Chapter 20
The cold Alpine wind howled furiously through the dark pine trees surrounding the solitary Swiss chalet.
Evelyn stood at the edge of a snow-covered cliff, wearing a heavy white winter coat and tactical boots.
In her gloved hand, she held a GPS tracker displaying a blinking red dot five hundred feet directly below her.
Marcus stood beside her, checking the ammunition clips on his silenced sidearm with practiced routine.
"The satellite jammer is active, Miss Evelyn," Marcus reported over the roaring sound of the blizzard.
"Federal authorities in Geneva have no idea we are standing on top of this mountain."
Evelyn pulled down her thermal scarf, looking down into the deep, dark ravine below the cliff face.
A hidden steel blast door was embedded directly into the solid rock face of the mountain.
"If we go down there without back-up, we might never come back up," Marcus warned gravely.
"Those children don't have time for international warrants, Marcus," Evelyn replied, her green eyes flashing with steel.
She pulled a high-tensile rappelling line from her backpack and secured it to a massive pine tree trunk.
Suddenly, her satellite phone vibrated inside her coat pocket with an incoming video call.
Evelyn answered the call, locking the screen to reveal a dimly lit control room filled with surgical monitors.
A figure sitting in a high-backed leather chair faced away from the camera in the dark room.
"You are as brave as your father was, Evelyn," a deep, aristocratic European voice echoed through the speaker.
"Or perhaps... just as foolishly arrogant."
The chair slowly turned around, revealing a silver-haired man wearing an immaculate tailored tuxedo.
Sitting on the armrest of his chair was a young girl who looked no older than eight years old.
The girl raised her small left hand toward the camera lens with a terrifyingly familiar movement.
Clearly visible beside her small wrist was the exact same white surgical scar that Evelyn carried on her arm.
"Welcome to Zurich, Miss Sterling," the silver-haired man said with a cold, terrifying smile.
"We have been waiting ten long years for you to return home."
The video feed cut to static instantly, leaving only the howling winter wind echoing across the dark peak.
Evelyn grabbed the rappelling line with both hands, stepping right up to the edge of the snowy precipice.
She looked back at Marcus, her green eyes burning with absolute, unwavering resolve.
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"Hook the line," Evelyn commanded, staring down into the dark abyss of the mountain.
"It's time to end this nightmare forever."
