“What?”
Eleanor grabbed her daughter instantly.
“We need to leave now.”
The church doors burst open.
Gunfire exploded.
Stained glass shattered everywhere.
Rachel screamed.
Mercer shouted, “GET DOWN!”
Chaos swallowed the church.
One of the gunmen rushed forward firing wildly.
Mercer shot him instantly.
The second man grabbed Eleanor.
The little girl cried hysterically.
Then suddenly another shot rang out.
The attacker collapsed.
And standing behind him—
Matthew.
Holding the handgun from the storage unit.
For one suspended second, everyone froze.
Matthew looked terrible.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Bleeding through his shirt.
But his eyes locked onto mine immediately.
“Come with me,” he said.
Mercer raised his weapon.
“Don’t move.”
Matthew laughed bitterly.
“You still trust him?”
Mercer’s jaw tightened.
“Enough.”
“No,” Matthew snapped.
Then he looked directly at me.
“Ask him where he was the night your father died.”
Silence crashed through the church.
I turned slowly toward Mercer.
His face changed.
Tiny.
Barely noticeable.
But enough.
Rachel whispered, “Oh my God…”
Matthew’s voice dropped.
“He wasn’t trying to protect your father.”
Mercer raised the gun higher.
“Matthew.”
“You worked for Atlas too,” Matthew said.
The church became deathly still.
Then Mercer spoke quietly.
“You should’ve kept running.”
And suddenly everything shattered.
Because the FBI agent hunting Matthew…
Had been part of Atlas all along.
PART 6 — THE MANHATTAN BETRAYAL
Mercer fired first.
The gunshot echoed violently through the church.
Matthew shoved me sideways just before the bullet tore through the altar behind us.
Chaos exploded.
Rachel dragged Eleanor and the little girl behind a stone pillar while Matthew returned fire.
Mercer disappeared behind pews.
Glass shattered.
Dust filled the air.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Move!” Matthew shouted.
He grabbed my hand.
