Chapter 0025: Beneath the Ashes
The ruins of the lodge still smoldered by dawn. Fire crews had arrived—paid off and discreet, thanks to Amira's connections—keeping the operation from hitting the news cycle. But the silence around them was deafening.
Zara stood among the ashes, boots crunching on charred wood and shattered glass. Her gaze swept over the scene, searching not for Rehan anymore, but for what he'd left behind.
A legacy of rot. And a challenge.
"He knew we were coming," she muttered.
Hamza adjusted his gloves, kneeling beside the blackened remains of a steel locker. "There was someone on the inside. Someone feeding him information… just like someone was feeding us his movements."
Zayn stepped out from behind the remnants of the west wing, holding a half-burnt document folder, partially shielded in a fireproof case.
"This survived."
Zara's eyes narrowed as she took the folder. Inside were schematics, coded notes, and photos. One of them stopped her breath.
It was of her.
Taken recently. In Istanbul. She was walking with Ryan, laughing, unaware.
"He's not just fleeing," Zara said. "He's watching. Planning. We're not hunters anymore. We're targets."
Amira walked up, her face tight with tension. "There's more. I hacked into the security logs of the lodge before the explosion. A helicopter landed here—fifteen minutes before the blast. He got out."
Zayn clenched his jaw. "So what's next? He disappears again?"
Zara looked at the photos in her hand, then back at the smoking ruins.
"No," she said. "We let him run before. We exposed him, and still he escaped. Not this time."
Her voice was steel now.
"We take the fight to his next step. We hit his shell companies, destroy his assets, flush him out. Rehan Baig doesn't get to vanish into the fog of war. Not when we finally see the shape of the shadows."
Elsewhere – Unknown Location
The walls were white. Sterile. The room luxurious in a way that felt almost obscene in contrast to the blood he had spilled to escape.
Rehan Baig poured himself a drink, his hand steady.
Across the room, a figure sat in the shadows. A man in a tailored suit, face hidden in low light.
"You were almost caught," the man said coolly.
Rehan turned toward him. "Almost isn't enough. They're amateurs with a cause. That makes them predictable."
The man leaned forward. "And yet you're hiding."
"I'm regrouping," Rehan corrected. "You wanted disruption? I'll give you a storm. But next time, I don't want surveillance. I want control."
The man smiled. "Then you'll need her alive."
Rehan raised an eyebrow.
"Zara. You don't destroy a symbol. You corrupt it. Then… you own the narrative."
Rehan considered that for a long moment.
Then he smiled. "Let the game evolve."
Back in Istanbul
Zara stared at the map on the screen in front of her. Lines. Names. Shell companies. Real estate. Trails of money trying to vanish.
"You sure about this?" Ryan asked beside her.
"No," she said truthfully. "But I'm sure of him."
She placed a red marker on the map.
"This is where we hit next."
The war wasn't just against one man anymore.
It was against the system that allowed him to exist.
In a dimly lit room of a private data facility in Baku, Azerbaijan, rows of servers buzzed quietly. The air was cool, clinical, and heavily surveilled. But tonight, it was breached.
Zayn's fingers danced across the keyboard, sweat beading on his forehead. The system was sophisticated—layers of firewalls, countermeasures, and honeypots designed to trace intruders. But this wasn't just a hack. It was a declaration.
"Amira, I'm in," he whispered through the comms.
"Copy that. I've got your back on the defense grid. Just don't trigger the internal lockdown," she warned from the safehouse in Istanbul.
Zara stood behind Zayn, arms crossed, eyes scanning the lines of code. The room was charged with tension, the silence broken only by the clicking of keys and the hum of machines.
"Found it," Zayn muttered. "Encrypted vault tied to a shell entity—Darvish Holdings."
"That's one of Rehan's," Zara confirmed. "Download everything."
As the files began to transfer, Zayn's screen flashed red.
INTRUSION DETECTED. TRACKING INITIATED.
"Someone's countering," Amira said in their ears. "He's got a live AI defense running."
Zayn cursed. "I need ninety seconds."
Zara stepped forward, her eyes burning. "You've got sixty. Then we pull out."
Zayn's fingers moved faster, countering the AI's blocks in real time. It was like a chess match in hyperspeed—one wrong move, and they'd be exposed globally.
Finally, the last packet downloaded.
"Go!" Zara ordered.
They fled the facility, slipping into the dark alleys of Baku as security scrambled to locate the breach.
Back at the Istanbul Safehouse
The files revealed a complex network of offshore accounts, property deals, and a hidden facility deep in the mountains of Georgia—funded by Darvish Holdings.
"What's he doing out there?" Ryan asked, frowning at the screen.
Amira zoomed in on satellite images. "Whatever it is, it's not just a hideout. It's a compound. High security. Built recently."
"Could be where he's planning his next phase," Zara said. "Or hiding someone."
Zayn looked up. "There's a name buried in one of the files. Project Sehar. Does that mean anything to you?"
Zara paled.
"Sehar was my mother's name."
The room went silent.
Ryan leaned forward. "He's digging into your bloodline now. He's trying to get personal."
Zara nodded slowly, heart pounding. "Then we make it personal too."
She stood, voice clear.
"We go to Georgia. And this time, we don't run. We end this."
Meanwhile – Unknown Location, Georgia
Rehan walked along a hallway lined with high-tech labs and guarded rooms. He stopped before a steel door.
Inside, a young woman sat at a table, her eyes red, her spirit unbroken.
"You're a hard one to find," he said, stepping in. "But you're the final piece, aren't you?"
She didn't speak.
Rehan leaned closer. "You have your mother's fire. But I'm going to teach you what happens when fire meets power."
Outside the compound, snow began to fall.
The game had entered its final stage.
The road to Georgia was treacherous—winding mountain passes shrouded in mist, with ancient pine trees standing like silent sentinels. Zara sat in the backseat of the SUV, staring out at the endless gray, her mind heavy with the weight of memories and the growing storm ahead.
Beside her, Ryan monitored the satellite feed on his tablet while Zayn drove with focus that bordered on obsession. Amira rode shotgun, her eyes always scanning, her pistol resting casually on her lap.
"We're less than fifty kilometers from the compound," Zayn said. "After this bend, we lose GPS. It's old-school from here on out."
Zara nodded. "Just how he wants it. Off the grid. Invisible."
Amira looked over her shoulder. "Are you ready for what we might find in there?"
"No," Zara answered honestly. "But we're going anyway."
Inside the Compound – Observation Chamber
Rehan stood before a large screen displaying live footage of the approaching SUV.
"They're here," he said, a smile curling his lips. "Right on time."
Behind him, the young woman—the one with Zara's eyes and fire—watched silently from behind reinforced glass. Her name was Ayla.
She was more than a hostage. She was leverage, bloodline, and mystery.
"She won't leave without her," his advisor murmured.
"I'm counting on it," Rehan replied.
He turned away from the screen and faced Ayla. "You're going to bring your sister into the light."
Ayla's head snapped up. "She's not my sister."
"But she is," Rehan whispered. "In every way that matters. And when the truth breaks, so will she."
Mountain Perimeter – Nightfall
They abandoned the vehicle two kilometers from the compound, proceeding on foot through dense forest. Snowflakes drifted silently from the sky, cloaking the forest in a heavy hush.
Zayn crouched at a vantage point, peering through night vision binoculars.
"Four guards on the southern ridge. Two more patrolling the outer fence."
Ryan checked his watch. "Ten minutes till the satellite loops back. That's our window."
Zara inhaled deeply, bracing herself. "We're not here just to confront him. We're here to find answers."
"And to bring her home," Amira added.
They moved like shadows, coordinated and silent, slipping through the trees toward the unknown. Toward the man who had haunted their past—and was shaping their future.
Inside the Compound – Hall of Secrets
Beneath the compound, the team found a hidden corridor lined with files, photos, and surveillance monitors. Names, dates, documents—Rehan had kept tabs on them all.
"This isn't just obsession," Ryan said. "It's a full-blown psychological operation. He's studied us."
Zara picked up a photo—one of her as a child, standing beside a woman she barely remembered.
"My mother…"
The walls whispered truths none of them were prepared to hear.
Zayn froze at a console, pulling up a recent log. "He's experimenting. Genetics. Blood markers. This isn't just revenge. It's legacy. He's trying to recreate something."
A voice crackled from a hidden speaker.
"Welcome, Zara."
It was Rehan.
"You're exactly where I want you to be. Now, let's see what you're willing to sacrifice for the truth."
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(To be Continue...)