THE DEVILS LAST WITNESS

CHAPTER 7 : The Man Behind the Mask

Vienna, 11:43 p.m.

For several seconds, Ava Carter could hear nothing except the ringing inside her ears.

Smoke drifted through the underground chamber.

Emergency lights flickered overhead, turning the shattered room crimson.

The photograph remained in her hand.

Her father.

Damian.

Isabella.

And the scarred stranger.

Together.

Years ago.

It was impossible.

At least, that was what Ava wanted to believe.

She turned the photograph over again.

TRUST NO ONE — NOT EVEN HIM.

Her fingers tightened around the paper.

"Damian?"

No answer.

She looked around.

The place where he had been standing was empty.

"Nikolai?"

Nothing.

"Isabella?"

Only silence.

Then she heard footsteps.

Slow.

Measured.

Coming from the darkness.

Ava immediately raised the pistol Damian had given her.

"Stay back."

A figure emerged from the smoke.

It wasn't Damian.

The scarred man stood several meters away.

He wore a black tailored coat, black gloves, and a simple silver ring. His left eye was crossed by a long scar that disappeared beneath his hairline.

He looked at Ava with an almost unsettling calm.

"You have your father's eyes."

Ava kept the pistol aimed at him.

"Who are you?"

"Someone your father tried very hard to kill."

"That doesn't answer my question."

The man smiled.

"Adrian Vale."

Ava's eyes narrowed.

"What do you want?"

"Something Victor Moretti has been searching for for twenty years."

"The Crimson Ledger?"

Adrian's expression changed slightly.

"You're learning quickly."

Ava stepped backward.

"Where is Damian?"

"Alive."

"Where?"

Adrian looked toward the collapsed corridor.

"Probably trying to find you."

"Probably?"

"He has always been terrible at accepting that people can disappear."

Ava lowered the gun slightly.

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing."

A sudden explosion shook the chamber.

Ava stumbled.

Adrian caught her arm.

She immediately pulled away.

"Don't touch me."

"Good."

He smiled faintly.

"Your father would have wanted you to react exactly that way."

Before Ava could respond, bullets tore through the wall behind them.

Adrian grabbed her and pulled her behind a stone column.

Three armed men entered the chamber.

Not Moretti's men.

Their clothing was different.

No silver ties.

No crimson-devil tattoos.

Instead, each wore a small black insignia shaped like a wing.

Adrian looked at them.

"Seraph hunters."

Ava stared at him.

"They're hunting me?"

"They've been hunting you since you were a child."

The men advanced.

Adrian moved with terrifying speed.

The first attacker fired.

Adrian ducked, crossed the distance between them, and disarmed him with a single brutal movement.

The second raised his weapon.

Ava fired.

The man's gun flew from his hand.

He disappeared behind a pillar.

Adrian glanced at Ava.

"Nice shot."

"I learned from someone."

"Damian?"

She didn't answer.

The third attacker suddenly grabbed Ava from behind.

She struggled.

He whispered into her ear.

"Your father should have finished the program."

Ava froze.

Then drove her elbow backward.

The man staggered.

Adrian finished the confrontation before she could turn around.

Silence returned.

Ava stared at the bodies.

"What program?"

Adrian looked at her.

"That's the question you've been asking all night."

He reached inside his coat and removed a small encrypted drive.

"Your father called it Project Seraph."

Ava's breathing became shallow.

"Why was I involved?"

"Because you were its final subject."

"Subject?"

Adrian nodded.

"Your father believed the human brain could be trained to recognize patterns far beyond ordinary perception."

Ava remembered the strange flashes she had experienced since the warehouse.

The way she had noticed hidden details in photographs.

The way she had anticipated movements before they happened.

The way she sometimes knew someone was lying before they finished speaking.

She had always called it instinct.

Maybe it wasn't.

Adrian continued.

"Your father wasn't trying to create soldiers."

"Then what?"

"Witnesses."

Ava frowned.

"To what?"

"Everything."

Adrian placed the encrypted drive in her hand.

"Corruption. Assassinations. Financial crimes. Political conspiracies. Secret agreements."

He paused.

"People can destroy evidence."

"They can murder witnesses."

"But they cannot easily destroy someone who remembers everything."

Ava stared at the drive.

"You said I was the final subject."

"Because the others failed."

"How?"

"They couldn't handle the conditioning."

Ava swallowed.

"And me?"

Adrian's expression became serious.

"You survived."

A distant sound echoed through the tunnel.

Footsteps.

Multiple.

Adrian looked toward the corridor.

"We need to move."

Ava followed him.

"Where?"

"To the river."

"And then?"

"London."

She stopped.

"Why London?"

"Because the person holding the Crimson Ledger is there."

"Who?"

Adrian turned.

"Your father."

Ava's face went pale.

"My father is dead."

"Officially."

"You're telling me he's alive?"

"No."

Adrian's eyes darkened.

"I'm telling you his last message was sent from London three weeks after his reported death."

Ava felt the ground beneath her disappear.

"Where exactly?"

"An underground vault beneath an abandoned private bank."

"What message?"

Adrian looked directly at her.

"Three words."

"What words?"

He answered quietly.

"Protect my daughter."

Ava's eyes burned.

For the first time in years, she felt the possibility that her father's death had never been what she thought.

Then a gunshot exploded from the tunnel.

Adrian pushed her aside.

A bullet struck the wall.

"Run!"

They sprinted through the underground passage.

Behind them, armed men flooded into the chamber.

Ava glanced back.

One of them shouted:

"THE WITNESS HAS THE DRIVE!"

Adrian grabbed Ava's hand.

"Don't stop!"

They emerged onto a narrow street beside the Danube.

Rain had begun falling again.

A black car waited beneath a streetlamp.

Adrian opened the passenger door.

"Get in."

Ava hesitated.

"Why should I trust you?"

"You shouldn't."

He climbed into the driver's seat.

"But right now, I'm the only person who knows why they're hunting you."

Ava entered.

The car accelerated into the night.

---

Twenty minutes later, beneath an abandoned railway station, Damian Cross regained consciousness.

His hands were bound.

Blood trickled from his forehead.

Across the room stood Isabella Romano.

She held a pistol but didn't point it at him.

Damian stared at her.

"You betrayed Moretti."

"No."

She smiled.

"I betrayed the people who believed they controlled me."

Damian's eyes narrowed.

"Where's Ava?"

"Safe."

"Where?"

"Far from you."

Damian pulled against the restraints.

"Let her go."

Isabella walked closer.

"You still don't understand."

"Understand what?"

"You're not protecting Ava anymore."

She leaned toward him.

"You're protecting the woman who will eventually destroy everything you spent your life defending."

Damian stared at her.

"You knew about Seraph."

"I knew before you did."

"How?"

Isabella's smile disappeared.

"Because I was there."

Damian froze.

"You were one of the children?"

"No."

She whispered:

"I was the one who trained them."

Damian's expression hardened.

"And Ava?"

Isabella looked toward the dark window.

"She wasn't the strongest."

"She wasn't the fastest."

"She wasn't even the most intelligent."

Damian stared at her.

"Then why her?"

Isabella turned back.

"Because she was the only one who could remember the truth."

A phone vibrated.

Isabella answered.

Her expression changed.

"Where?"

She listened.

Then slowly smiled.

"London."

She ended the call.

Damian's eyes narrowed.

"What happened?"

"The Crimson Ledger has resurfaced."

"And Ava?"

Isabella looked at him.

"She's already on her way."

---

Across the city, Ava sat silently in the back of Adrian's car.

Vienna disappeared behind them.

She looked down at the encrypted drive.

For the first time, she noticed a tiny symbol engraved into its side.

A crimson devil.

But beneath it was another symbol.

A wing.

She touched it.

The screen suddenly activated.

A video appeared.

Her father sat alone in a dark room.

Older.

Tired.

Frightened.

Ava stopped breathing.

He looked directly into the camera.

"If you're watching this, Ava, I'm already dead."

A pause.

"But there is something you must understand."

His eyes filled with regret.

"Your mother didn't die in an accident."

Ava's hand flew to her mouth.

Her father continued.

"She was murdered because she discovered what Seraph was really created to do."

The video flickered.

Then his final words appeared.

"And the man who ordered her death..."

The screen went black.

Ava stared at it.

"Who?"

No answer.

Adrian's phone began ringing.

He looked at the caller ID.

His expression changed.

"Who is it?" Ava asked.

Adrian slowly answered.

A distorted voice came through the speaker.

"Tell Ava Carter that London is waiting."

The call ended.

Adrian looked at Ava.

She looked back at him.

For the first time, neither of them spoke.

Outside, the rain intensified.

And somewhere across Europe, Victor Moretti received the same message.

The hunt was no longer about protecting the last witness.

It had become a race to reach her first.

London was next.