Chapter 2 - The Ghost Protocol
The side door of the black van slid open violently.
Three men wearing dark tactical gear aimed suppressed rifles directly at Leo.
"Get in the van right now," the lead gunman commanded coldly.
Leo froze in sheer terror as his brain struggled to process the chaos.
Suddenly, the mysterious woman grabbed a loose piece of shrapnel from the destroyed wheelchair.
She threw it with lethal precision, striking the lead gunman right in the throat.
The man collapsed instantly, dropping his heavy weapon onto the asphalt.
"Move, Leo!" his grandfather roared with a strength he had not shown in years.
Arthur snatched the dropped rifle and fired three perfect, rapid shots into the van's engine block.
Steam and dark oil erupted from the ruined vehicle.
The woman grabbed Leo by the collar and dragged him toward a stolen sedan parked nearby.
"Who are you people?" Leo demanded as he was shoved into the backseat.
"My name is Evelyn, and I am the only reason you are still breathing," she replied sharply.
Arthur climbed into the passenger seat and expertly checked the chamber of his stolen rifle.
Evelyn slammed on the gas pedal, tearing out of the hospital lot just as sirens began to wail.
"They swapped the chair while I was doing your discharge paperwork," Arthur muttered angrily.
"Who swapped it?" Leo asked, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Arthur looked back at his grandson with a deeply sorrowful expression.
"Thirty years ago, I was not just a retired accountant," Arthur confessed softly.
"I was the chief cryptographer for an unsanctioned military intelligence division."
Leo stared at his grandfather as if looking at a complete stranger.
"The real wheelchair contains a decrypted ledger hidden inside its tubular steel frame," Evelyn explained while swerving through traffic.
"If the wrong people get that ledger, thousands of undercover operatives will be murdered."
Leo felt his stomach drop as the horrifying reality set in.
Evelyn's burner phone suddenly buzzed loudly in the cup holder.
She answered it and put the device on speaker for the car to hear.
May you like
"You survived the blast, Arthur, but you just lost something much more valuable," a sinister, raspy voice echoed through the speaker.
"If you ever want to see your daughter alive again, bring me the ledger by midnight," the voice commanded before the line went dead.
