CHAPTER 7 – The Captain's Final Mistake
The gun was aimed directly at Emily.
Daniel instinctively stepped in front of her.
"Run!" he shouted.
The gunshot echoed through the empty station.
Daniel staggered backward as the bullet grazed his shoulder, crashing into a row of metal lockers.
The shooter slowly stepped into the light.
Captain Michael Graves.
The most decorated firefighter in the city.
The man Daniel had admired since he was a rookie.
Daniel stared in disbelief.
"...You?"
Graves smiled calmly.
"You always were too curious."
Emily's heart pounded.
"My father trusted you."
"He shouldn't have," Graves replied.
He kicked the briefcase across the floor, scattering photographs and tapes everywhere.
"For twenty-four years, I've buried every piece of evidence your father collected."
Daniel clenched his fists despite the blood running down his arm.
"You murdered innocent people."
Graves laughed.
"No."
"I protected men who were worth millions."
He pointed the gun toward Emily again.
"Your father had two choices."
"Take the money..."
"...or become the villain."
"He chose the second."
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
"My father died protecting strangers..."
"And you destroyed his name."
Graves shrugged.
"History belongs to whoever survives."
Just then, police sirens screamed outside Union Station.
Someone had triggered the station's silent alarm when the locker was opened.
Graves cursed under his breath.
Before leaving, he leaned close to Daniel and whispered,
"You think this story ends with me?"
Daniel frowned.
Graves smiled one last time.
"I was never the boss."
Then he threw a smoke grenade onto the floor.
The room exploded into thick gray smoke.
By the time the police burst inside...
Captain Michael Graves had vanished.
But on the floor, beneath the scattered evidence, Daniel found one final photograph.
It showed five powerful men standing together at a charity gala twenty-four years earlier.
Four faces were familiar.
The fifth had been carefully burned away.
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Written on the back in James Carter's handwriting were eight chilling words:
"The fifth man controls everything. Trust absolutely no one."
