Chapter Twenty-Eight – Face to Face
735 Words
The stone staircase seemed endless.
Emily and Victoria descended side by side, their hands separating only when they reached the bottom. A long corridor stretched ahead, illuminated by dim emergency lights that flickered overhead.
The air smelled of dust and damp concrete.
Walker signaled for everyone to stop.
"Listen."
Silence.
Then...
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Someone was walking toward them.
Victoria raised her pistol.
"Stay behind me."
Emily shook her head.
"We stand together."
Victoria looked at her for a brief moment before nodding.
"Together."
The footsteps stopped.
A tall figure emerged from the shadows at the end of the corridor.
He wore a dark coat.
His face was partly hidden.
Then he stepped into the light.
Victoria's breath caught.
Blue eyes.
Dark hair.
The same features she had seen every morning in the mirror.
Only older.
Only harder.
"...Gabriel," she whispered.
He stood motionless.
His expression was unreadable.
For several long seconds, no one moved.
Victoria slowly lowered her weapon.
"I've looked for you my whole life."
Gabriel stared at her.
"No."
"You buried me."
The words hit Victoria like a bullet.
"I thought you were dead."
"That's what they all say."
Emily could see Gabriel's hands trembling ever so slightly.
He wasn't calm.
He was hurting.
Victoria took one cautious step forward.
"I never stopped loving you."
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
"Loving me?"
"Where were you?"
"When I cried for my family?"
"When I grew up alone?"
"When Volkov was the only person who ever called me son?"
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
"I was eight years old."
"I couldn't save you."
Gabriel looked away.
For the first time, doubt crossed his face.
From hidden speakers, slow applause echoed through the corridor.
Adrian Volkov stepped onto an iron balcony overlooking the room.
"Beautiful."
"Twenty years of pain..."
"...all in one room."
Walker immediately raised his weapon.
"Volkov!"
But the balcony was protected by thick bulletproof glass.
Volkov smiled.
"I've waited a very long time for this reunion."
Emily looked up.
"You manipulated him."
Volkov nodded without shame.
"I raised him."
"I educated him."
"I made him strong."
Victoria's voice became ice cold.
"You stole his life."
"No."
Volkov replied calmly.
"I gave him one."
Gabriel looked between them.
His eyes settled on Emily.
"So..."
"You're the FBI agent."
Emily nodded.
"I am."
"And you're standing beside the woman you're supposed to arrest."
Emily didn't answer immediately.
Instead she said quietly,
"I'm standing beside someone who's trying to save her brother."
Gabriel blinked.
It wasn't the answer he expected.
Suddenly, alarms began blaring throughout the underground complex.
A computerized voice echoed through the corridors.
Security breach detected.
Evacuation in ten minutes.
Walker frowned.
"What's happening?"
Volkov smiled.
"This entire facility is about to collapse."
Emily's eyes widened.
"You've rigged the building."
"I built this trap years ago."
Victoria looked desperately at Gabriel.
"Come with us."
"We can find the truth together."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
"I don't know what's true anymore."
Victoria slowly reached into her pocket.
She pulled out the childhood drawing she had found in his room.
"I kept this."
"I remembered."
Gabriel stared at the faded paper.
The little girl.
The little boy.
The yellow sun.
His hands shook.
A memory flashed through his mind.
Victoria lifting him onto her shoulders.
Their mother laughing.
The smell of fresh flowers in the garden.
His breathing became uneven.
Volkov noticed immediately.
"Gabriel."
The young man looked up.
"Don't listen to her."
For the first time...
Gabriel didn't move.
He looked back at Victoria.
Then at Emily.
Finally, he lowered his weapon.
"I..."
Before he could finish—
A deafening explosion shook the corridor.
The ceiling cracked.
Chunks of concrete crashed to the floor between the siblings, separating them.
Dust filled the air.
Emily grabbed Victoria's arm and pulled her back just as another section of the ceiling collapsed.
When the dust began to settle...
Gabriel was gone.
Only the drawing remained, lying on the floor where he had dropped it.
Victoria picked it up with trembling hands.
Emily gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"We'll find him."
Victoria looked at the drawing, then into the darkness where her brother had disappeared.
This time...
She believed it too.
Somewhere beyond the collapsing tunnels, Adrian Volkov smiled to himself.
The reunion had happened.
The cracks in his control had begun to show.
And that was exactly why the next move would be the most dangerous one yet.
- Writer
