Chapter 7 Apartment 704
Chapter 7 — The Recording Hidden Beneath Charlie's Perch
The bullet shattered the office door.
Wood exploded across the room.
Samuel Carter shoved Daniel and Olivia into the narrow escape tunnel.
"Run!"
Charlie launched from Daniel's shoulder and disappeared into the darkness ahead, his wings beating frantically.
Another burst of gunfire tore through the basement.
The steel door slammed shut behind them.
For several seconds, the only sounds were their footsteps and their breathing.
The tunnel was cold, narrow, and barely tall enough to stand upright.
Daniel finally spoke.
"My uncle?"
Samuel nodded without slowing down.
"Your mother's older brother."
Daniel struggled to process the words.
"My parents were FBI agents?"
"Undercover."
"And Richard Brooks adopted me?"
"Because every member of your real family had become a target."
Olivia looked at Samuel.
"Then why hide the truth for thirty years?"
Samuel stopped.
His face grew grim.
"Because the people hunting Daniel never stopped."
"They simply waited."
Charlie suddenly landed on an old wooden beam overhead.
The macaw screamed.
Then, in Tyler's voice, repeated a sentence Daniel had never heard before.
"Under the perch."
Samuel smiled faintly.
"So Tyler figured it out."
Daniel frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Samuel looked directly at him.
"Charlie isn't just repeating conversations."
"He was trained."
Daniel blinked.
"Trained?"
Samuel nodded.
"Richard knew every hard drive, every cloud server, every computer could eventually be hacked."
"So he created the one witness nobody would suspect."
"The bird."
Daniel stared at Charlie.
Samuel continued.
"Every important meeting..."
"Every confession..."
"Every secret conversation..."
"Richard played special audio files beside Charlie for months."
"The bird memorized everything."
Olivia whispered,
"So Charlie became the backup."
Samuel nodded.
"The final backup."
Daniel suddenly remembered Charlie's last words before they escaped.
"The recording is under my perch."
Samuel looked at him.
"Exactly."
Daniel's heart raced.
"If the evidence is still inside the mansion..."
"Then those men are looking for the wrong thing."
Samuel smiled.
"They've spent years searching computers."
"They never searched the bird's stand."
A distant explosion shook the tunnel.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
"They're collapsing the basement," Samuel said.
"We have minutes."
The tunnel finally opened into an abandoned boathouse nearly half a mile from the mansion.
Night had fallen.
Samuel unlocked an old pickup truck hidden beneath a tarp.
Before anyone climbed inside...
Daniel grabbed his arm.
"No more lies."
Samuel met his eyes.
"You deserve the truth."
Daniel asked quietly,
"Who ordered my parents' murder?"
Samuel looked toward the distant mansion.
Lights flashed across the property.
Police cars.
Black SUVs.
Smoke.
Then Samuel answered.
"The person responsible..."
"...is someone you've trusted your entire life."
Daniel's stomach tightened.
"My father?"
Samuel immediately shook his head.
"No."
"Richard died protecting you."
"Then who?"
Samuel reached into his coat.
He handed Daniel an old photograph.
It showed Richard Brooks standing beside another man.
Both were smiling.
Business partners.
Friends.
Daniel recognized the second face instantly.
His breathing stopped.
It was Victor Langford.
The chairman of Brooks Global Holdings.
The man Daniel had called "Uncle Victor" since childhood.
The same man who had attended every family Christmas.
The same man who had carried Daniel on his shoulders when he was six.
The same man who had cried at Richard Brooks's funeral.
Samuel's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Victor didn't just betray Richard."
"He built his empire on your family's blood."
Daniel looked down at the photograph again.
His hands trembled with rage.
Charlie suddenly landed on the truck's side mirror.
The bird tilted its head.
Then, perfectly imitating Richard Brooks's voice, spoke one final sentence.
"If Victor realizes Daniel remembers..."
"...he'll finish what he started."
The truck engine roared to life.
Behind them, flames consumed the hidden basement.
Ahead of them...
Daniel realized the real war had only just begun.
