. His wife Brinn comforts him as they run a restaurant together and maintain a close friendship with Sheriff Hodge. The couple attempts to live a normal life despite the haunting memories.

Gabriel begins to hear a haunting musical cue and experiences a seizure. The same music returns, pulling him back into the assassination memories. Brinn remains a steady source of support as the investigations and memories intensify.

A politician and his wife are aboard a boat when Gabriel disguises himself as the assassin to confront them. He fights the politician, falls overboard, and ends up killing him and detonating himself. The event marks a drastic escalation in Gabriel's perceived mission and memory loop.

Gabe wakes up at home to the lingering memories of the assassination. Brinn takes him to Doctor Reese, who prescribes him medication to manage his symptoms. Reese hints at a research program involving human-like clones and memory manipulation.

The music makes Gabe feel like a robot under external control. A mysterious man hands him a list bearing a target name, pulling him back toward violent missions. The sequence hints at a larger, manipulative program behind the violence.

Gabe goes to the subway and pushes the listed target in front of a train, triggering a police chase. He shoots the pursuing cop and detonates, only to awaken from the memory. He travels to the crime scene and finds a finger identical to his own, deepening the mystery and implying cloning or body reuse.

Hodge appears within the memory and kills Gabe, who then wakes up to reality again. The encounter underscores the personal stake of the investigation and Hodge's role in the conspiracy.

Gabe rejects taking Reese's medication, regaining some autonomy as the music returns and gives him partial control. The Man provides another mission list, and Gabe pretends to follow it while secretly resisting manipulation.

Gabe chooses not to follow the instruction and instead defeats Hodge's men who are tailing him, escaping the pursuit. He continues to move to avoid capture while the Man and Reese close in.

Gabe confronts Doctor Reese as Hodge arrives. Reese explains the cloning program and his wife’s death; Gabe is revealed to be a clone of a deceased Special Forces soldier, and Hodge is his former commander. Reese escapes amid the chaos while Gabe is wounded.

Brinn arrives to help Gabe; together they fight Hodge's men. Brinn sacrifices into initiating a transfer to a new Gabe body, and the new Gabe awakens as the old one dies.

Hodge uses the music to control Gabe, but Gabe regains control and defeats Hodge. As the building threatens to explode, he rescues Brinn by lifting her into an elevator, sacrificing himself to ensure her escape. The Man and Reese discuss shutting down the project afterward.

A few days later, Gabe awakens to the same music in a new apartment, suggesting the cycle continues in a different body. The story ends with a note that his consciousness persists despite the clone-based world.