CHAPTER 4 — The Child Behind the Glass
Ethan did not sleep that night.
By morning, the entire prison was under lockdown.
Guards searched every cell.
Inmates were beaten for answers.
But no one spoke.
Because everyone knew the truth now.
Ethan Cole was not just another prisoner.
He was the ghost Blackridge had failed to bury.
At midnight, an old janitor slipped a key under Ethan’s cell door.
Attached to it was a note.
Laundry Room. 2:13 A.M. Come alone.
Ethan knew it was probably a trap.
He went anyway.
Behind the laundry machines, he found a hidden steel door. The key fit perfectly.
Inside was a narrow hallway leading to a small observation room.
And behind the glass...
A little boy sat alone.
Six years old.
Dark hair.
Frightened eyes.
Holding a toy police badge.
Ethan stopped breathing.
The boy looked up and whispered,
“Are you my dad?”
Ethan’s entire world broke.
Before he could answer, a speaker crackled above him.
Warden Hale’s voice filled the room.
“Touch that door, and the boy dies.”
Ethan slowly looked up at the camera.
Hale continued.
“You wanted answers, Agent Cole? Here they are.”
The screen turned on.
It showed Ethan’s former partner alive, chained in another room.
Her face was bruised.
Her eyes were full of tears.
And then Hale said the words that changed everything.
“Your son is the evidence. Your woman is the witness. And you…”
He laughed softly.
“You are the final loose end.”
Suddenly, the boy pressed his tiny hand against the glass.
“Daddy… please don’t leave again.”
Ethan placed his bloody hand against the other side.
“I won’t.”
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But behind him, the steel door slammed shut.
And gas began filling the room.
