CHAPTER 5 — The Gas Chamber Trap
The white gas spread across the room in seconds.
Ethan ripped off his shirt and wrapped it around his mouth, but the burning in his lungs only grew worse.
Behind the reinforced glass, the little boy pounded his tiny fists against the window.
"Daddy!"
The word echoed through the chamber.
For eight years Ethan had dreamed of hearing it.
Now it sounded like a goodbye.
Above him, Warden Hale watched through security cameras with a satisfied smile.
"Heroes always choose family over survival."
He pressed another button.
A digital timer appeared on the wall.
02:00
Two minutes.
When the countdown reached zero, the room would flood completely.
Ethan searched desperately for another exit.
Nothing.
Then his eyes landed on the old toy police badge the boy was still holding.
The badge wasn't plastic.
It reflected light like polished steel.
The boy suddenly remembered something his mother had told him.
"Mommy said if I ever found you... I should give you this."
He pushed the badge through a tiny food slot beneath the glass.
Ethan caught it.
His heart skipped a beat.
Inside the badge was a microscopic memory card.
The hidden evidence.
The proof that could destroy everyone behind the conspiracy.
Hale's smile disappeared the moment he recognized it.
"No..."
"Destroy that badge!"
Armed guards burst into the hallway.
Bullets tore through the walls.
Concrete exploded around Ethan as he sprinted through the smoke.
He had only one chance.
Protect the boy.
Protect the evidence.
Even if it meant dying this time for real.
Just before the guards reached the chamber...
A massive explosion shook the entire prison.
The lights went black.
The emergency alarms screamed.
Someone had blown open the prison's power station.
And in the darkness, a familiar female voice whispered through Ethan's hidden earpiece—
May you like
"Ethan..."
"I've come to bring you home."
