CHAPTER 7 – The Bullet Was Never Meant to Miss
The gunshot echoed like thunder.
Rose Lawson collapsed into Sophia's arms.
Blood spread across her gray coat.
"Grandma!"
The courtroom erupted into chaos.
Federal agents drew their weapons.
People screamed and dove beneath benches.
Victor Ashford never moved.
He simply watched.
Almost...
As if he had expected it.
Emily sprinted toward the shattered window.
"The shooter is on the roof!"
Before anyone could react, another shot rang out.
This one shattered the courtroom lights.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Only the flashing emergency lights remained.
Sophia held Rose tightly.
"Stay with me!"
Rose weakly grabbed Sophia's wrist.
"Listen..."
"You only have a few minutes."
Sophia's tears streamed down her face.
"Don't talk. An ambulance is coming."
Rose smiled sadly.
"No."
"They'll never let me leave alive."
She reached into her coat and removed a tiny golden key.
It was no larger than a house key.
Engraved on it were two words:
FOUNDATION ZERO
"What is this?"
Rose coughed painfully.
"The one thing Victor has searched for... for thirty years."
Sophia frowned.
"A key?"
"No..."
Rose whispered.
"It opens everything."
Before she could explain further...
Victor slowly walked toward them.
"Rose."
"You've protected it long enough."
Federal agents immediately aimed their rifles.
"Don't move!"
Victor calmly raised his empty hands.
"I'm unarmed."
Then he smiled.
"You should ask your agents why none of their radios work."
At that exact moment...
Every agent looked down.
Static.
No signal.
No communication.
Victor's people had taken control of the courthouse.
Sophia glared at him.
"What do you want?"
"The key."
"It belongs to Project Phoenix."
Rose laughed weakly.
"No..."
"It belongs to my granddaughter."
Victor's expression finally changed.
For the first time...
He looked angry.
"You'd risk millions of lives?"
Rose answered with a single sentence.
"If Sophia opens Foundation Zero..."
"Project Phoenix dies tonight."
The courtroom fell silent.
Victor's face turned ice cold.
He snapped his fingers.
Dozens of black-suited operatives surrounded Sophia.
Not one carried a gun.
Instead...
Each held a sealed envelope.
Victor nodded toward them.
"Give her the invitations."
Sophia opened the nearest envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
A little girl.
About eight years old.
Smiling.
On the back...
One sentence was written.
"Future Candidate #418."
Sophia opened another envelope.
Another child.
Then another.
And another.
Hundreds of children.
Every one of them had been secretly monitored since birth.
Emily gasped.
"Oh my God..."
Victor looked directly into Sophia's eyes.
"You thought Project Phoenix recruited billionaires."
He slowly shook his head.
"No."
"We create them."
"We choose children decades before the world knows their names."
Sophia felt sick.
"You've been controlling lives..."
"...since they were born?"
Victor smiled.
"For over a century."
Rose squeezed Sophia's hand one final time.
"There is one more truth..."
Sophia leaned closer.
Rose's voice was barely audible.
"You were never selected..."
"You were born..."
"...inside Project Phoenix."
Sophia's heart stopped.
"What?"
Rose whispered her final words.
"Victor..."
"...isn't your enemy."
Sophia stared at her in disbelief.
"Then who is?"
Rose used the last of her strength to point toward the courtroom doors.
A slow clap echoed through the chamber.
Everyone turned.
A woman in a white suit stepped inside, smiling calmly.
Victor's confident expression disappeared.
For the first time in decades...
He looked genuinely afraid.
The woman removed her sunglasses.
"Thank you, Victor."
"You've gathered everyone exactly where I wanted."
She looked at Sophia.
Then smiled.
"My name is Evelyn Carter."
"I've been dead..."
"...for twenty-seven years."
Sophia's blood ran cold.
That name.
The name Victor had spoken only minutes earlier.
Her mother.
The woman everyone believed had been assassinated.
She wasn't dead.
She had been watching...
May you like
Waiting...
For this very moment.
