Chapter 6: The Traitor in the Room
The ballroom fell into absolute silence.
Every pair of eyes locked onto the tiny transmitter sealed inside the transparent evidence bag.
It was no larger than a shirt button.
Matte black.
Smooth.
Featureless.
Yet it instantly transformed the atmosphere.
Until that moment, everyone believed the danger had been outside Blackthorn Manor.
Now...
It was standing somewhere inside.
The lead FBI investigator's voice turned sharp.
"Nobody leaves."
Agents immediately moved.
The massive oak doors slammed shut.
Two officers secured every entrance.
Others quietly positioned themselves behind the guests, servants, paramedics, and investigators.
Even my father's security team tightened formation.
No one protested.
Everyone understood.
Someone in this room had planted the device.
Grandfather looked at the evidence bag.
"Can it still transmit?"
One of the Sterling security technicians carefully examined it.
"No."
"It stopped transmitting the moment we placed it inside the Faraday pouch."
"Origin?"
The technician connected the transmitter to a handheld analyzer.
Several lines of encrypted code scrolled across the screen.
After a few moments...
His expression changed.
"This isn't commercial equipment."
The FBI investigator frowned.
"What is it?"
"It's military grade."
He looked toward Grandfather.
"Not American."
The room grew colder.
My father turned toward the paramedics.
"Who treated Evelyn first?"
The younger medic immediately raised his hand.
"I did."
"What exactly did you do?"
"I checked her pulse."
"Started an IV."
"Covered the wounds."
The investigator interrupted.
"Did you place the bandages yourself?"
"No."
Nathan suddenly looked toward the older paramedic.
"He did."
Everyone's attention shifted.
The older medic looked startled.
"What?"
Nathan pointed.
"You wrapped her shoulders."
"I saw you."
The man slowly nodded.
"Yes."
"I did."
The investigator approached him.
"Your name?"
"Daniel Reeves."
"How long have you worked with Metro Emergency Services?"
"Twenty-six years."
"Any criminal record?"
"No."
The technician examined the transmitter again.
"Sir..."
He looked toward the investigator.
"The adhesive securing this device requires approximately thirty seconds to activate."
"It couldn't have attached accidentally."
The implication was obvious.
Someone had deliberately hidden it beneath my medical dressing.
Daniel's face became pale.
"I didn't put anything there."
The investigator asked calmly,
"Then how did it get there?"
"I don't know."
"You were alone with the victim for almost two minutes."
"I know."
"Did anyone approach you?"
Daniel frowned.
"I..."
He hesitated.
"What?"
"There was another medic."
The ballroom stiffened.
Another medic?
The younger paramedic looked confused.
"No, there wasn't."
Daniel blinked.
"There was."
"He helped lift her."
The younger medic shook his head immediately.
"I've never seen anyone else."
Daniel's breathing became uneven.
"I swear..."
"There was a third person."
The investigator turned toward security.
"Review every body-camera recording."
Within seconds, technicians began downloading footage from every responding officer.
Multiple camera angles appeared across several monitors.
The first showed the ballroom entrance.
The second captured the paramedics kneeling beside me.
The third overlooked the grand staircase.
Everyone watched carefully.
The younger medic appeared.
Daniel appeared.
My father.
The FBI agents.
Security officers.
But...
No third medic.
Daniel stared at the screen.
His face drained of color.
"No..."
"He was right there."
He pointed frantically.
"Beside me!"
The footage showed only empty space.
Nathan suddenly whispered,
"...Someone altered the recordings."
The room became still again.
The Sterling technician immediately shook his head.
"Impossible."
"The body cameras encrypt every frame."
Grandfather quietly asked,
"Can they be spoofed?"
The technician hesitated.
"...Only by someone with access to classified defense technology."
The answer settled heavily over everyone present.
At that moment, one of the cyber analysts looked up from his laptop.
"I found something."
"What?"
"The transmitter activated exactly..."
He checked the timestamp.
"...forty-three seconds after the helicopters landed."
My father frowned.
"So whoever planted it..."
"...arrived with the emergency response."
The Attorney General folded his arms.
"That narrows the suspect list."
"Not enough."
Grandfather answered.
"If Blackwood infiltrated one responder..."
"They may have infiltrated many."
Nathan slowly sank into a chair.
His face had become almost gray.
He looked at me.
"I told you..."
"I thought I controlled everything."
He laughed bitterly.
"I couldn't even control my own company."
No one responded.
Celeste had remained unusually quiet.
Too quiet.
The investigator noticed.
"You haven't said a word in five minutes."
She looked up.
"What do you want me to say?"
"The truth."
"I've already told you everything."
Grandfather studied her carefully.
"No."
"You haven't."
Celeste met his eyes.
"I don't know Blackwood."
Grandfather replied softly,
"I believe you."
Everyone turned toward him.
"But..."
"You know someone who does."
Celeste froze.
Grandfather walked slowly toward her.
"When you were nineteen..."
"You studied finance in Geneva."
Celeste's eyes widened.
"You worked one summer..."
"...for a private wealth office."
She whispered,
"How..."
Grandfather continued.
"The office closed three months later."
"The owner disappeared."
"The records vanished."
Celeste's breathing accelerated.
"I never told anyone that."
"No."
Grandfather answered.
"But we knew."
Nathan stared at Celeste.
"You worked for them."
"I didn't know who they were!"
She nearly shouted.
"I was just an intern!"
Grandfather remained calm.
"Were you?"
He nodded toward one of his security officers.
The officer opened a thin archive folder.
Inside lay a faded photograph.
Taken nearly fifteen years earlier.
A group of young interns stood outside a stone building in Switzerland.
Among them...
A nineteen-year-old Celeste.
Standing beside an older man whose face had been circled in red.
Grandfather pointed.
"His name..."
"...is Adrian Blackwood."
Every federal investigator leaned forward.
The lead agent whispered,
"We've been searching for him for almost twenty years."
Celeste stared at the photograph in horror.
"I thought..."
"...he was dead."
Grandfather slowly closed the folder.
"So did everyone else."
Suddenly...
One of the surveillance technicians shouted.
"Sir!"
"What?"
"We've intercepted another transmission!"
Everyone rushed toward his monitor.
The signal hadn't originated inside the ballroom.
It came from somewhere outside.
Very close.
The technician enlarged the map.
A blinking red dot appeared.
Three hundred meters from the manor.
Hidden within the surrounding forest.
Another officer looked through a thermal imaging drone feed.
His voice dropped.
"...There are people out there."
"How many?"
He zoomed in.
One...
Five...
Ten...
Twenty...
More heat signatures emerged among the trees.
Armed.
Organized.
Watching the manor.
Watching all of us.
Grandfather's expression turned grim.
"They're not here to rescue Nathan."
The lead FBI investigator slowly reached for his sidearm.
"What do they want?"
Before Grandfather could answer...
Every light inside Blackthorn Manor went out.
Darkness swallowed the estate.
May you like
And from somewhere beyond the windows...
A single gunshot shattered the night.
