CHAPTER 8 — THE WOMAN IN THE SAFE HOUSE
Emergency generators flickered to life.
Red lights flooded the corridors.
Security teams rushed Maya and Noah toward the reinforced safe room.
Colonel Vance stayed behind with a handful of agents, searching every floor for the intruder.
Minutes later...
A terrified security officer burst into the control center.
"The surveillance system was hacked."
"Every camera went dark for exactly ninety seconds."
"Ninety seconds is enough," Vance replied grimly.
When Maya reached the safe room, she discovered something impossible.
Someone was already inside.
An older woman sat quietly beside the window.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
Deep blue eyes.
The silver pendant around her neck gleamed beneath the emergency lights.
Maya stopped breathing.
The woman slowly stood.
She didn't speak immediately.
Instead, she reached into her pocket and removed a tiny knitted rabbit.
One ear had been stitched back on by hand.
Maya gasped.
She had dreamed about that toy her entire life.
She never understood why.
The woman smiled through tears.
"You used to sleep with this every night."
"My brave little bird."
Maya dropped to her knees.
"Mom..."
The word escaped before she could stop it.
The woman embraced her tightly.
For the first time in twenty-four years...
Mother and daughter cried in each other's arms.
Even Colonel Vance lowered his head.
But the reunion lasted less than a minute.
"I'm sorry," Maya's mother whispered.
"We don't have time."
"They know I'm here."
She handed Vance a small encrypted memory card.
"Everything you need is on this."
"Project Sentinel."
"The real traitors."
"The offshore accounts."
"The recordings."
"The names."
Vance looked stunned.
"This is enough to bring them all down."
She nodded.
"If you live long enough to use it."
Suddenly...
A deafening explosion rocked the building.
Concrete dust filled the hallway.
The emergency doors slammed shut automatically.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Through the smoke came masked attackers wearing black tactical uniforms.
Across each shoulder...
May you like
A silver phoenix.
The war had finally begun.
