Chapter 3 Smoke and Mirrors

Sarah and Alex met eyes across the filthy room, and the world seemed to stop. Between them lay acknowledgement, treachery, and a thousand unresolved problems. But chaos descended before either could say anything. Martinez thrusted for Alex's gun right away, jumping all over the chance of distraction. In the next struggle, a shot tore apart the restricted area. Martinez fell to the ground, grabbing his shoulder.

Alex, his visage a mask of cool confidence, took advantage of the chaos. Grabbing Elena, he dove through a wall panel to vanish into the labyrinth of subterranean tubes of the city. Alex: Slower! Alex turned not looking back when Sarah's painful scream echoed behind them. He could not stand to. As they ran, Elena snipped, "What now, boss?" Alex's thoughts flew across her mind.

All he had built around him was disintegrating. One idea, though, caught out among the tumult: he had to guard his father. Grasping, "We stick to the plan," he said. But first we have to warn James. James Harding planned the biggest gathering of his mission yet, deliberately blind to the spectacular unfolding across town. The venue was filled and there was clear buzz. As James stepped on stage, the crowd burst in cheers. He exuded and accepted the respect. This was his second, the perfection of prolonged hard work. His words resounding from the speakers, "My fellow New Yorkers," he said "Today we find ourselves at a crossroads..."

His campaign boss frowned in the wings at a text message. "Sir," he whispered hurriedly to an aide. "Alex no longer keeps in touch to us. He should arrive here one hour before. The assistant gestured, worry all over noticeable. "I'll try him again." Returning to the tunnels, Alex and Elena came out onto an empty street. Alex using a fake phone phoned a number from memory. He barked, "Dad's security detail," when someone answered. "Be careful listening.

James Harding's life is under great risk. Right now you want him off the stage. He hung up the call before they could start asking questions. Elena gave a shake of her head. "A threat?" Alex had a dark face. "There will be in 10 or so minutes. Get it going. Elena nodded and pulled her own phone to start things moving. James was figuring his best spot at the gathering. "We will not stand back and watch as drugs contaminate our streets, schools, and-," The thrashing of the crowd cut off him. A man was headed approaching the stage one hand reaching into his jacket. James' security crew moved carefully and fast.

Two guards covered James while others gathered on the possible danger. But they arrived far too late. Collective screams from the crowd matched the sound of a shot. James stumbled backwards, a red mess flowering on his newly white shirt. Hired by Elena on Alex's orders to cause a diversion, the actual killer disappeared from the scene among the turmoil without anybody noticing. New understanding of the death effort traveled fast.

Every station carried breaking news on it in minutes. Actually struggling from the reveal about Alex, Sarah felt her reality slant further off its center as she heard. Her mind were a swirl of contradictory feelings as she headed to the hospital. She ran upon Alex already in the ER, messy but yet looking like a worried son. Their eyes locked, and momentarily the world disappeared. The dependable, caring man Sarah thought she knew, Alex, came to her briefly. She missed it though, and noticed a stranger, a liar, a crook there in front of her.

"What happened?"

she asked, her voice almost above a whisper. On his face Alex wore a mask of worry and tiredness. To everyone else, he would have seemed simply as a grieving kid. But by now Sarah knew better. From the computation in his eyes and the minor strain in his stance, she could feel his next movement under preparation. Alex replied, his voice laden with persuasive feeling, "I don't know." "I was on way to the rally when I got the call. Should he fall short, God, Sarah..." He trailed off and ran his hand through his hair, clearly hopeless.

Sarah thought the performance was amazing. She had given in to this show how often? Before she could answer him, a doctor emerged from the operation room. "Mr.- Harding?" Alex and Sarah turned, and one could feel strain. Your father is steady, the doctor said.The bullet went through no important organs. He is quite lucky. < Sarah knew this time that Alex's relief look was real. Whatever his other traits, Alex loved his father. As word of James's recovery spread, the media frenzy took off.

Reporters wanting family comments were all over the hospital. Alex, always acting as the committed child, took elegant and balanced care to tend to the press. "My dad is a contender," he said with steady voice. "This terrible attack won't stop him from pursuing his principal goal of increasing the security of our community. All things considered, it simply serves to forward our goal." The group ate it right away.

In a few hours, HardingStrong started to trend nationwide. James was already planning from his bed in the hospital room. "We want to profit by this," he told his mission chief. "The vote of sympathy might help us to win." Sarah found Alex by alone in the clinic canteen as evening fell. The only individuals in the room were them; the strong fluorescent lights made odd shadows. We need to talk, Sarah murmured in a low, dangerous voice. Alex nodded hard, difficultly reading.

"Not quite here."

Ten minutes from now meet me on the roof. Watching him go, she felt a shiver run down her spine. She was going to challenge the man she loved about his two-fold life. She thought she knew him. She was advised, though, by a persistent voice in her thoughts that she might not be ready for the information about to come out. Ten minutes later Sarah opened the hospital roof door.

Her face was met with cold night air, a wonderful escape from the sterile clinic. Alex stayed at the brink, his back to her shaped against the city horizon. Sarah was briefly impressed by how small he seemed in relation to the expanse of the city the one he had been surreptitiously controlling from the darkness.

" WHY?"

Loaded with damage and betrayal, the word escaped her lips before she could stop it. Alex turned, the moonlight bathing his face. The mask of the devoted son or loving fiancé vanished. Before her stood the Apparition, working out, dangerous, yet some way or another still the man she loved. Starting, "It's complicated," Sarah stopped him. She snapped, "don't." "Alex, you dare tell me any more lies? I expect reality.

Every last trace of it. Alex's shoulders listed, like though an amazing weight had fallen on them. "Reality," he said again, a nasty smile covering all the rage. "Sarah, is it true or not that you are sure you can handle it? Moving forward is the only true choice from now on. for each other as well. Sarah straightened her shoulders and gathered her will. "try me." For the first time since she had known Alex, Sarah felt his raw vulnerability. Alex drew in a long breath. It started long before I met you, he said. "Before political ambitions of my father and before Harding Industries became into what it is today.

It started with a choice to protect my family at all costs. As Alex's story unfolded, Sarah felt her world spin once more. Lines separating good from bad, love from duty, hidden with every word. But the rooftop entranceway opened before Alex could finish. James' head of safety rushed out, his face white. Alex is your father. He has become quite ugly." At that exact moment, the Ghost disappeared and a terrified son took its place. Alex's quickness and lack of a backward glance at Sarah left her alone on the roof with more questions than answers.

Sarah knew she stayed at a junction as she watched Alex's receding form. Her fate as well as the future of the whole city would be affected by the next line of direction. She was unaware that the forces meant to decide for her were already on motion. Elena was rebuilding the Phantom's realm in the shadows of the city, preparing for a fight that would envelop them all. James Harding's eyes too fluttered awake in a private hospital room, sharp with the information that would challenge the fundamental basis of the Harding dynasty.

There was a confrontation starting that would leave none hurt. Dawn breaking over New York City would cause the borders separating comrade from enemy, love from betrayal, justice from revenge to disappear completely.