Chapter 6 - The Trap Sprung
Smoke poured into the hallway. The guards screamed, disoriented, dropping their batons and clutching their eyes.
Before Arthur could react, heavy footsteps echoed through the smoke. A squad of heavily armed Federal Marshals and State Police officers flooded the hallway, laser sights painting the walls red.
"FEDERAL AGENTS! DROPS YOUR WEAPONS! ON THE GROUND NOW!"
Julian dropped the syringe in terror, raising his hands, his face pale as chalk. Arthur tried to bolt toward the emergency exit, but a tactical officer tackled him to the floor, slamming his face against the cold tile.
"Arthur Vance, you are under arrest for illegal human experimentation, human trafficking, fraud, and attempted murder!" an officer shouted, slapping heavy steel handcuffs onto Arthur's wrists.
Elijah sank against the wall, catching his breath as Dr. Reed pulled himself up, coughing through the smoke.
Walking out from behind the tactical team was a sharp-dressed woman carrying a sleek silver briefcase. It was Attorney Sarah Jenkins—the lead prosecutor for the State Attorney General’s office.
"You're right on time, Sarah," Elijah said, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Arthur roared from the floor, struggling against the officer holding him down. "What is this?! How did you know?! The servers were encrypted!"
Attorney Jenkins knelt beside Arthur and smiled coldly. "They were encrypted, Arthur. Until six hours ago, when Mr. Carter walked into my office with a micro-drive hidden inside his late wife's leather folder."
Arthur’s eyes went wide as he looked at Elijah.
"You thought I was looking at quarterly budget reports in the boardroom, Arthur?" Elijah said softly, walking over to stand above the fallen CEO. "Margaret's folder wasn't just a keepsake. My wife was a senior software engineer before she got sick. She built a hidden, immutable backdoor into this hospital's network day one. Every file, every transaction, every illegal trial you logged on the 4th floor was mirrored directly to a secure cloud server under my control."
"You... you set me up!" Arthur spat, blood trickling from his lip. " downstairs in the lobby! You knew Julian would react that way!"
"I needed you arrogant," Elijah said. "I needed you to feel so secure in your power that you would make a fatal mistake. And you did."
As the police dragged Arthur and a weeping Julian away in chains, Elijah turned to look at the medical staff rushing onto the floor to rescue the young patients.
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It seemed like the nightmare was finally over. But as Dr. Reed picked up the fallen documents from Julian’s abandoned desk, his face turned ash-white.
"Elijah..." Reed whispered, his voice trembling violently. "You need to look at this."
