CHAPTER 5 — The Father Behind the Blood
The tunnel fell silent.
Only the slow drip of water echoed through the darkness.
Mason tightened his grip around Eli's shoulder while Daniel aimed the stolen pistol toward the voice.
A figure stepped into the emergency lights.
Gray-haired.
Perfectly pressed prison warden's uniform.
Cold blue eyes that Mason had inherited.
Richard Kane.
The father both brothers believed had died in a house fire fifteen years earlier.
Mason couldn't breathe.
"...Dad?"
The old man smiled.
"You've gotten stronger than I expected."
Eli immediately began shaking.
"Don't listen to him! He'll manipulate you like he manipulated everyone else!"
Richard sighed.
"I didn't fake my death because I hated my family."
He paused.
"I did it because someone far more dangerous wanted all of you dead."
Mason exploded.
"You let Mom die!"
Richard's expression finally cracked.
"No."
"I tried to save her."
He reached into his jacket and slowly pulled out an old photograph.
It showed their mother standing beside several decorated military officers.
One face had been burned away with a cigarette.
"The massacre wasn't an accident," Richard said quietly.
"Your mother discovered who ordered it."
Daniel stepped closer.
"That's why they erased everyone connected to the investigation."
Richard nodded.
"They killed the investigators."
"They forged military records."
"They declared Eli dead."
"And they turned you, Mason... into the perfect prisoner."
Mason's fists trembled.
"Who are 'they'?"
Richard looked toward the security camera mounted above the tunnel.
"They're watching us right now."
Suddenly every light turned bright red.
An automated voice echoed through the prison.
"LEVEL OMEGA LOCKDOWN ACTIVATED."
Steel doors slammed shut.
Gas began pouring into the hallway.
Richard shouted,
"They know you've found the truth! RUN!"
Before anyone could move...
A sniper's bullet ripped through the wall.
It struck Richard directly in the chest.
He collapsed into Mason's arms.
Blood spread across his uniform.
With his final breath, Richard forced a small brass key into Mason's hand.
"The evidence..."
He coughed violently.
"...isn't in the warden's office."
"It's beneath..."
He never finished the sentence.
His eyes went still.
For the second time in his life...
Mason watched his father die.
May you like
Only this time...
He wasn't sure whether Richard had ever been the villain.
