CHAPTER 7 â Ethan Made the Impossible Choice⊠Then Discovered His Daughter Had Planned Everything
The countdown echoed across every television.
59:12... 59:11...
Every news network in America had picked up the broadcast.
Millions were watching.
Inside Caldwell Tower, panic spread through the boardroom.
"Call the FBI!"
"Trace the signal!"
"Deploy private security!"
Everyone shouted at once.
Everyone except Ethan.
He stared at Emily on the screen.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't begging for help.
Instead...
She looked straight into the camera...
...and slowly blinked twice.
Then once.
Then twice again.
Ethan's heart skipped.
It wasn't random.
It was Morse code.
Years ago, when they were dating, Emily had taught him a simple emergency code they promised to use if either of them was ever captured.
DON'T COME.
Nathan noticed nothing.
He smiled confidently.
"You have fifty-eight minutes left."
The broadcast ended.
Silence filled the room.
Margaret stepped closer.
"Ethan..."
"If you hand over Richard's files, they'll erase every witness."
"If you don't..."
"...Emily and Lily die."
There was no good choice.
Only sacrifice.
Forty minutes later...
Ethan arrived alone at an abandoned shipyard exactly as instructed.
A black helicopter waited.
Nathan stepped out wearing a bulletproof vest.
"I knew you'd come."
Ethan tossed the black folder onto the ground.
"You wanted the files."
"Take them."
Nathan smiled.
"I knew your weakness was never money."
"It was family."
He bent down to pick up the folder.
The moment he opened it...
His smile disappeared.
Blank paper.
Every page was empty.
Nathan looked up.
"What is this?"
Ethan smiled for the first time in days.
"The real files were never in Locker 317."
Nathan's expression changed.
"You copied them?"
Ethan slowly shook his head.
"No."
"I never had them."
Nathan froze.
"If you don't have them..."
"...who does?"
At that exact moment...
A small voice echoed through the warehouse.
"I do."
Everyone turned.
Lily walked out from behind a stack of shipping containers.
Alone.
Holding a pink teddy bear.
Nathan laughed.
"A child?"
"You expect me to believe this?"
Lily quietly unzipped the teddy bear's back.
Inside...
Was a tiny encrypted hard drive.
Emily had hidden it there years ago, sewing it into Lily's favorite toy because no one would ever think to search a little girl's teddy bear.
Nathan's face turned white.
"Take it from her!" he shouted.
His men rushed forward.
But before they reached Lily...
More than twenty black SUVs surrounded the shipyard.
Doors flew open.
Armed federal agents poured out from every direction.
"FEDERAL AGENTS! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
Nathan spun around in shock.
"What?!"
Margaret stepped out beside the lead agent.
She smiled calmly.
"I told you I worked with the Department of Justice."
"I never said I worked alone."
Within seconds, Nathan's entire team was on the ground in handcuffs.
He looked at Ethan with hatred.
"You think this is over?"
Ethan walked toward him.
"No."
"I think it's finally beginning."
Nathan laughed one last time.
"You still don't understand."
"The Raven isn't one man."
"It isn't one family."
"It isn't even one organization."
He leaned close and whispered five words that made Ethan's blood run cold.
"The President is one of us."
Before anyone could stop him...
Nathan bit down on something hidden inside his mouth.
A capsule.
Within seconds, he collapsed.
Foam formed at the corners of his lips.
The only man who knew the truth...
...had chosen to die instead of talking.
Then one of the FBI agents removed the encrypted hard drive from Lily's teddy bear.
He connected it to a secure laptop.
Only one folder appeared.
Its title was enough to leave everyone speechless.
PROJECT GENESIS
And inside...
There were 27 names.
Some of the most powerful people in America.
One of them...
May you like
Was someone Ethan had trusted just this morning.
TO BE CONTINUED...
