CHAPTER 6 — THE FILE THEY BURIED FOR TWENTY YEARS
CHAPTER 6 — THE FILE THEY BURIED FOR TWENTY YEARS
Liam turned toward his chief of security.
"I want everything."
"Every accident report."
"Every insurance payment."
"Every witness."
"Every police officer who touched this case."
The chief nodded.
"Already underway."
Within minutes, encrypted files began arriving from investigators across three countries.
One folder appeared on the main screen.
CASE CLOSED
VEHICLE MALFUNCTION
Another appeared.
NO EVIDENCE OF FOUL PLAY
Professor Brooks frowned.
"Something feels wrong."
I enlarged the first report.
Then the second.
Then the original photographs.
I froze.
"Zoom in."
The technician obeyed.
A rusted traffic sign appeared beside the crash site.
I whispered,
"Rotate it."
The image turned.
Everyone leaned closer.
The timestamp on the photograph had been digitally altered.
The metadata didn't match.
Someone had replaced the original evidence.
The cybersecurity director's eyes widened.
"This entire investigation was fabricated."
Richard collapsed into a chair.
"My God..."
Twenty years.
For twenty years he had believed fate had crippled me.
Now he discovered someone had sold that lie.
A notification interrupted the silence.
IDENTITY MATCH FOUND
The satellite phone had connected briefly before disconnecting.
Long enough.
Our system traced one registered owner.
The photograph appeared.
An elegant man in his sixties.
Silver hair.
Expensive suit.
Warm smile.
Several investors gasped simultaneously.
"No..."
"It can't be."
The chairwoman stood so abruptly her chair crashed backward.
"I know him."
Someone whispered the name.
Victor Langford.
The founder of Helix Dynamics.
One of the largest biomedical corporations in the world.
The very company that had spent years trying—and failing—to replicate Project Phoenix.
Liam's expression darkened.
"It makes sense."
Professor Brooks nodded slowly.
"If Audrey disappeared..."
"Phoenix would never exist."
One investor quietly added,
"And Helix would have owned the entire prosthetics market."
Natalie began sobbing.
"I didn't know..."
"I swear..."
"He said it was only corporate intelligence..."
"He paid me to send emails..."
"He wanted guest lists..."
"He wanted Audrey's travel schedule..."
She looked at me desperately.
"I never knew about the accident."
I believed exactly one part of that sentence.
She probably hadn't known.
Not then.
But she knew enough now.
Before anyone could respond...
Every light in the mansion suddenly went dark.
The emergency generators failed.
The holographic screens disappeared.
Only moonlight spilled through the glass walls.
A sharp crack echoed outside.
One guard shouted—
"SNIPER!"
The ballroom windows exploded inward.
Guests screamed and dropped to the floor.
Liam threw himself in front of me as bullets tore through crystal chandeliers, sending thousands of glittering shards raining onto the marble.
The tactical team returned fire, dragging investors behind overturned tables.
Another explosion rocked the front entrance.
Through the smoke, black SUVs burst through the already-damaged gates.
Masked men poured out carrying military-grade weapons.
Their leader's voice thundered across the estate through a loudspeaker.
"Hand over Audrey Hayes..."
"...and everyone else lives."
Liam slowly rose, shielding me with his body.
He smiled—a calm, dangerous smile I had only seen once before.
"They finally stopped hiding."
I locked the gold-titanium blade into combat mode.
The servos hummed with controlled power.
Then I looked straight toward the shattered entrance.
"If Victor Langford wants me..."
May you like
I said quietly,
"He's about to discover why he should have finished the job twenty years ago."
