CHAPTER 4 – The Memory Card Changed Everything
The courtroom watched in stunned silence as the tiny black memory card was inserted into the evidence computer.
For a few terrifying seconds...
Nothing happened.
Then the screen flickered to life.
A hidden folder appeared.
Its name was simple:
"OPEN ONLY IF I'M DEAD."
A wave of whispers swept through the courtroom.
The judge nodded to the technician.
"Open it."
Inside were dozens of encrypted files.
Photos.
Financial records.
Secret surveillance videos.
And one file labeled...
"The List."
When it opened, the entire courtroom gasped.
More than fifty names filled the screen.
Politicians.
Police chiefs.
Judges.
CEOs.
People the public trusted for years.
Every one of them had accepted millions in bribes from the same criminal organization Ethan's father had been investigating.
One elderly juror quietly began to cry.
"This... this can't be real."
But it was.
The financial records matched.
The dates matched.
The signatures matched.
The businessman who had spent months pretending to be untouchable suddenly collapsed into his chair.
His breathing became frantic.
"It's fake!" he shouted.
"They forged everything!"
Before anyone could answer...
Every phone inside the courtroom buzzed at exactly the same moment.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Journalists looked down first.
Breaking News.
The files from Ethan's memory card had somehow been uploaded to the internet.
Millions of people were watching them in real time.
Television stations interrupted their programming.
Social media exploded.
Within minutes, protesters began gathering outside the courthouse.
The scandal was spreading faster than anyone could stop it.
The judge ordered every courtroom door locked.
"No one leaves."
But just as federal agents rushed toward the businessman...
A loud explosion echoed from the parking garage below.
BOOM!
The entire courthouse shook violently.
Lights flickered.
Smoke poured through the ventilation system.
People screamed.
Emergency alarms filled the building.
Chaos erupted.
In the confusion...
The businessman smiled.
Because the explosion had never been meant to kill anyone.
It was only a distraction.
When the smoke cleared...
The defendant's chair was empty.
He had vanished.
Then Ethan looked toward the broken courtroom window.
A black helicopter was already disappearing into the clouds.
May you like
His father had uncovered a conspiracy.
But Ethan had just started a manhunt that would shake the entire country.
