CHAPTER 6 — THE CRASH THAT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT
Metal screamed.
Glass exploded inward.
The armored SUV rolled across the asphalt, crushing the guardrail before finally crashing onto its side in a shower of sparks.
For several terrifying seconds, nobody knew which way was up.
Airbags erupted throughout the cabin.
The smell of burnt rubber, leaking fuel, and deployed explosives filled the air.
Evelyn's ears rang violently.
Everything sounded distant.
Muted.
As if she had been dropped beneath deep water.
Someone was calling her name.
"...Evelyn!"
"...Evelyn!"
She blinked.
Victor's face slowly came into focus through the white dust.
Blood trickled from a cut above his eyebrow.
"I'm here," she whispered.
Victor immediately grabbed her shoulders.
"Are you hurt?"
"I...I don't think so."
His hands moved quickly over her arms, checking for broken bones.
Only after confirming she was alive did he finally exhale.
Across the cabin Marcus kicked repeatedly against the windshield.
"Move!"
The laminated glass shattered outward.
Fresh air rushed inside.
Daniel groaned nearby.
Jonathan was already climbing through the broken windshield despite blood running down his forearm.
Margaret remained unconscious.
Victor reached her first.
"Pulse?"
Marcus checked.
"Strong."
"Good."
Outside—
Gunfire erupted.
Victor froze.
Marcus immediately understood.
"Ambush."
More bullets struck the overturned vehicle.
Metal pinged violently.
Whoever had caused the crash had not come to confirm fatalities.
They had come to finish the job.
Three black SUVs surrounded the wreckage.
Men dressed in tactical gray uniforms spread across both sides of the highway.
Disciplined.
Professional.
Not ordinary mercenaries.
Marcus glanced through the broken windshield.
"Twelve..."
Another pause.
"No..."
"Sixteen."
Victor looked toward Jonathan.
"They're here for you."
Jonathan picked up a fallen rifle from one of the injured security guards.
"They'll have to earn me."
Victor almost smiled.
"You really are Elias's son."
Jonathan answered coldly.
"I'm nothing like him."
Outside—
A loudspeaker crackled.
"Evelyn Vale."
A calm male voice echoed across the highway.
"No one else needs to die."
Victor instantly recognized it.
"Elias."
"I'm impressed."
"I expected you'd need another twenty minutes to escape."
Victor answered without raising his voice.
"You always underestimate my family."
"And you always overestimate loyalty."
Silence.
Then Elias continued.
"Hand over Jonathan."
"And the girl."
"No."
"I'll allow everyone else to leave."
Victor actually laughed.
"You've become predictable."
Elias sighed.
"I was hoping we could avoid unnecessary bloodshed."
Marcus quietly counted the enemy positions.
Two snipers.
Four assault teams.
Heavy vehicle blocking rear exit.
Drone overhead.
His expression darkened.
"This wasn't planned in thirty minutes."
Victor nodded.
"They knew exactly where we'd drive."
Marcus slowly turned toward Daniel.
Daniel immediately noticed.
"No."
Marcus's eyes narrowed.
"Someone leaked the convoy route."
"I didn't."
Jonathan looked directly at him.
"You've done enough lying."
"I swear—"
Victor interrupted.
"Later."
He pulled a pistol from beneath the driver's seat.
"First we survive."
Without warning—
Smoke grenades landed around the overturned SUV.
White smoke consumed the highway.
Marcus shouted.
"They're moving!"
Victor kicked open the rear emergency hatch.
"Everyone out!"
Jonathan emerged first.
Immediately—
Automatic gunfire erupted.
Jonathan rolled behind concrete barriers, returning accurate fire.
One attacker fell.
Marcus followed.
Victor pushed Evelyn toward cover.
"Run!"
"What about Margaret?"
"I'll get her!"
Daniel climbed back into the overturned SUV despite bullets tearing through the vehicle.
He reached his unconscious mother.
Lifted her over one shoulder.
Then—
The fuel tank ignited.
Marcus screamed.
"Daniel!"
The SUV exploded.
Fire engulfed the entire vehicle.
The blast threw Daniel nearly twenty feet across the road.
Margaret landed hard beside him.
Everything became silent.
Evelyn sprinted toward them.
"Daniel!"
Victor grabbed her.
"No!"
She fought him.
"He's alive!"
"You don't know that!"
"I have to—"
Another sniper round shattered the asphalt exactly where she'd been standing.
Victor dragged her behind a concrete divider.
The sniper had been waiting for her.
Not Daniel.
Her.
Across the smoke—
Jonathan reached Daniel first.
He flipped him over.
Daniel coughed violently.
Alive.
Barely.
His back had absorbed most of the explosion.
Large burns covered one shoulder.
Blood soaked through his shirt.
Margaret slowly regained consciousness.
The first thing she saw was Daniel.
"My son..."
She crawled toward him.
Daniel forced his eyes open.
"Mom..."
She grabbed his face.
"I'm here."
Daniel looked strangely peaceful.
"I'm sorry."
Margaret began crying.
"For what?"
"For becoming him."
"No..."
"I became Father."
Margaret shook her head violently.
"No."
"I became worse."
Victor's earpiece buzzed.
"Marcus."
"Drones."
Victor looked upward.
Four military drones approached from the south.
Not Elias's.
Different design.
Marcus stared.
"Those aren't ours."
The drones stopped directly above the battlefield.
Every mercenary looked upward.
Even Elias fell silent over the loudspeaker.
Then—
One missile launched.
Directly into Elias's armored SUV.
The explosion shook the entire highway.
Two more missiles followed.
Enemy vehicles erupted into flames.
The mercenaries scattered instantly.
Chaos.
Complete chaos.
Marcus frowned.
"Who the hell..."
A fifth drone descended lower.
Painted beneath its wings—
A silver phoenix.
Victor's face changed.
"No..."
Evelyn looked at him.
"You know them?"
He whispered only two words.
"Phoenix Protocol."
Suddenly—
Every drone speaker activated simultaneously.
A woman's voice echoed across the battlefield.
Calm.
Cold.
Commanding.
"Victor."
He froze.
Evelyn's heart nearly stopped.
She recognized that voice.
Her mother.
Helena.
"I told you not to enter this war."
Victor answered quietly.
"You left me little choice."
"You always had a choice."
"You disappeared."
"I sacrificed."
Victor closed his eyes.
"You abandoned us."
Silence.
Long silence.
Finally Helena answered.
"I abandoned my life."
"Never my daughter."
Evelyn could no longer remain silent.
"Mom!"
Nothing.
"Mom!"
Finally—
"Evelyn..."
Her mother's voice cracked for the first time.
"I'm sorry."
Tears filled Evelyn's eyes.
"Come home."
"I can't."
"Why?"
Another silence.
Then Helena answered softly—
"Because I'm the one who ordered the truck to hit your convoy."
Everything stopped.
Victor slowly looked upward.
Even Marcus lowered his weapon.
Evelyn felt the world collapse again.
"No..."
Helena continued.
"If I hadn't stopped Victor..."
"...Elias would already be dead."
Victor stared into the smoke.
"You protected him?"
"I protected the archive."
"You nearly killed your daughter."
"I knew the vehicle would survive."
Marcus whispered,
"She calculated the impact..."
Helena continued.
"The archive cannot be opened until everyone reaches the estate."
Victor finally understood.
"Elias wants us all together."
"Yes."
"And you're helping him."
"No."
"I'm making sure nobody else dies before the truth comes out."
Victor laughed bitterly.
"You've always believed truth was worth any sacrifice."
Helena's final words echoed through every speaker.
"No..."
"My greatest mistake..."
"...was believing Victor Vale would never become part of the lie."
The transmission ended.
The drones flew away.
Leaving behind burning vehicles...
Dead mercenaries...
And one family that no longer knew who the enemy truly was.
Marcus looked at Victor.
"What now?"
Victor slowly stared toward the distant skyline.
Where the Cross Estate stood beyond the hills.
"The estate."
Jonathan checked his rifle.
"I'm going."
Daniel painfully struggled to his feet.
"So am I."
Margaret wiped away tears.
"I should have told the truth years ago."
Evelyn looked at every one of them.
Her father.
Her husband.
Her former mother-in-law.
The brother nobody knew existed.
The mother everyone believed dead.
None of them had been honest.
Not completely.
Not even once.
Victor walked toward the surviving SUV.
"There will be no more secrets."
Marcus quietly replied,
"I hope that's still possible."
At that exact moment—
Marcus's satellite tablet beeped.
Emergency Priority.
He opened it.
His face instantly turned pale.
Victor noticed.
"What?"
Marcus slowly turned the screen around.
A live satellite image showed the Cross Estate from above.
The entire mansion had disappeared.
Only a massive sinkhole remained where the estate had once stood.
Beneath the ruins...
A gigantic circular steel structure had emerged from underground.
Across its surface were three biometric scanners...
And one sentence engraved in black steel:
May you like
WELCOME HOME, TRUE OWNER OF NORTHSTAR.
END OF CHAPTER 6
