Chapter 5 – Phase Two
Chapter 5 – Phase Two
The words echoed through the stunned courtyard.
TARGET E HAS BEEN LOCATED.
BEGIN PHASE TWO.
For several endless seconds, nobody spoke.
Even the FBI agents looked at one another in confusion.
Special Agent Michael Harris slowly lowered the phone.
His face had become unusually tense.
Emily noticed immediately.
"What does Phase Two mean?"
Harris didn't answer.
Not because he didn't want to.
Because he honestly didn't know.
Another FBI agent rushed toward the stage carrying a rugged laptop.
"Sir."
"We traced the transmission."
Harris looked up.
"Location?"
"Zurich, Switzerland."
"What organization?"
The younger agent hesitated.
"We can't identify it."
"What do you mean you can't?"
"The servers don't officially exist."
Benjamin Lawson quietly muttered,
"Oh, no..."
Emily turned toward him.
"You've heard of them?"
Lawson looked pale.
"I prayed I never would again."
Richard Bennett suddenly began laughing.
Not loudly.
Softly.
Almost to himself.
"You finally woke them up."
Emily stared at him.
"Who?"
Richard slowly looked into her eyes.
"The people who own everything."
Agent Harris stepped forward.
"Richard."
"You'll answer that question downtown."
Richard smiled.
"You think arresting me changes anything?"
"It already has."
"You found the girl."
"And now..."
"...they'll come for her."
Emily felt a chill run through her body.
"They?"
Richard leaned closer.
"You still believe this story is about one family."
He laughed again.
"It never was."
Before anyone could ask another question—
Every television camera abruptly lost signal.
The giant media screens surrounding the graduation stage flickered.
Static.
Black.
Then—
Every screen turned on again simultaneously.
The FBI agents immediately reached for their weapons.
Someone had hijacked every display.
A single symbol appeared.
A black circle.
Inside it...
A silver phoenix rising from flames.
No words.
Only the emblem.
Benjamin Lawson stumbled backward.
His face had gone completely white.
Professor Hughes caught his arm.
"What is that?"
Lawson whispered,
"The Phoenix Consortium."
Emily frowned.
"I've never heard of it."
Lawson looked at her.
"Very few people have."
"Because anyone who learns too much..."
"...usually disappears."
The symbol vanished.
A distorted voice replaced it.
Calm.
Mechanical.
Impossible to identify.
"Good afternoon."
The voice echoed across every speaker on campus.
"Congratulations on your graduation..."
"...Miss Evelyn Carter."
The entire courtyard froze.
Not Emily Bennett.
Evelyn Carter.
The voice continued.
"We have searched for you for twenty-two years."
Emily's heartbeat quickened.
"You survived."
A pause.
"We underestimated your father."
Agent Harris quietly whispered,
"They're talking about Daniel..."
The voice continued.
"Richard Bennett."
"You have failed."
Richard slowly closed his eyes.
"You were entrusted with one responsibility."
"Contain the child."
"You failed."
Emily looked toward Richard.
His expression had changed completely.
For the first time...
He looked afraid of someone else.
The voice spoke again.
"Special Agent Harris."
Harris stiffened.
"We recommend you leave the girl."
"Immediately."
Silence.
Then Harris smiled.
"I don't respond well to threats."
The voice answered almost cheerfully.
"We know."
"We've read your file."
That sentence made every FBI agent tense.
How could they know Harris?
The screen suddenly changed.
A family photograph appeared.
Harris.
His wife.
His son.
Taken outside a baseball stadium.
The photo couldn't have been more than a week old.
Harris's face hardened.
"Who are you?"
The voice ignored the question.
"You have thirty seconds."
"Walk away."
"Or everyone you love becomes collateral damage."
Emily looked horrified.
"They're threatening your family."
Harris never looked away from the screen.
"No."
"They're making a mistake."
The voice asked,
"What mistake?"
Harris slowly removed his FBI badge.
Held it up.
Then dropped it onto the stage.
"I stopped negotiating with terrorists a very long time ago."
The courtyard erupted into applause.
Students.
Parents.
Faculty.
Even strangers.
Everyone realized the same thing.
The agent wasn't backing down.
The screen went black.
Five seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
Then every screen displayed a single sentence.
WE EXPECTED THAT ANSWER.
The connection terminated.
Everything returned to normal.
The helicopters were the only sound left.
Emily exhaled slowly.
"What just happened?"
No one answered immediately.
Finally Lawson spoke.
"Twenty-two years ago..."
"I heard Daniel Carter mention one name."
"The Phoenix Consortium."
"He believed they were stealing military technology through private corporations."
Emily frowned.
"My father investigated them?"
Lawson nodded.
"He got too close."
Agent Harris took a deep breath.
"We're leaving."
Emily looked surprised.
"Now?"
"Immediately."
"Why?"
"Because this campus is no longer secure."
As the FBI agents formed a protective circle around Emily—
One of the university security officers came running toward the stage.
"Agent Harris!"
"What?"
"We caught someone."
Everyone turned.
Two officers dragged a young man through the crowd.
He couldn't have been older than twenty-five.
Black hoodie.
Baseball cap.
Messenger bag.
He struggled violently.
"I didn't do anything!"
One officer held up a tiny electronic device.
"We found this under the stage."
Harris recognized it instantly.
"A signal repeater."
Another agent carefully opened the messenger bag.
Inside were three passports.
Four cell phones.
A suppressed pistol.
And a thick envelope.
The envelope had only one line written across it.
FOR TARGET E
Emily's stomach tightened.
"That's me."
Harris carefully opened the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of expensive white paper.
Written in perfect handwriting:
Dear Evelyn,
Your parents died because they trusted the wrong people.
Do not make the same mistake.
Richard Bennett is only the first name on your list.
There are eleven more.
Some of them are standing beside you today.
Welcome to the real game.
There were no signatures.
Only the silver phoenix symbol at the bottom.
Emily slowly looked around the stage.
Professor Hughes.
Benjamin Lawson.
FBI agents.
University staff.
Graduates.
Reporters.
Parents.
The letter echoed in her mind.
Some of them are standing beside you today.
Her breathing became shallow.
Who?
Who among these hundreds of people was lying?
Who had watched her grow up while hiding the truth?
Who had betrayed her before she was even old enough to speak?
Then Benjamin Lawson noticed something inside the envelope.
"There was another page."
He carefully unfolded it.
A photograph slipped onto the podium.
Emily picked it up.
It showed twelve men and women standing together inside a luxurious conference room.
Eleven faces had been crossed out with thick red ink.
Only one face remained untouched.
Emily's own.
Above the picture, someone had written in black marker:
THE TWELFTH HEIR HAS RETURNED.
Emily stared at the photograph in disbelief.
"Heir?"
"What heir?"
Before anyone could answer—
One of the FBI agents received another urgent call through his earpiece.
He turned toward Harris.
His expression was grim.
"Sir..."
"The search team at the Carter Estate just found the underground archive."
Harris nodded.
"What did they recover?"
The agent swallowed hard.
"A video."
"Recorded by Daniel Carter..."
"...exactly one hour before his disappearance."
Everyone fell silent.
Emily gripped the edge of the podium.
"Does it mention me?"
The agent looked directly into her eyes.
"According to the technician..."
"...the first words in the recording are..."
May you like
'If you're watching this, Evelyn... it means I failed to save you.'
End of Chapter 5
