CHAPTER 6 – The Judge's Last Mistake
The photo kept replaying in the boy's mind.
The judge...
The same man who had stood before cameras twenty years ago, declaring his father officially dead.
Now he was standing beside the armed men.
Smiling.
His mother grabbed the phone with trembling hands.
"No..."
"I prayed this day would never come."
The boy looked at her.
"You knew him?"
She nodded.
"He wasn't just a judge."
"He was the man who built the lie."
Sirens echoed in the distance, but neither of them moved.
They knew the police couldn't be trusted anymore.
If the judge was involved...
Who else was?
Suddenly, another message arrived.
This one contained an address.
No words.
Just a location and a countdown timer.
01:59:58
Underneath it was a single sentence.
"Come alone if you want your father alive."
The boy clenched his fists.
"I'm going."
His mother grabbed his arm.
"It's a trap."
Before she could stop him, headlights swept across the abandoned church.
A black pickup truck rolled slowly toward them.
An elderly priest stepped out.
He raised both empty hands.
"I was waiting for you."
The boy immediately stepped back.
"Who are you?"
The old man pulled a worn silver cross from around his neck.
Hidden inside was a tiny flash drive.
"Your father asked me to keep this."
"If anything happened to him..."
"...I was to give it to you."
Inside the church, they connected the flash drive to an old laptop.
Hundreds of encrypted files appeared.
Financial records.
Government documents.
Secret surveillance videos.
And one folder labeled:
PROJECT PHOENIX
The first video opened automatically.
The judge stood at a conference table with politicians, military officers, and billionaires.
His voice was crystal clear.
"The soldier cannot be allowed to testify."
"If he survives..."
"Everything we've built collapses."
The room fell silent.
The boy finally understood.
His father had never been hunted because of money.
He had been hunted because he knew the truth.
Then another file appeared.
The priest's face turned white.
"It can't be..."
The document listed every member of the organization.
Most of the names were unfamiliar.
But the last one...
Made the boy stop breathing.
Director: Daniel Harrison.
The boy stared at the screen.
"Harrison..."
"That's our last name."
His mother covered her mouth in horror.
The priest slowly whispered the words neither of them was prepared to hear.
"Your father was never their biggest secret."
"Your grandfather was."
At that exact moment...
The church doors burst open.
A deep voice echoed through the sanctuary.
"Close the laptop."
The boy turned around.
Standing in the doorway was an elderly man in an immaculate black suit.
His silver hair glistened under the moonlight.
The armed men behind him lowered their weapons.
Not because they were surrendering...
But because they were obeying him.
The old man smiled warmly at the terrified boy.
May you like
Then he spoke the sentence that shattered everything the boy believed about his family.
"Hello, grandson."
