CHAPTER 9 — THE TRAITOR AT THE TABLE
For nearly forty minutes, the federal building became a battlefield.
Agents fought room by room.
Smoke filled the hallways.
Windows shattered.
Two helicopters circled overhead while armored vehicles sealed every street.
When the shooting finally stopped...
Seven attackers had been captured.
Five were dead.
Three federal agents had lost their lives protecting Maya and Noah.
Colonel Vance gathered everyone inside the secure command room.
The encrypted memory card had finally been unlocked.
A single video file appeared.
The recording had been made twenty-four years earlier.
Maya's father looked directly into the camera.
"If you're seeing this..."
"It means they failed to erase the truth."
He began naming officials involved in Project Sentinel.
One by one...
Faces around the room turned pale.
Each revelation exposed another powerful figure.
Then came the final name.
Maya's father looked into the lens.
"The highest-ranking member of the Phoenix Circle..."
"...is known only by one title."
The Chairman.
No photograph.
No identity.
Only that name.
Everyone exchanged confused glances.
Eleanor suddenly frowned.
"Wait."
She looked around the command room.
"Where's General Whitaker?"
Silence.
An officer checked the attendance list.
"He left twenty minutes ago."
"Without authorization."
Colonel Vance's eyes widened.
"No..."
He grabbed the encrypted files again.
There was one unopened document.
He clicked it.
A photograph slowly filled the screen.
The room froze.
It showed a secret Phoenix Circle meeting from twenty-five years earlier.
Standing in the center...
Smiling beside Maya's father's greatest enemies...
Was General Thomas Whitaker.
The beloved war hero.
The man who had saluted Maya.
The man everyone trusted.
At the bottom of the photograph was one handwritten sentence.
THE CHAIRMAN NEVER RETIRED.
Before anyone could react...
Every television in the command room switched on by themselves.
General Whitaker appeared live on every screen.
He smiled calmly.
"I wondered how long it would take."
He adjusted his tie.
Then looked directly into the camera.
"Hello, Maya."
"Welcome to the truth."
He held up another silver pendant.
One identical to hers.
"But yours..."
he said with a faint smile,
"...was only half of the key."
The screen went black.
Across the room, no one spoke.
Because they all realized the nightmare had never ended.
May you like
It had only just begun.
TO BE CONTINUED...
