Chapter 3 - The mansion suddenly became silent.Not peaceful.
Silent in the way a battlefield becomes silent just before the first shot.
Arthur closed the file.
"Basement."
Daniel looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because if they reach the third floor, everyone in this house dies."
Daniel glanced at Thomas.
Thomas was already moving.
The three men on the balcony disappeared into the darkness.
Daniel followed.
They rushed through a hidden doorway behind the library shelves.
A narrow staircase descended underground.
The door closed behind them.
Daniel expected a basement.
Instead, he entered a command center.
Banks of monitors covered the walls.
Maps.
Satellite images.
Encrypted communications.
Dozens of security feeds.
Daniel stopped.
"What the hell is this?"
Arthur walked past him.
"This is what Blackwood Manor really is."
The mansion wasn't simply a home.
It was a fortress.
And apparently, it had been preparing for war.
Thomas sat behind one of the monitors.
"We have thirty-two intruders."
Daniel looked at the screens.
Men in black tactical clothing were entering the mansion from four different points.
"They're professionals."
Thomas nodded.
"They're not robbers."
Daniel looked at Arthur.
"Who sent them?"
Arthur stared at one particular screen.
"Someone who knows what is underneath this house."
Suddenly, an alarm began flashing.
One of the monitors showed a masked man entering the library.
Daniel recognized him.
"That's not one of them."
Arthur turned.
The man removed his mask.
Daniel's stomach dropped.
It was Marcus Venn.
The head of The Circle.
Daniel hadn't seen him in seven years.
"He's alive too?"
Arthur said nothing.
Marcus looked directly into the security camera.
As if he could see Daniel.
Then he smiled.
"Arthur."
His voice filled the room through the speakers.
"You really should have stayed dead."
Arthur stepped closer to the monitor.
"You always were a coward, Marcus."
Marcus laughed.
"Still arrogant."
"Still hiding behind other people."
Marcus tilted his head.
"I didn't come for you."
He looked directly at the camera.
"I came for Number 17."
Daniel felt every eye in the room turn toward him.
Marcus continued.
"Daniel, you have exactly nine minutes."
Daniel stared at the screen.
"Nine minutes for what?"
Marcus smiled.
"To remember."
The screen went black.
Arthur turned.
"Remember what?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Because something had begun to return to him.
A room.
A red light.
A woman's scream.
And a sentence.
Don't let them take the girl.
Daniel grabbed his head.
He collapsed against the wall.
Thomas caught him.
"Daniel!"
Daniel gasped.
"I remember..."
"What?"
"The mission."
Arthur stepped forward.
"What mission?"
Daniel looked at him.
"We weren't supposed to kill Evelyn."
Arthur froze.
"What?"
"We were supposed to extract her."
Thomas's expression changed.
Daniel continued.
"But someone changed the order."
"Who?"
Daniel stared into the darkness.
"I don't know."
Arthur's face hardened.
"You were there."
"I know."
"You were the one holding the detonator."
Daniel's eyes widened.
He remembered.
The explosion.
The smoke.
The screaming.
And Evelyn standing inside the room.
Alive.
Looking directly at him.
She had said something.
Daniel struggled to hear the memory.
Then it came.
One sentence.
Your father is the traitor.
Daniel looked at Arthur.
"She told me you were the traitor."
The room went completely silent.
Arthur didn't move.
Thomas raised his weapon.
Daniel immediately raised his own.
"Don't."
Arthur slowly reached into his jacket.
Daniel aimed at his chest.
Arthur pulled out a photograph.
He placed it on the table.
It showed Arthur, Marcus, and Evelyn.
But Evelyn wasn't a child.
She was an adult.
And standing beside her was Daniel.
The photograph had been taken yesterday.
Daniel stared at it.
"That's impossible."
Arthur whispered:
"It's not a photograph from yesterday."
May you like
He looked toward Thomas.
"It's from tomorrow."
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