Piper's car screamed through Singapore's streets, police escort clearing the way. Every second stretched like an eternity as they raced toward the school. Gabriel's voice came through the car's speakers, coordinating their security teams.
"All students are in lockdown positions," he reported. "Lily's protection detail has her in the reinforced safe room."
"Visual confirmation," Piper demanded, gripping the door handle as they took a corner at speed.
"Sending now."
Her phone lit up with security footage. Lily sat in the safe room, looking scared but unharmed. Two armed guards flanked her, while a third monitored the entrance.
"He's still in the library?" Piper asked.
"Contained. Teams have all exits covered." Gabriel paused. "Piper... he's asking for you. By name."
Of course he was. Her brother - the ghost, the Phoenix, the shadow from her forgotten past.
They reached the school gates, where parents huddled behind police barricades. Piper's security detail formed a tight formation around her as she strode through.
"Status?" she asked the head of school security.
"Building's locked down. All students accounted for except-"
"Except?"
"Three children were in the library when he entered. They're still inside."
Piper's blood ran cold. "Hostages?"
"He's keeping them calm, reading them stories actually." The guard looked confused. "Says he'll only release them to you."
Gabriel appeared at her side, gear strapped on, ready for action. "It's a trap."
"Obviously." Piper checked her phone - still no word from her mother's plane. "But those children..."
"Mom!" Lily's voice came through their radios. "Don't go in there. He's the man from the garage, the one who hurt Uncle Jasper!"
Piper touched her earpiece. "I'll be careful, sweetheart. Stay with your guards."
Noah's voice cut in. "Thermal imaging shows four heat signatures in the library. The children are seated, calm. He's not threatening them."
"Yet," Gabriel added grimly.
Piper studied the school's layout on her tablet. The library had three entry points - main doors, emergency exit, and a service entrance.
"Options?"
"Smoke him out," suggested the tactical team leader. "CS gas through the ventilation."
"No. Not with children inside."
"Sniper line through the windows?"
"Too risky."
Gabriel touched her arm. "Let me go in first."
"He asked for me." Piper squared her shoulders. "This ends now."
"At least wear a vest."
She nodded, and security quickly fitted her with body armor under her blazer.
"Noah, are you seeing any other heat signatures in the building?"
"Negative. The rest of the structure is clear."
"Lily's secure?"
"Safe room locked down. No one gets in or out without biometric authorization."
Piper took a deep breath. "On my mark, I want teams at all three entrances. No one moves without my command."
"What if he's armed?" Gabriel asked quietly.
"He is." Piper checked her phone one last time. "But he won't shoot me. He needs me for something."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because he's had multiple chances to kill me. This is about something else."
The teams moved into position. Through the library windows, Piper could see her brother sitting with the children, a book open on his lap. He looked... normal. Familiar, even though she couldn't remember him.
"Ready?" Gabriel asked.
Piper nodded. "Teams hold positions. I'm going in alone."
She approached the main doors, heart pounding but steps steady. Through the glass, she saw her brother look up. Their eyes met.
He smiled - her smile, their mother's smile.
The doors were unlocked.
Inside, the library was quiet except for her brother's voice, reading from "Where the Wild Things Are." The three children sat cross-legged before him, apparently unafraid.
"Hello, sister," he said without looking up. "Just let me finish this page."
Piper stayed near the doors, studying him. He was tall, like their father, but with their mother's features. No visible weapons, though she knew he was armed.
"There," he said, closing the book. "Now, children, thank you for being such good listeners. Your teachers are waiting outside."
The kids stood, still seemingly unconcerned.
"Go straight to the main entrance," Piper told them. "Walk, don't run."
They filed past her obediently. Through her earpiece, she heard confirmation as they reached safety.
Finally, she was alone with her brother.
"You could have killed Jasper," she said.
"If I'd wanted to." He set the book aside. "That was a warning."
"About what?"
"Mother's coming. You need to be ready."
"Ready for what?" Piper moved closer, noting possible escape routes, weapons within reach. "What did she do to you?"
"To us," he corrected. "She made a choice, thirty years ago. Sacrificed one child to save the other."
"Why?"
"Project Phoenix." He stood slowly, hands visible. "An experiment in creating the perfect heir. Two children, one backup. When it went wrong..."
"She erased you."
"Saved me, according to her. Send me away to protect both of us." His smile turned bitter. "The Chens took me in. Raised me. Showed me the truth about our mother."
Piper's earpiece crackled. "Margaret's plane just landed," Noah reported.
"She's here to finish it," her brother said. "To tie up loose ends. Starting with the Chens."
"The factory fire, Jasper's attack..."
"Warnings. Showing her we won't go quietly this time."
Piper studied his face - so familiar, yet strange. "What do you want from me?"
"Help me stop her. Before she destroys everything, including you."
"Why should I trust you?"
He reached into his jacket. Gabriel's voice barked a warning in her ear, but her brother simply withdrew a folder.
"Because of this." He held it out. "The truth about Project Phoenix. About what they did to us. About why she really sent me away."
Piper took the folder with steady hands. Inside, documents detailed a program that made her blood run cold.
"God," she whispered.
"Now you know." He moved toward the emergency exit. "Choose carefully, sister. Mother won't give you much time."
"Wait - what's your name? My real brother's name?"
He paused. "Alexander. But I haven't used that name in thirty years."
A flash of memory - playing in a garden, calling for Alex...
"The meeting," she said quickly. "Tonight, with the old guard. Will the Chens be there?"
"Yes. And so will I." He opened the door. "Choose your side wisely, sister. Blood against blood."
Then he was gone.
Gabriel burst in seconds later, but Piper barely noticed. She was reading the documents, horror growing with each page.
Her phone lit up with a text from an unknown number:
"Welcome to Singapore, Mother. The children are waiting."
Another memory surfaced - her mother's voice, soft but determined: "Sometimes to save something precious, you have to cut away what's damaged."
But who was damaged? Who was saved?
And what game was Margaret Blackwood really playing?
The answers waited at tonight's meeting. Piper now knew at least one traitor.
Mr. Wong's jade cufflinks flashed in her memory - identical to the pendant from the garage.
The old guard wasn't just connected to the Chens. They were the Chens.
And she'd just agreed to give them fifteen percent of her company.
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