CHAPTER 7 — THE BUTTON THAT COULD ERASE EVERYONE
The tiny black remote trembled in Samuel Pierce's hand.
Its single red button blinked like a heartbeat.
No one spoke.
Even the explosions outside seemed to stop for a moment.
Pierce smiled.
"You've already won the battle, Ava."
"But you're about to lose everything."
He lifted the remote higher.
"This facility was never designed to survive exposure."
"If the truth gets out..."
"...Blackridge disappears."
Ava slowly raised her hands.
"Samuel... don't."
He laughed.
"You still think this is about prison records?"
He tapped a key on the remote.
A giant digital map appeared on every monitor.
Not just Blackridge Prison...
There were twelve identical underground facilities hidden across the country.
Each one connected to the same criminal network.
Each one financed by politicians, billionaires, and powerful corporations.
Blackridge wasn't the headquarters.
It was only the first piece of a much larger empire.
"If I press this button," Pierce whispered, "every server on the network will self-destruct."
"Every witness..."
"Every document..."
"Every secret..."
"Will vanish forever."
Ava looked toward Eleanor.
Her mother wasn't afraid.
Instead, she quietly reached into her pocket and smiled.
"You've always loved backup plans, Samuel."
Pierce frowned.
"What did you say?"
Eleanor held up an old silver pocket watch.
It looked ordinary...
Until she pressed its hidden switch.
Across the room, every computer screen suddenly changed.
UPLOAD COMPLETE — 100%
Pierce's confident smile disappeared.
"No..."
"That's impossible."
Eleanor took one step forward.
"For twenty years, you believed you kept me alive as your prisoner."
"The truth is..."
"I stayed alive because I was waiting for your entire network to expose itself."
"The files you protected so carefully..."
"...were copied months ago."
"The transmission you stopped today..."
"...was only a decoy."
Pierce stared at the monitors in disbelief.
Every hidden account...
Every secret payment...
Every politician...
Every buyer...
Every victim...
Had already been delivered to authorities around the world.
His empire had collapsed before he even realized it.
Furious, Pierce slammed his thumb onto the red button.
CLICK.
Nothing happened.
He pressed it again.
Nothing.
His face turned white.
Eleanor calmly held up a tiny circuit board.
"Looking for this?"
"I removed the detonator from your remote three days ago."
Pierce roared in anger and pulled a concealed knife from his sleeve.
He charged straight toward Eleanor.
Before Ava could react...
The lead Belgian Malinois launched through the air, knocking Pierce to the floor.
The knife slid across the concrete.
The other dogs surrounded him, growling so fiercely that even the armed mercenaries backed away.
Then the sound of helicopter blades thundered overhead.
The bunker ceiling exploded inward.
Special Forces officers rappelled through the smoke.
"Federal agents! Drop your weapons!"
One by one, the mercenaries surrendered.
Pierce looked around desperately.
His soldiers were gone.
His money was gone.
His secrets belonged to the world.
Everything he had built for thirty years had vanished in less than ten minutes.
As officers handcuffed him, he looked up at Ava and smiled one last time.
"You think this is over?"
"You still haven't discovered..."
"...who gave me my first order."
Ava's heart skipped a beat.
"What are you talking about?"
Pierce laughed as he was dragged away.
"The person who created Blackridge..."
"...has never set foot inside this prison."
"And they're watching you..."
"...right now."
At that exact moment, thousands of miles away, inside a luxurious office overlooking the ocean, an unknown figure switched off a live video feed of Blackridge Prison.
May you like
Only one sentence echoed through the dark room.
"Phase Two begins tonight."
