CHAPTER 7 — The Bullet That Was Never Meant for Him
The gunshot echoed across the cemetery.
Michael instinctively pulled Lily to the ground.
But the bullet wasn't aimed at him.
It struck the old leather ledger.
The force knocked it from Michael's hands, sending hundreds of pages flying into the storm.
"No!" Victoria screamed.
The names...
The evidence...
Everything scattered into the wind.
The Chief of National Police smiled coldly.
"Without that ledger, you have nothing."
Before he could fire again—
BANG!
A second shot rang out.
This time, the police chief collapsed to his knees, clutching his shoulder.
Everyone turned toward the hill overlooking the cemetery.
A lone sniper stood beneath a dead oak tree.
He lowered his rifle.
Michael narrowed his eyes.
It was Ryan.
But instead of finishing Michael off...
Ryan had just saved his life.
Within seconds, chaos erupted.
The masked gunmen opened fire in every direction.
Ryan disappeared into the darkness as explosions rocked the cemetery.
Smoke swallowed everything.
Victoria grabbed Michael's arm.
"Forget Ryan! Save Lily!"
The three of them sprinted toward the SUVs.
Just as they reached the road, Michael looked back.
The ledger was gone.
Only one torn page remained, pinned beneath a broken gravestone.
Michael snatched it before escaping.
Hours later...
They hid inside an abandoned mountain cabin owned by Michael's late father.
The rain hammered against the roof while Lily slept by the fireplace.
Victoria carefully unfolded the single surviving page.
At first glance, it looked meaningless.
Just rows of numbers.
Dates.
Random letters.
Then she noticed something written along the edge in tiny handwriting.
"Trust no one wearing the silver wolf."
Michael's heart skipped a beat.
Every assassin at the cemetery had worn that emblem.
Even the police chief.
Victoria looked terrified.
"This isn't a gang."
"It's an organization."
"A secret one."
Before Michael could answer, Lily suddenly woke up.
"Daddy..."
"I remember something else."
Michael rushed to her side.
"What is it?"
"The man Uncle Ryan was talking to..."
"He wasn't wearing a mask."
"He had a scar over his left eye."
Victoria's face instantly lost all color.
"That's impossible."
Michael frowned.
"You know him?"
Victoria slowly reached into her wallet.
She removed an old photograph taken nearly twenty years earlier.
In it stood five smiling people.
Michael's father.
Victoria.
The police chief.
A man with a scar over his left eye.
...and Ryan.
Written on the back of the photo were six chilling words:
"FOUNDERS OF PROJECT PHOENIX."
Michael stared at the picture in disbelief.
Ryan hadn't joined the enemy.
He had been born into it.
Then the cabin lights suddenly went out.
A voice echoed through the darkness.
"Welcome home... Michael."
The fireplace burst to life.
Standing in the doorway...
holding a pistol...
was Michael's mother.
The same mother Ryan had claimed was kidnapped.
She wasn't tied up.
She wasn't frightened.
She was smiling.
And she quietly said,
May you like
"I've been waiting for both of my sons."
TO BE CONTINUED...
