Chapter 4 – Beneath the Ashes
Chapter 4 – Beneath the Ashes
The explosion shook the Blackwood estate from its foundation.
Crystal chandeliers swayed violently.
Fragments of plaster rained from the ceilings.
Security lights switched to emergency backup, bathing every hallway in a deep crimson glow.
Victor sprinted from the interrogation room without another word.
Dominic was already barking orders into his radio.
"Team Alpha, lock down the east wing!"
"Bravo Team, with me!"
"No one enters the basement until Mr. Blackwood arrives!"
Guards flooded the corridors with military precision, assault rifles raised as they converged on the oldest section of the mansion.
Behind them, Serena slowly leaned back in her chair.
For the first time since her arrest...
She smiled.
Twenty Minutes Earlier
Several miles away, an unmarked delivery truck rolled quietly toward the rear service entrance of the Blackwood estate.
Inside sat four heavily armed men dressed as utility workers.
Their leader checked his watch.
"Five minutes."
Another man assembled a compact explosive charge.
"Our orders remain the same?"
The leader nodded.
"Recover the file."
"What if it's gone?"
"It isn't."
"And if Blackwood gets there first?"
The leader's eyes hardened.
"Kill everyone."
Back at the estate, smoke drifted through the cracked stone corridor leading toward the east wing.
The blast had destroyed a reinforced steel door that hadn't been opened in almost three years.
Victor arrived first.
He stopped several feet from the ruined entrance.
Dust floated through the flashlight beams.
The air smelled of old concrete, burning wires...
...and something else.
Something familiar.
Lily caught up beside him, still breathing hard.
"Victor..."
He raised one hand.
"Stay behind me."
Dominic motioned for two tactical teams to move forward.
Night-vision goggles dropped into place.
Weapons aimed into the darkness.
The first team disappeared underground.
Ten tense seconds passed.
Then—
"Clear!"
Victor stepped inside.
The basement wasn't what anyone expected.
Instead of storage rooms or wine cellars, the underground level resembled a private research facility.
Rows of abandoned medical equipment stood beneath dust-covered sheets.
Hospital beds.
Heart monitors.
Oxygen tanks.
Cabinets labeled with pharmaceutical codes.
Lily looked around in confusion.
"This was a hospital?"
Dominic answered quietly.
"No."
"It was built for one patient."
Victor remained silent.
His eyes slowly scanned the room.
Everything looked frozen in time.
As though someone had simply walked away one day.
Then he noticed a small pink blanket folded neatly inside one hospital crib.
He recognized it instantly.
Ethan's baby blanket.
His heartbeat slowed.
No...
This couldn't be.
Across the room, one of the investigators called out.
"Boss!"
Victor walked over.
A wall cabinet had been forced open during the explosion.
Several folders lay scattered across the floor.
Most were burned.
One remained intact.
Dominic carefully picked it up.
The label read:
Patient: Isabella Blackwood
Lily frowned.
"That's..."
Victor finished the sentence.
"My wife."
The room fell silent.
Dominic slowly opened the file.
Inside were hundreds of pages.
Medical reports.
Blood tests.
Neurological evaluations.
Every document carried dates...
Months after Isabella's supposed death.
Lily stared at Victor.
"You buried her..."
"...while someone was still treating her."
Victor said nothing.
His face had become unreadable.
Meanwhile...
Outside the estate...
The disguised utility truck quietly entered through the damaged service gate created during the explosion.
The surviving guards believed it belonged to the city's emergency repair department.
No one questioned it.
That mistake would cost them dearly.
The truck stopped beside the east wing.
Its rear doors swung open.
Four gunmen stepped out.
Each wore suppressed rifles beneath reflective work jackets.
Their leader smiled.
"Phase Two."
Back underground...
Dominic examined another cabinet.
"There's more."
He removed an old laptop sealed inside waterproof packaging.
"It's intact."
Victor nodded toward one of the cyber specialists.
"Open it."
The technician connected portable equipment.
After several anxious moments...
The computer powered on.
A login screen appeared.
Password required.
The technician frowned.
"It's encrypted."
Victor looked around the room.
His eyes settled on Ethan's faded baby blanket.
Something occurred to him.
He walked over.
Lifted the blanket.
Embroidered into one corner were two tiny initials.
E.B.
Ethan Blackwood.
Victor typed Ethan's birthday.
Incorrect.
Lily watched him think.
Then she quietly asked,
"When did Isabella first meet Ethan?"
Victor looked at her.
"He was born..."
He stopped.
Realization flashed across his face.
He entered Ethan's exact birth time.
The laptop unlocked.
Everyone stared.
The desktop contained only one icon.
If You're Watching This...
Victor hesitated.
Then clicked it.
A video began.
Static filled the screen.
Slowly...
A woman appeared.
She looked exhausted.
Pale.
Attached to IV lines.
But unmistakably alive.
"Victor..."
Lily gasped.
The woman in the recording looked exactly like the family photographs upstairs.
Victor's breathing became uneven.
"Isabella..."
She smiled weakly into the camera.
"If this reaches you..."
"...then they finally failed."
Victor stepped closer.
Every person in the room remained perfectly still.
"I don't know how much time has passed."
"They told you I died."
"I didn't."
A tear rolled down Victor's cheek.
He never noticed.
"They drugged me after Ethan was born."
"I woke up here."
"I tried to escape."
"They kept moving me."
"They wanted access to your organization."
She paused, struggling to breathe.
"If Serena is still with you..."
"...don't trust her."
Victor closed his eyes.
Too late.
The video continued.
"I hid evidence."
"They don't know everything."
"If you're seeing this..."
"...our son is alive."
"Protect him."
"I love both of you."
The screen suddenly filled with interference.
Then—
Gunshots echoed through the recording.
Someone screamed.
The camera fell sideways.
A masked man entered the frame.
He noticed the recording device.
The video abruptly ended.
Nobody spoke.
Victor remained frozen before the dark screen.
Lily quietly wiped away tears.
Dominic broke the silence.
"We need to find out where this was recorded."
The technician nodded.
"I may be able to recover metadata."
Before he could continue—
Automatic gunfire erupted upstairs.
The basement ceiling trembled from repeated explosions.
Dominic's radio exploded with frantic voices.
"They're inside!"
"Multiple hostiles!"
"We're taking heavy fire!"
Victor immediately snapped back into command mode.
"Protect Ethan."
Dominic nodded.
"You stay with Lily."
Victor looked toward the staircase.
"No."
"I'm ending this."
Upstairs, chaos had consumed the mansion.
The disguised attackers had shed their reflective jackets.
Body armor.
Automatic weapons.
Flash grenades.
Within seconds, the elegant foyer had transformed into a battlefield.
Bullets shattered priceless sculptures.
Marble columns splintered.
Guards exchanged fire from behind overturned furniture.
The attackers weren't stealing valuables.
They moved with one objective.
Straight toward the east wing.
Their leader shouted,
"Destroy the archive!"
Back underground...
The cyber technician suddenly looked alarmed.
"Boss!"
Victor turned.
"I recovered part of the deleted location data."
"Where?"
"It isn't complete..."
"But one address appears repeatedly."
He enlarged the screen.
Everyone read the same words.
St. Catherine Medical Center
Victor frowned.
"That hospital closed years ago."
Dominic slowly shook his head.
"No."
"It was officially closed."
A heavy silence followed.
Everyone understood what that meant.
Someone had continued operating the hospital in secret.
For years.
Victor looked at the flickering screen showing Isabella's final message.
Then toward the sounds of battle raging overhead.
He had two impossible choices.
Stay...
And defend his son.
Or leave immediately...
To search for the woman he had mourned for three years.
Before he could decide—
Lily's phone vibrated.
She frowned.
"I don't recognize this number."
Victor motioned for her to answer on speaker.
A distorted voice filled the room.
"Victor Blackwood."
"You've just discovered our first secret."
A soft chuckle followed.
"If you want your wife alive..."
"...come alone."
The call disconnected.
At that exact moment, another notification appeared on Lily's phone.
A live video feed.
A pale woman, restrained to a hospital bed, slowly opened her eyes.
She looked directly into the camera.
And whispered just two words:
May you like
"Victor..."
End of Chapter 4
