THE ASSASSINATED PRESIDENT

Chapter 2: The Man in the Photograph.

Seraphine didn't answer him.

Instead, she grabbed his wrist and yanked him away from the market.

"Move."

Kaelen resisted for half a second.

Then the first gunshot blew through the morning air.

Cries of shock and terror erupted as people ran amok in all directions.

A fruit seller dropped his wares, a man knocked over a table, and a young child wailed as his mother pulled him to safety.

Kaelen instinctively ducked as another bullet tore into the steel sign above his head.

Seraphine pulled him into an alley between two buildings.

"Are they police?"

Kaelen shook his head.

"Military?"

Again, he shook his head.

"Then who the hell are they?"

"People who don't want you remembering."

They ran out of the alley and into a busy street.

Seraphine veered towards a dark sedan parked by a pharmacy.

Kaelen hesitated.

"I don't trust you."

She turned to him.

"You don't have to."

"Then why should I risk getting into that car?"

"Because three men with suppressed guns are hunting you down, and unless you suddenly remember being able to stop bullets, I suggest you get in."

Kaelen turned and looked back the way they came.

She was right.

The man opened the passenger door.

Seraphine slid behind the steering wheel.

Within moments, the sedan was weaving through traffic.

For several minutes, no one said a word.

Kaelen stared out the passenger window, watching the city pass by.

He was angry.

Mostly, he was confused.

More than anything, though, Kaelen was afraid.

Not of the men chasing him, but of what he was becoming.

He looked down at his hands.

"You said someone erased my memory."

"Yes."

"How?"

"I don't know."

"That's convenient, isn't it?"

Kaelen turned to face her.

"I spent seven years trying to find out."

"Why?"

Seraphine's grip on the wheel tightened.

“Because I knew you.”That doesn't answer my question."

"It does."

She turned to look at him.

"You were my friend."

Kaelen remained silent.

"You were also one of the most stubborn men I have ever met."

A shadow of a smile touched her lips.

"You never liked being told no."

"Sounds like a pain in the ass."

"You were."

For the first time since waking that morning, Kaelen almost smiled.

Then Seraphine's expression darkened.

"You were President for eleven months."

"Only eleven?"

"Eleven months and nineteen days."

"You remember the exact number?"

"I remember everything."

Seraphine reached beneath the dash and pulled out a small photograph.

She handed it to him.

Looking down, Kaelen saw himself standing on the steps of the presidential palace.

Crowds of people surrounded him, all cheering and applauding.

He was wearing a dark suit and a blue tie.

At his side stood Seraphine, and behind them was a man with silver hair.

Kaelen's stomach twisted tighter with each passing second.

The man's face was achingly familiar, and with a sudden, jarring jolt of memory, Kaelen recalled him touching his shoulder.

Never trust the smiling men when you're dying, he'd whispered.

"Who is he?"

"Lucien Rook."

Kaelen's grip tightened around the photograph.

"The man you said was executed."

"Yes."

"For assassinating me."

"Yes."

"Then why does he look like he was standing beside me?"

"Because he was your personal security advisor."

Kaelen stared at her, his heart pounding.

"Was?"

Seraphine didn't answer.

Again, Kaelen looked at the photograph, his unease with Lucien growing.

It wasn't that the man looked particularly menacing; it was the fact that Kaelen trusted him.

"Tell me about the night I died."

Seraphine's expression hardened.

"Are you sure?"

"No."

He glanced out the passenger window.

"But I want to know."

For a long moment, she was silent.

Then she began.

"Your motorcade left the presidential compound at 9:40 p.m. That was supposed to be a private meeting."

"With who?"

"I don't know."

"That's not like you."

"It was a classified meeting."

Kaelen frowned.

"How could the President have a classified meeting that you didn't even know about?"

"Because by that point, you no longer trusted your people."

He was silent for a moment.

"What happened next?"

"At 9:57 your motorcade took a detour."

" Why?"

"We were advised of a potential security risk ahead."

"Who gave the order?"

"Lucien."

Kaelen's eyes narrowed.

"And then?"

"The motorcade entered an underground tunnel."

He waited for her to continue.

"Three minutes later, the tunnel exploded."

Kaelen's breath came slower, deeper.

"Everyone died?"

"Twenty-seven people."

"And me?"

"They found a body."

Kaelen turned to her.

"You said I wasn't in it."

"We didn't know that."

"Who identified the body?"

"The President's physician."

"Was he reliable?"

"He was dead two days later."

Nausea twisted Kaelen's stomach.

"Convenient."

"Very."

The car turned onto a smaller street and pulled up in front of an older apartment building.

Kaelen looked it over.

"Where are we?"

"A location not officially designated on any map."

"That doesn't exactly inspire confidence."

"It shouldn't."

Seraphine led him inside and up a narrow stairwell.

The apartment was small and heavily dust-laden.

Once inside, Seraphine locked the door and scanned the windows.

Kaelen stood in the center of the room.

"Now tell me what Silent Crown is."

Seraphine studied him for a long moment before turning away.

She walked to a bookshelf and removed three volumes from the display.

Behind them was a small safe.

Seraphine entered a code and the door slid open.

Inside were photographs, documents, newspaper clippings, and a small, black flash drive.

Seraphine placed everything on the table.

Kaelen picked up the first photograph.

It was a picture of politicians, soldiers, businessmen and judges standing together in a group.

"Who are they?"

"The most powerful men in the country."

"And?"

Seraphine placed another photograph next to the first.

This time, the men were all wearing tuxedos and standing in a dining room.

"You said this was a meeting."

"Yes."

Kaelen picked up the third photograph.

He frowned as he looked it over.

Most of the men's faces were unfamiliar, but there were a few he recognized.

"They've been doing this for years."

"Yes."

"What organization?"

Seraphine hesitated.

"The Sovereign Circle."

A chill ran down Kaelen's spine.

The name was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it.

Then, suddenly, a headache gripped the back of his skull.

A vision of a dark room invaded his mind.

He was sitting at a table, and across from him stood Lucien.

Between them lay a folder.

Once you open that file, there is no going back, Lucien said.

Kaelen opened his eyes.

"Where is the folder?"

Seraphine looked puzzled.

"What folder?"

"Silent Crown."

"I thought you had it."

Kaelen turned to her.

"I thought you did."

Neither of them moved for several long moments.

Then a knock sounded from the other side of the door.

Three deliberate raps.

Seraphine stiffened.

Kaelen whispered, "Who is it?"

She shook her head.

Another three raps sounded.

Kaelen turned towards the window.

A black sedan was parked on the other side of the street.

The same type of car the men from the market had been driving.

His heart pounded in his ears.

Seraphine grabbed the flash drive.

"We need to go."

"Back door?"

"Already compromised."

"Window?"

"Third story."

Kaelen looked up at the ceiling.

Then at Seraphine.

"Any other options?"

The apartment door rattled.

Someone was trying to kick it in.

Seraphine pulled a small handgun from beneath her jacket.

Kaelen stared at her.

"You carry that everywhere?"

"Since they killed my editor."

The door shook again.

Kaelen's expression changed.

"Where's the nearest roof?"

She pointed up at the ceiling.

"Why?"

"Because I'm not dying twice in one day."

Kaelen grabbed the fire escape ladder outside the kitchen window.

Seraphine followed.

They climbed until the street below them was far beneath their feet.

Then the door exploded off its hinges.

Men swarmed inside the apartment.

One of them paused at the window.

"THEY'RE ON THE ROOF!"

Kaelen pulled himself up and over the edge of the building.

Seraphine followed him.

They ran across the rooftop until a helicopter appeared on the horizon.

Kaelen stopped and stared.

The aircraft turned towards them and Seraphine grabbed his arm.

"Don't stop!"

Kaelen turned back.

"I know that helicopter."

She looked at him.

"You remember it?"

Kaelen stared at the chopper, then a memory surfaced.

It was a memory of the presidential palace and a secret meeting.

The Presidential Palace, a secret meeting, and a helicopter landing.

A man emerged from the craft, not Lucien, not a politician, but someone Kaelen didn't recognize.

The stranger looked him in the eye and said, "We can make the country forget you ever existed."

Kaelen's heart pounded.

"Seraphine..."

"What?"

"I remember someone."

"Who?"

"I don't know."

The helicopter grew closer.

It's side door opened and a gunman leaned out.

Kaelen shoved Seraphine down and behind a concrete block.

Bullets shredded the rooftop as the chopper hovered overhead.

They crouched behind the block until the firing stopped.

Seraphine looked at him.

"You said you didn't know how to stop bullets."

"I don't."

"Then how did you know when they were coming?"

Kaelen looked down at his hands.

"I think..."

He hesitated.

"...I used to do this for a living."

Before Seraphine could respond, a round of gunfire peppered the block next to them.

Kaelen turned and spotted a sniper rifle sticking out of a second story window across the street.

He pointed it out to Seraphine.

"There."

She looked.

"How did you see him?"

"I don't know."

Kaelen grabbed a pipe lying on the ground and fired another shot.

The sniper stumbled, and Seraphine stared at him in astonishment.

Kaelen did the same.

Then his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Unknown number.

A text message appeared on the screen.

YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEAD.

Another message followed.

NOW WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.

Then a picture.

Kaelen opened the message and his blood ran cold.

It was a picture of him, seven years ago, standing in the presidential palace.

At his side was Lucien, but someone had circled a woman in red ink.

Kaelen's heart pounded.

He knew her.

She was the woman in his dreams.

The one who screamed his name before the fatal explosion.

He zoomed in on the image and his stomach twisted tighter.

At the bottom of the picture was a handwritten note.

ASK HER WHY SHE KILLED YOU.

Kaelen slowly lowered his phone.

Seraphine saw his expression and turned to him.

"What happened?"

Kaelen looked at her, suspicion creeping into his eyes.

"You know someone named Elena Veyr?"

Seraphine went deathly pale.

Kaelen realized it then.

She knew who the woman was.

"Seraphine."

She turned away.

"Who is Elena?"

Seraphine's voice barely came out.

"Your wife."

Kaelen stopped breathing.

He stared at her.

"My... what?"

"Your wife."

Distant sirens wailed.

Then another.

Seraphine looked towards the street.

"They're coming."

Kaelen didn't move.

Seven years worth of forgotten memories were flooding back to him, and the first person from that time he could actually remember, was the woman who, according to the text message on his phone,

had killed him.