Chapter 5 - The Burning Illusion
I memorized the GPS coordinates and destroyed the bloody radio to avoid being tracked by the authorities.
The coordinates led me deep into an abandoned industrial zone on the edge of the New Mexico border.
I parked the stolen car a mile away and proceeded on foot, using the shadows of the decaying factories as cover.
My military instincts screamed that I was walking directly into a heavily orchestrated trap.
As I approached the center of the industrial park, a massive pillar of black smoke rose into the sky.
I moved closer and discovered my father's familiar pickup truck engulfed in roaring flames.
The intense heat pushed me backward, but I could still see two bodies slumped inside the burning cabin.
My heart dropped into my stomach as I realized they wanted me to believe my parents were dead.
I pulled a heavy fire extinguisher from a nearby abandoned warehouse and aggressively fought back the flames.
I smashed the driver's side window and pulled the charred remains out of the burning vehicle.
I carefully inspected the dental structure and bone density of the corpses using my medical training.
The bodies were completely fake, constructed from synthetic medical materials and animal bones.
My parents had staged their own violent deaths to frame me for a double homicide.
I searched the glove compartment of the truck before the fire could completely consume it.
Hidden beneath the melted plastic was a thick, fireproof metal lockbox.
I used a heavy steel pipe to smash the locking mechanism until the box finally popped open.
Inside was a stack of classified financial documents bearing the logo of Vanguard Dynamics.
Vanguard was the largest, most ruthless private military contractor on the entire planet.
The documents revealed that my parents had received ten million dollars to deliver Eli to the company.
Eli possessed a rare genetic anomaly that Vanguard needed for an experimental biological weapons program.
Suddenly, the sound of a heavy helicopter rotor began echoing from the dark clouds above me.
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A blinding spotlight hit the ground, and a voice over a loudspeaker ordered me to surrender immediately.
The voice belonged to my mother, and she was commanding a team of elite Vanguard mercenaries.
