Chapter 18: Twenty-Four Hours
962 Words
The hospital room remained frozen in silence.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
The television screen had gone black, but Victor's final words still echoed through everyone's mind.
"You've got exactly twenty-four hours."
"If you fail... you'll never see your daughter again."
Alexander stood motionless.
His breathing was steady.
Too steady.
Isabella had learned enough about him to recognize the warning signs.
The calmer he became...
The more dangerous he was.
A red countdown continued blinking in the corner of the television.
23:59:41
It wasn't just a threat.
Victor wanted Alexander to watch every second disappear.
Detective Harris finally broke the silence.
"We can trace the signal."
Alexander slowly shook his head.
"No."
"Why not?"
"He wants us to."
Harris frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Alexander picked up the military coin the dying attacker had slipped into his hand.
"Victor never plays only one game."
"If he showed us Lily..."
"It means he wanted us to see her."
"And if he wanted us to trace the signal..."
"It means the location is already compromised."
Ethan nodded.
"A trap."
"Exactly."
---
For several moments, no one spoke.
Then Isabella quietly asked,
"Who was Director Kane?"
Alexander's eyes remained fixed on the coin.
"The man who built Ghost Unit."
"The best intelligence commander I ever served under."
"You trusted him?"
"I trusted him with my life."
"And now?"
Alexander slowly closed his hand around the coin.
"If Kane is alive..."
"Everything I believed about the last six years is a lie."
---
Detective Harris pulled a chair closer.
"I think it's time you tell us everything."
Alexander looked at him.
"Everything?"
"Everything."
"No more secrets."
Alexander hesitated.
Then nodded.
"You deserve the truth."
---
Twenty-five years earlier...
Alexander had been only seventeen years old.
His father owned a small engineering company.
His mother taught music.
They weren't rich.
But they were happy.
Then one night...
His father came home terrified.
"He told my mother to pack immediately."
"He kept saying someone had stolen something."
"What?" Isabella asked softly.
"A computer chip."
Alexander's expression darkened.
"A prototype capable of controlling every financial network connected to the national banking system."
Everyone stared at him.
Detective Harris whispered,
"Project Atlas."
Alexander looked surprised.
"You know it?"
"I've heard rumors."
"They said the project disappeared."
Alexander nodded.
"It did."
"My father helped design its security architecture."
"He refused to sell it."
"So they killed him."
Silence filled the room.
"They staged it as a car accident."
"My mother never recovered."
"I joined intelligence for one reason."
"Revenge."
---
Ethan listened without blinking.
"So Ghost Unit found the people responsible?"
Alexander laughed bitterly.
"We thought we did."
"Didn't you?"
"No."
"We arrested the men who carried out the attack."
"But not the people who ordered it."
Alexander looked toward the television.
"I think..."
"...Victor found them."
---
The room became quiet again.
Then Harris suddenly stood.
"Wait."
He walked toward the hospital window.
His expression changed.
"Everyone..."
"Get down."
Alexander reacted instantly.
He tackled Isabella to the floor.
A deafening explosion shattered every window.
BOOM!
Glass sprayed across the room.
Smoke poured through the broken walls.
The entire hospital shook violently.
Patients screamed throughout the building.
Fire alarms immediately activated.
Outside...
A section of the emergency entrance had exploded.
Cars burned.
People ran in every direction.
Detective Harris looked outside.
"A car bomb."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"They've found us."
---
Across the street...
Inside a black van...
Victor calmly watched the burning hospital through binoculars.
One of his men smiled.
"They survived."
Victor nodded.
"I expected they would."
"So why attack?"
Victor smiled.
"Because Alexander thinks like a soldier."
"I wanted him moving."
"People make mistakes when they're running."
He looked toward another monitor inside the van.
A blinking blue dot moved across a digital city map.
His assistant frowned.
"What's that?"
Victor smiled wider.
"The tracker."
"Tracker?"
"The military coin."
The assistant's eyes widened.
"You hid a GPS transmitter inside it?"
Victor nodded.
"Alexander believes he's hunting me."
He chuckled.
"In reality..."
"...I'm hunting him."
---
Back inside the hospital...
Alexander suddenly stopped walking.
He looked down at the military coin.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
He held it close to his ear.
A faint clicking sound.
Tick...
Tick...
Tick...
His eyes narrowed.
"Ethan."
"What?"
"Scanner."
Immediately, Ethan removed a handheld signal detector from his emergency kit.
The device beeped loudly the moment it approached the coin.
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
Ethan's face turned pale.
"It's transmitting."
Alexander didn't hesitate.
He hurled the coin through the shattered hospital window.
Seconds later...
A missile streaked across the sky.
WHOOSH!
It struck the coin in midair.
A massive fireball erupted above the parking lot.
The shockwave rattled every remaining window.
Everyone inside the room stared in disbelief.
Detective Harris slowly lowered his weapon.
"If you hadn't thrown it..."
Alexander finished the sentence quietly.
"We'd all be dead."
---
Before anyone could recover...
Isabella's phone vibrated.
Unknown Number.
She answered cautiously.
"Hello?"
A little girl's frightened voice whispered through the speaker.
"Are you..."
"...Daddy's new wife?"
Isabella froze.
"Lily?"
The little girl sniffled.
"Please..."
"Help my daddy."
"I know he's coming."
"But they're watching me."
"Who?"
Before Lily could answer...
A door slammed somewhere in the background.
Heavy footsteps approached.
Lily whispered urgently,
"They don't know I found this phone."
"You have to tell Daddy—"
The line suddenly went silent.
Then another voice came through.
Deep.
Cold.
And unmistakably familiar.
"Mrs. Knight..."
Isabella's blood ran cold.
It wasn't Victor.
It was someone else.
Someone Alexander recognized instantly.
Alexander took the phone from her.
The moment he heard the voice...
The color drained from his face.
"...Director Kane."
A low chuckle echoed through the speaker.
"Welcome back, Captain."
"I've been waiting a very long time for this conversation."
To Be Continued...
- Writer
