A Badge Of Deception
428 Words
Chapter 17: A Badge of Deception
The police officer's salute left everyone frozen.
"Welcome back, sir."
Tife stared at Malik in disbelief.
"You... know the police?"
Malik didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out a worn leather wallet.
Inside was an official identification badge.
"I worked with a special government intelligence unit years ago," he said calmly. "Officially, I died during an undercover mission."
Idris frowned.
"So you've been alive all this time?"
"Yes."
"And you never came back?"
Malik lowered his gaze.
"I wanted to. But if the people behind your parents' murder knew I was alive, they would have hunted you down long before now."
Tife's eyes filled with tears.
"So... you stayed away to protect me?"
"I watched from a distance," Malik replied. "Every birthday. Every school graduation. Every foster home you were moved to. I made sure no one got close enough to hurt you."
Tife didn't know whether to feel comforted or betrayed.
"You were there... but you never let me know."
"I couldn't."
Before anyone could speak again, another officer approached.
"Sir, we've searched the mansion."
Malik looked up.
"And?"
"The underground chamber was completely destroyed. But we recovered this."
The officer handed him a small metal box, blackened by the explosion.
Malik carefully opened it.
Inside was a flash drive.
Umar's expression changed instantly.
"The Archive."
Farouk had tried to destroy everything...
But he had failed.
"What is it?" Tife asked.
Malik looked at her.
"Your father's insurance policy."
"It contains videos, financial records, and names of everyone involved in the conspiracy."
Idris exhaled slowly.
"Enough evidence to bring them all down."
Just then...
A loud engine roared overhead.
A helicopter.
Everyone looked up.
It circled once before a package dropped from the sky, landing a few meters away.
The officers raised their weapons.
Umar cautiously approached and picked it up.
There was only one thing inside.
A single white envelope.
Across the front were the words:
FOR TIFE ONLY
With trembling hands, she opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed her as a little girl...
Standing beside her parents...
And another child.
A boy.
Someone whose face had been carefully circled in red ink.
On the back of the photo was a handwritten message.
"Find him before Farouk does. He is the last heir."
Tife looked up, stunned.
"There was another child..."
Malik slowly nodded.
"Yes."
"And if Farouk finds him first..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't have to.
Because they all knew.
The hunt had just begun.
End of Chapter 17
- Writer
