CHAPTER 5: The Memory Card
Detective Sarah Collins slammed her fist onto the empty evidence shelf.
The broken camera was gone.
Every security camera inside the station had mysteriously stopped recording for exactly three minutes.
Three minutes.
Just enough time for someone to enter...
Take only one item...
And disappear without leaving a trace.
"This wasn't random," Sarah whispered.
"They knew exactly what they were looking for."
Walter stared at the empty evidence bag.
"If they stole the camera..."
"...then something inside it must be worth killing for."
Hours later, a forensic technician rushed into the room.
"Detective!"
Sarah turned.
"What is it?"
"We searched the locker again."
"I think we missed something."
Minutes later, Walter and Ethan returned to Locker 27.
The technician carefully peeled away the torn fabric inside the old backpack.
Hidden beneath the lining...
Was a tiny waterproof pouch.
Inside it—
A microSD memory card.
Walter felt his heartbeat quicken.
"If the camera is gone..."
"Maybe whoever stole it never found this."
Sarah immediately inserted the card into a secure police computer.
The screen flickered.
A single video file appeared.
Recorded:
October 14th... 1996.
Walter stopped breathing.
"That's the day..."
"...my partner disappeared."
Sarah clicked PLAY.
The grainy footage showed a mountain research camp surrounded by heavy rain.
The young Walter appeared on screen.
So did his partner...
Daniel Cross.
Very much alive.
The two men argued with someone standing just outside the camera's view.
Then a frightened woman's voice cried out,
"You can't take the child!"
Walter froze.
The video shook violently.
A newborn baby's cry echoed through the speakers.
Ethan instinctively grabbed Walter's arm.
The camera turned.
For less than two seconds...
A man's face appeared.
Every officer in the room gasped.
Detective Sarah immediately paused the video.
"No..."
Walter whispered.
"That's impossible."
The man wasn't dead.
He wasn't missing.
He wasn't Daniel.
It was someone far more powerful.
Someone whose face every American recognized.
One of the country's most influential billionaires.
The founder of Morgan Biotech.
The company whose logo appeared on hospitals, universities...
Even police equipment.
Walter stepped backward.
"If he was there that night..."
"...then this was never an accident."
Before Sarah could continue the video—
Every light inside the police station suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Emergency alarms screamed.
Then...
A deep voice echoed through the building's speakers.
"You should have destroyed the card thirty years ago."
Gunshots exploded outside.
Windows shattered.
Masked men flooded into the station.
Their target wasn't the evidence.
It wasn't the detectives.
It wasn't Walter.
Every one of them was heading straight for Ethan.
As Walter threw himself in front of the terrified boy, he realized the horrifying truth.
Ethan wasn't just connected to the secret.
May you like
He was the secret.
To Be Continued...
