CHAPTER 9 — The Final Trap
For six weeks...
Walter Hayes disappeared.
No interviews.
No public appearances.
No official reports.
To the outside world, the legendary commander had vanished once again.
But behind the scenes...
He was hunting.
Every encrypted phone Marcus had used...
Every offshore bank account...
Every abandoned warehouse...
Every fake company...
Walter followed them one by one.
Each clue pointed toward the same destination.
An abandoned steel mill hidden deep in the mountains.
Satellite images showed nothing unusual.
But thermal cameras told a different story.
More than one hundred armed men were inside.
Weapons.
Armored vehicles.
Communication equipment.
It wasn't a hideout.
It was a private fortress.
A young federal agent looked at Walter.
"Commander... if we storm this place, dozens of people could die."
Walter quietly unfolded an old blueprint of the steel mill.
His finger stopped over a narrow underground maintenance tunnel.
"I don't intend to storm it."
"I'm going inside."
The room fell silent.
"Alone?" another agent asked.
Walter nodded.
"The fewer people who know the route..."
"The fewer people Richard can betray."
That night...
Heavy fog covered the valley.
Walter entered the forgotten tunnel carrying only a flashlight, a small radio, and the same worn leather notebook he had carried for decades.
The tunnel led beneath the factory.
Every step echoed through the darkness.
Suddenly...
A familiar voice came through the radio.
"You still walk too quietly, Walter."
Walter froze.
"Richard."
The voice chuckled.
"I've been watching you since you entered the mountain."
Walter looked around.
Tiny hidden cameras were built into the tunnel walls.
Richard had expected him.
"You've always preferred walking into traps," Richard continued.
Walter answered calmly,
"No."
"I prefer seeing who built them."
At that exact moment...
Steel doors slammed shut behind him.
BOOM!
Another slammed shut ahead.
Walter was trapped.
Poison gas slowly began filling the tunnel.
The lights went out.
Only Richard's voice remained.
"You taught me everything I know."
"You just forgot to teach me how to lose."
Walter calmly removed an old pocket watch from his jacket.
He smiled.
"You still make the same mistake."
Richard laughed.
"And what's that?"
"You think you're the only one planning ahead."
Walter pressed the watch.
Nothing happened.
Richard laughed even louder.
"Your gadgets are older than you are."
Walter looked toward one corner of the ceiling.
"No."
"They're exactly on time."
A tiny red light suddenly blinked above one of the hidden cameras.
Then another.
And another.
Across the entire compound, every surveillance camera lit up with the same signal.
Federal agents hidden on nearby mountain ridges received the transmission.
Walter hadn't activated a weapon.
He had activated a beacon.
The real operation had just begun.
Above the factory...
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More than twenty helicopters emerged through the fog.
Richard's fortress had finally been found.
