CHAPTER 4 — The Woman in the White Truck
Bullets ripped through the ancient wooden walls.
Glass exploded across the stone floor.
Lucas grabbed Mason by the shoulder.
"Forget the notebook!"
Mason refused.
He shoved the evidence into his backpack.
"If Rose risked her life for this, I'm not leaving it."
Lucas cursed under his breath.
"The notebook isn't what they want."
"What do they want?"
"You."
Another explosion shook the church.
The front entrance collapsed inward.
Black SUVs surrounded the building.
Men wearing tactical gear poured out.
No police badges.
No military insignias.
Only one symbol.
A silver wolf.
The same wolf stitched onto Mason's vest.
He froze.
"What is this?"
Lucas looked away.
"That patch was never just a motorcycle emblem."
"What are you talking about?"
"It belonged to an organization that existed long before our club."
Mason's pulse quickened.
"Our father helped create it."
The words hit like a hammer.
"Our father died when I was twelve."
Lucas slowly shook his head.
"No..."
"He disappeared."
Before Mason could ask another question, headlights burst through the smoke outside.
A battered white pickup truck crashed straight through the barricade.
The driver's door flew open.
A woman stepped out carrying an assault rifle.
Her long dark hair whipped across her face.
A long scar crossed her left cheek.
She fired three precise shots.
Three attackers dropped instantly.
Then she looked directly at Mason.
"What are you waiting for?"
Her voice sounded strangely familiar.
Lucas smiled for the first time all night.
"I knew you'd come."
The woman lowered the rifle.
"Mason..."
He couldn't breathe.
Because although older...
although thinner...
although marked by years of survival...
...he knew those eyes.
"Rose?"
She didn't run into his arms.
She didn't cry.
Instead, she grabbed his jacket and pulled him toward the truck.
"We have less than ten minutes."
"Where's my daughter?" Mason shouted.
Rose's face turned pale.
"They've already moved her."
"Who?"
Rose hesitated.
For the first time...
Fear replaced determination.
She whispered only one name.
"The Chairman."
Lucas closed his eyes.
"No..."
Rose nodded.
"He finally knows Mason is alive."
The air went silent.
Mason frowned.
"What do you mean... 'alive'?"
Rose looked at him with tears filling her eyes.
"Because eight years ago..."
"...the man they buried wasn't Ethan."
She swallowed hard.
"It was supposed to be you."
Far behind them, a black helicopter slowly emerged above the treetops.
Painted beneath its cockpit...
...was the same silver wolf.
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And someone inside was already aiming a sniper rifle directly at Mason.
END OF CHAPTER 4...
