Blood stained the marble tiles of Blackwood Tower's atrium.
The smell of smoke clung to the air, mixing with panic, the buzz of emergency sirens, and the mechanical hum of drones circling overhead. The glass dome that had once let sunlight pour into the room was shattered, the jagged remains of the dome now raining glimmering fragments on scorched floors.
Dominic's arm bled steadily, but he didn't feel the pain. Not yet. Not when survival demanded focus.
Paramedics pushed through the crowd. Agents in riot gear lined the walls. And somewhere in the chaos, cameras continued rolling. The press conference hadn't ended.
It had evolved.
Into something bigger. Bloodier.
And public.
Daniel stood beside him, his suit torn at the shoulder, but his stance strong. The pistol in his hand never wavered. "They knew we were making a move. Someone triggered this."
Dominic's jaw clenched. "And they're not done."
From across the room, Aria limped toward them, supported by Felix. Her temple was bruised, her dress smeared with soot.
"They hit three buildings at once," Felix reported, voice grim. "The Tower, the broadcast center, and the safe house in Queens. Simultaneous strikes. Timed down to the second."
Daniel cursed under his breath. "It's Ashfall."
Dominic turned to him sharply. "You're sure?"
"Positive. This is surgical. Coordinated. Blackwood-grade precision."
Aria looked between them, dazed. "What the hell is Ashfall?"
Dominic swallowed hard.
"A legacy mistake."
Twelve years ago, their father had commissioned a Blackwatch file named 'Project Ashfall.' Officially, it was a continuity protocol—meant to purge sensitive data, neutralize loose ends, and reset the family's power network if everything collapsed.
Unofficially, it was a kill switch.
A scorched-earth doctrine.
And someone had just flipped it.
Hours later, inside the fortified lower levels of Blackwood Tower, the war council was formed.
Dominic, Daniel, Aria, Felix, and two remaining board members gathered around a holographic map.
Dozens of blinking red dots appeared across the map—each one marked a known Blackwood asset that had gone dark in the last twelve hours.
Fourteen safe houses.
Seven covert data centers.
Three private airports.
And one villa in Tuscany.
Daniel pointed. "They're not just targeting infrastructure. Look here—names. Our family, allies, whistleblowers. All marked for termination."
Aria leaned closer. "But who's running it?"
Dominic tapped a control key. A face appeared.
Senator Warren Locke.
A man known for his aggressive anti-tech legislation and polished reputation. Unblemished. Unassailable. A chess master in the shadows.
"I knew he was connected," Daniel said, eyes narrowing. "But I didn't think he'd move this early."
"He didn't just move," Felix added. "He declared open war."
Dominic straightened. "Then let's give him one."
The plan was simple.
Expose Ashfall. Leak evidence. Burn their access to the ground.
But to do that, they needed the master terminal—the physical command unit that controlled the activation sequences. And it was hidden deep beneath an NSA-protected compound known as 'The Bunker.'
Three levels underground.
Sealed.
Unbreachable—unless you were a Blackwood.
Night fell like a storm.
The Blackwood private jet took off from a restricted runway outside Manhattan, carrying Dominic, Daniel, Aria, and Felix. Their destination: a military no-fly zone in Colorado where The Bunker was hidden inside the Rocky Mountains.
En route, Aria checked her tablet, scrolling through leaked documents from a whistleblower who had once worked on Ashfall.
"There's more to this," she murmured. "Locke isn't working alone. There are at least three other names on the funding ledger. Someone from the UK. One from Shanghai. And a name that's redacted."
Daniel leaned over. "Show me."
She flipped the screen.
Daniel's face darkened. "That name's not redacted. It's encrypted. That's Black Cipher code."
Dominic turned from the cockpit. "You're saying someone in our family is funding this?"
Daniel met his gaze. "Or someone who used to be."
The descent into Colorado airspace was quiet. Tense.
Dominic stared out the window. "This ends tonight. If we take the control center, we kill Ashfall."
Aria reached over and squeezed his hand. "And if it's a trap?"
He didn't blink. "Then we bring hell with us."
The Bunker loomed like a steel tomb carved into the mountainside.
Getting in took biometric hacks, pulse-wave jammers, and a stolen NSA override chip. Once inside, the corridors were lined with reinforced alloy and layered security bots.
But Daniel knew the path.
They reached the central chamber—a room of white light, silent servers, and a singular red console pulsing at the heart.
The command terminal.
Dominic approached it slowly.
"It's all here," Felix said, tapping the interface. "Full logs. Names. Kill orders. Financial transfers. Locke's fingerprints are all over it."
Dominic turned to Aria. "Get it to the press. Full leak. All of it."
She nodded and connected her device.
Just then, a countdown appeared on the screen:
00:04:59
Daniel cursed. "It's booby-trapped. Someone activated a destruct protocol."
Felix spun around. "This place is wired to collapse."
Sirens began to wail.
Dominic rushed to the keyboard, trying to override the detonation.
"Too late," Aria said. "The encryption's military-grade. We need to go!"
"No!" Dominic roared. "I need that list—"
"Dominic!" Daniel shouted. "We'll die for nothing!"
Aria grabbed the drive and yanked it free.
The lights cut to black.
The floor shook.
They ran.
Through fire. Through steel doors that sealed behind them. Through smoke-filled corridors and into the frigid night as the mountains rumbled and the bunker exploded behind them.
They dove into the snow just as the sky lit up with flame.