CHAPTER 5 – The Bullet That Changed Everything
The gunman squeezed the trigger.
BANG!
Time seemed to freeze.
Ethan screamed.
"Mom!"
Nathan threw himself forward without hesitation.
The bullet struck him squarely in the shoulder, spinning him to the ground.
"No!" Clara cried as she rushed toward him.
The last gunman smiled.
"Now nobody can stop us."
He raised his rifle again—
But before he could fire, a police sniper hidden on the hillside pulled the trigger.
One precise shot.
The rifle flew from the gunman's hands.
Within seconds, heavily armed federal agents stormed the clearing.
"Federal Bureau! Drop your weapons!"
The surviving attackers surrendered.
Others tried to escape into the forest.
None made it far.
As paramedics treated Nathan, Ethan refused to let go of his father's hand.
"You promised you'd stay."
Nathan forced a weak smile.
"This time..."
"I will."
One elderly FBI director arrived moments later by helicopter.
Everyone immediately stood at attention.
The director walked straight to Ethan.
Then, to everyone's astonishment...
He saluted the eleven-year-old boy.
"Son..."
"You prevented the largest terrorist attack this country has seen in decades."
Ethan blinked.
"What?"
The director carefully opened a secure tablet.
The emergency signal hidden inside Nathan's watch had already transmitted the encrypted files.
What investigators found shocked the entire nation.
Detailed blueprints.
Explosives.
Government buildings.
Power stations.
Children's hospitals.
Everything had been marked as targets.
If Ethan had ignored the injured stranger...
Thousands of innocent people could have died within forty-eight hours.
Reporters soon flooded the area.
Television helicopters circled overhead.
The story of the brave little boy spread across America overnight.
But while the country celebrated Ethan as a hero...
Nathan stared silently at one photograph recovered from the encrypted files.
His face turned pale.
May you like
Someone they trusted...
Had betrayed them.
