Chapter 172 Through the Smoke

Chapter 172 Through the Smoke
Chapter 173 – Through the Smoke

The explosion ripped through the front gate with enough force to shake the entire building.

For a heartbeat, no one could see anything except smoke and shattered glass. The blast echoed through the courtyard while the emergency alarms wailed above them, drowning out every other sound.

Daniel reacted before anyone else.

He grabbed Aria's wrist and pulled her behind the thick concrete pillar beside the entrance just as another burst of metal crashed onto the pavement where they had been standing seconds earlier.

"Stay down!"

The command cut through the chaos.

Security officers rushed toward the destroyed gate while others formed a defensive line around the entrance. Radios crackled with overlapping voices, each reporting a different emergency.

"We've lost the east perimeter!"

"Medical team to the front entrance!"

"I can't identify the attackers!"

Daniel looked toward the stranger, but the man was no longer where he had been.

Only the envelope remained on the ground.

His jaw tightened.

"He disappeared," one of the guards shouted.

"No one leaves this area!" Daniel ordered.

"They couldn't have gone far."

Another officer shook his head.

"Sir... there are no footprints."

Daniel stared at the dust-covered pavement.

The man had vanished as if he had never been there.

Behind him, Aria struggled to steady her breathing. The pain behind her eyes returned with frightening intensity. Flashes of unfamiliar memories broke through the darkness inside her mind.

A little girl running across a wide garden.

A woman's voice calling after her.

Not "Aria."

Another name.

So close.

Almost within reach.

She pressed both hands against her temples.

Daniel immediately turned.

"What is it?"

"I... I remember something."

His expression sharpened.

"What did you see?"

"It was a house."

She closed her eyes again, forcing herself to hold onto the memory before it disappeared.

"There were white flowers everywhere... and..." Her breathing became uneven. "A fountain."

The images dissolved as quickly as they had appeared.

She opened her eyes in frustration.

"It's gone."

Daniel placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Don't force it."

Before she could answer, the control room radio came alive again.

"Sir, we've found something."

Daniel grabbed the radio.

"What?"

"A vehicle."

"Where?"

"Half a mile from the facility."

"Is it connected?"

There was a long pause before the reply came.

"The registration belongs to someone who officially died eighteen years ago."

The courtyard fell silent.

Daniel slowly lowered the radio.

Aria looked at him.

"What does that mean?"

He met her eyes, his expression darker than she had ever seen.

"It means whoever started this story..."

He glanced toward the ruined gate where the smoke was finally beginning to clear.

"...has been planning it for a very long time."

In the distance, hidden behind the trees beyond the facility, someone watched through a pair of binoculars.

A gloved hand closed a small notebook.

One sentence had just been written across the final page.

Phase One complete.

The figure turned away and disappeared into the forest, leaving only the wind to carry the silence behind.