The Man Everyone Abandoned

The Man Behind the Gunshot

The gunshot shattered the silence.

Elias barely had time to understand what he had seen before Gabriel's body jerked backward. The old man stumbled against the wall, one hand immediately flying to his shoulder.

“Gabriel!”

Elias rushed toward him, but Gabriel grabbed his shirt and pulled him down.

“Get down!”

Another bullet tore through the wall where Elias had been standing only seconds earlier. Plaster exploded across the room, and the old painting above the fireplace shook violently.

Elias dropped behind the sofa, his heart hammering against his ribs.

“Are you hit?” he whispered.

Gabriel pressed his hand against his shoulder. Blood was beginning to seep between his fingers.

“Yes.”

“How bad?”

“Not bad enough to die.”

“That is not exactly reassuring.”

Despite the pain, Gabriel gave him an irritated look.

“Do you think this is the time for jokes?”

“I wasn't joking.”

A third shot rang out, and both men ducked instinctively.

The room fell silent again.

Elias slowly lifted his head. Through the darkness beyond the windows, he could see nothing but rain and the distorted reflections of the streetlights.

“Who is out there?”

Gabriel did not answer.

“Gabriel.”

“Stay down.”

“Who shot you?”

The old man looked toward the window.

Then he said quietly, “They finally found me.”

Elias felt a cold knot form in his stomach.

“Who?”

Gabriel looked at him.

“The Circle.”

The name immediately brought back everything Gabriel had been about to explain before the lights went out. The secret organization. The thirteen powerful people. The people who had destroyed David's name and apparently controlled far more than Elias could comprehend.

“The Circle of Thirteen?” Elias asked.

Gabriel's expression tightened.

“You know about them now.”

“You were going to tell me.”

“I was going to tell you enough.”

“Then tell me now.”

Gabriel stared at him as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

“I'm bleeding.”

“And I'm asking questions.”

“Elias, we need to leave.”

“No.”

Gabriel frowned.

“What?”

“You heard me. I'm not leaving.”

“You don't have a choice.”

“I've been running since my house burned down. I ran because my father told me to. I ran because strangers were hunting me. I came here because you were the only person who seemed to know something about what happened to him. And now someone just shot you because of whatever secret you've been hiding.”

Elias stepped closer despite Gabriel's warning.

“So no, I'm not running again until you tell me the truth.”

Gabriel studied him for several seconds.

“You sound exactly like him.”

“My father?”

“Yes.”

The answer softened Gabriel's expression for only a moment before the old man's eyes hardened again.

“That's precisely why I'm afraid.”

Elias frowned.

“Afraid of me?”

“Afraid of what happens when you finally understand who your father really was.”

Before Elias could respond, Gabriel pushed himself upright.

The movement caused him to wince.

Elias immediately reached for him.

“Let me help you.”

“I can walk.”

“You're bleeding through your shirt.”

“I said I can walk.”

“And I said you're terrible at accepting help.”

Gabriel almost smiled, but it disappeared quickly.

He glanced toward the window.

“What do you think?”

Elias followed his gaze.

“About what?”

“The shot.”

“It was aimed at you.”

Gabriel shook his head.

“No.”

Elias looked at him.

“What do you mean, no?”

“If he wanted me dead, I'd be dead.”

Elias looked toward the wall.

The bullet had struck only a few inches away from Gabriel's head.

“You're saying he missed?”

Gabriel gave him a grim smile.

“No professional misses from that distance.”

The realization slowly settled over Elias.

The shooter had deliberately spared him.

“Then why shoot you?”

Gabriel's expression changed.

“To remind me that they are watching.”

“Watching what?”

“Me.”

“Why?”

Gabriel hesitated.

Then he looked toward the old painting hanging above the fireplace.

It was the same painting Elias had noticed several times since arriving at the building. An old landscape of a quiet lake surrounded by mountains. It had always seemed oddly out of place in Gabriel's modest home.

Elias followed his gaze.

“What is behind that painting?”

Gabriel's face went pale.

“Nothing.”

“You looked at it.”

“I was looking at the wall.”

“You looked directly at the painting.”

“Elias.”

“What is behind it?”

Gabriel moved toward him.

“Leave it alone.”

That was enough.

Elias walked toward the painting.

Gabriel caught his arm.

“Don't.”

“Why?”

“Because your father specifically told me that if this moment ever came, I was not to let you find it.”

Elias stared at him.

“My father told you?”

Gabriel released his arm.

For the first time, Elias saw something in the old man's eyes that he had never seen before.

Regret.

“You knew this would happen.”

“I knew it was possible.”

“You knew someone would come for you.”

“I knew someone would eventually come looking for what David left behind.”

“What did he leave?”

Gabriel didn't answer.

Elias reached for the painting.

“Elias, don't.”

He pulled it from the wall.

Behind it was a narrow wooden panel.

Elias stared at it.

“What is this?”

Gabriel closed his eyes.

“Something I should have destroyed years ago.”

Elias opened the panel and found a small envelope tucked inside.

His hands went still when he saw the name written across it.

Elias.

He knew that handwriting.

There was no mistaking it.

His father's.

For several seconds, Elias simply stared at the envelope. His chest tightened as memories of David flooded back—the sound of his father's voice, the way he used to correct him, the strange lessons Elias had never understood, and the final night when David had looked at him as though he were seeing his son for the last time.

“You knew this was here,” Elias said.

Gabriel nodded.

“How long?”

“Since before you were born.”

Elias turned toward him.

“You've had a letter addressed to me for nineteen years?”

Gabriel looked away.

“Yes.”

“Why didn't you give it to me?”

“Because your father told me not to.”

“And you listened?”

“He was trying to keep you alive.”

Elias tore open the envelope.

There was only one sheet of paper inside.

He unfolded it.

His father's handwriting covered the page, but there was only one sentence.

If Gabriel tells you everything, you are already too late.

Elias read it twice.

Then a third time.

His stomach twisted.

He looked slowly at Gabriel.

“What does this mean?”

Gabriel remained silent.

“My father knew you were going to tell me something.”

“Yes.”

“He knew you would eventually betray whatever promise you made to him.”

Gabriel's jaw tightened.

“Your father knew I had secrets.”

“What kind of secrets?”

“The kind that could get people killed.”

“You betrayed him, didn't you?”

Gabriel looked down.

“Yes.”

The word landed heavily between them.

Elias felt something inside him break.

“You betrayed my father.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

Gabriel took a slow breath.

“Years ago, the Circle came after the people David cared about. They threatened my family. They wanted information about him, and I gave them something.”

“What did you give them?”

“Enough to make David realize I couldn't be trusted.”

Elias stared at him.

“And he still sent me here?”

“He knew what I had done.”

“Then why?”

“Because David also knew I regretted it.”

“That doesn't make sense.”

“It didn't have to.”

Gabriel's voice softened.

“Your father wasn't looking for someone he could trust completely. He was looking for someone who would protect you even after trust was gone.”

Elias looked back at the letter.

“If Gabriel tells you everything, you are already too late.”

The words suddenly felt different.

His father hadn't been warning him that Gabriel was dangerous.

He had been warning him that the truth itself was dangerous.

“What are you supposed to tell me?” Elias asked.

Gabriel looked at him for a long moment.

“The truth about the Black Archive.”

Elias's heart skipped.

“The Black Archive?”

Gabriel nodded.

“The thing those men were searching for in your house.”

“You know where it is?”

“I know what it is.”

“Then tell me.”

Gabriel's eyes hardened.

“It's not a book, Elias.”

“Then what is it?”

“Proof.”

“Proof of what?”

“Everything.”

Before Gabriel could continue, the lights suddenly flickered.

Both men froze.

The old building groaned as the wind pushed against the windows.

Then the lights went out completely.

Elias's heart began pounding again.

Gabriel immediately reached beneath his jacket and pulled out the revolver he had been hiding.

“Stay behind me.”

“You're injured.”

“I'll survive.”

“Who is coming?”

Gabriel stared toward the staircase.

“I don't know.”

A floorboard creaked upstairs.

Elias stopped breathing.

Someone was inside the building.

Gabriel raised the revolver.

Then a voice drifted down from the darkness.

“Elias?”

Elias's blood ran cold.

He knew that voice.

He had heard it before.

But there was no possible way that person should know where he was.

Gabriel slowly turned toward him.

“What is it?” Elias whispered.

Gabriel's face had gone completely pale.

Then he whispered the words Elias had been dreading since the night his father died.

“They've been following you all along.”