CHAPTER 6 — The Underground Vault
Sirens screamed across the prison.
Gas filled every corridor.
Daniel dragged Mason to his feet.
"If we stay here, we die!"
Eli suddenly pointed toward the brass key.
"I've seen that symbol before."
Engraved on the key was a black wolf surrounding the number 17.
Daniel's face turned pale.
"Vault Seventeen..."
Mason frowned.
"You know it?"
Daniel nodded slowly.
"Nobody is supposed to."
He led them through abandoned maintenance tunnels beneath the prison until they reached an enormous rusted steel door hidden behind cracked concrete.
Across the door were three words.
PROPERTY OF PROJECT CERBERUS
The brass key fit perfectly.
With a deafening click...
The vault opened.
Rows of dusty filing cabinets stretched into darkness.
Old surveillance tapes.
Military uniforms.
Thousands of classified documents.
Then Mason noticed one wall covered entirely with photographs.
Hundreds of faces.
Journalists.
Judges.
Police officers.
Soldiers.
Every single person had one thing written underneath their picture.
ELIMINATED
Near the center of the wall...
Mason found his own photograph.
Across it, someone had stamped one terrifying word in red ink.
NEXT
Before he could react, Daniel opened the final cabinet.
Inside wasn't money.
It wasn't weapons.
It was a thick black file labeled:
PROJECT CERBERUS — SUBJECT: MASON KANE
His hands shook as he opened the first page.
The report began with a sentence that shattered everything he believed about his own life.
"Subject was never incarcerated by mistake. Subject has been raised, trained, and psychologically conditioned for this operation since childhood."
Mason stared at the words in horror.
"I was... created?"
Daniel slowly nodded.
"You were never the target, Mason."
"You were always the weapon."
At that exact moment...
A slow clap echoed through the vault.
From the shadows stepped a woman wearing a black government uniform.
She smiled as dozens of armed soldiers surrounded them.
"Congratulations," she said calmly.
"You finally discovered who you really are."
Then she removed her cap.
Mason's heart nearly stopped.
May you like
He knew her.
She was the military officer who had handed him his brother's sealed coffin twelve years ago.
