CHAPTER 3 — "Run, Ethan... They're Not the Police."
The first police siren echoed through downtown.
Relief swept across the crowd.
"They're here!"
"Thank God."
But the old janitor standing near the vault didn't move.
Instead...
He whispered to Ethan.
"Don't let them see your face."
Ethan blinked.
"What?"
The old man grabbed his arm.
"Those aren't police."
"They work for Blackstone."
Before Ethan could answer—
The front doors exploded open.
Six officers stormed inside.
Perfect uniforms.
Perfect badges.
Perfect smiles.
But the old janitor stared at one detail.
Their boots.
All six pairs were brand new.
Not a single scratch.
Real officers never had boots that clean.
The chairman pointed directly at Ethan.
"That boy stole confidential property."
"Arrest him."
The officers didn't ask questions.
They rushed forward.
The reporters shouted.
"Wait! The whole thing was live!"
One officer ripped a cameraman's phone from his hand and smashed it against the marble floor.
Another seized the vault documents.
Within seconds...
Evidence began disappearing.
The crowd finally understood.
Something was terribly wrong.
The old janitor shoved Ethan toward a side hallway.
"RUN!"
Ethan hesitated.
"But the letter..."
"I'll keep it safe."
"You keep yourself alive."
Footsteps thundered behind them.
The hallway narrowed into darkness.
An emergency exit stood at the far end.
Locked.
Ethan's heart sank.
"We're trapped."
The janitor smiled.
"No..."
He reached beneath an old fire extinguisher and pressed a hidden switch.
A section of the wall slid open.
Behind it...
A forgotten tunnel.
Cold air rushed out.
"This bank wasn't built for money."
"It was built for escape."
They disappeared underground just as armed officers reached the hallway.
The hidden door sealed itself.
Gone.
One officer slammed his fist against the wall.
"We lost him."
The chairman wasn't angry.
He was terrified.
He slowly removed his glasses.
"Find the boy."
"I don't care how."
"If he reaches his father..."
"...everything ends tonight."
Meanwhile...
Deep beneath the city...
Ethan followed the janitor through tunnels untouched for decades.
Old lights flickered on automatically.
Dust covered every inch.
Then Ethan noticed something carved into the brick wall.
A date.
April 18, 2018.
Below it...
Five words.
I escaped. They're still hunting me.
Signed...
Thomas Carter.
Ethan stopped breathing.
His father had been here.
Not eighty years ago.
Not twenty years ago.
Eight.
The tunnel continued for another hundred yards before opening into an abandoned subway platform.
Waiting there...
Was a black train.
Its engine was already running.
No driver.
No passengers.
Only a single envelope resting on the conductor's seat.
Across the front were seven chilling words.
Ethan... I knew you'd find this train.
May you like
END OF CHAPTER 3
➡️ Chapter 4: Ethan boards the mysterious train, believing it will lead him to his father. Instead, it carries him to a secret underground city where every person has been hiding from Blackstone for decades—and someone there has been waiting for him since the day he was born.
