CHAPTER 7 — The Truth Hidden for Twenty-Four Years
David and Victor sprinted through the emergency maintenance tunnels beneath the prison.
The narrow concrete passage hadn't been used in decades.
Dust covered every pipe.
Old electrical cables hung from the ceiling.
Victor knew exactly where he was going.
"I helped build part of these tunnels during my first sentence," he said.
"There used to be a secure archive beneath the administration building."
David looked at him.
"My father mentioned an underground records room in one of his notebooks."
Victor nodded.
"That's where Sloan is heading."
Minutes later, they reached a rusted steel door hidden behind abandoned storage shelves.
It was already open.
Someone had beaten them there.
Inside, filing cabinets had been ripped apart.
Boxes lay scattered across the floor.
Thousands of documents covered the room like snow.
David searched frantically.
"They're looking for something specific."
Victor suddenly froze.
In the center of the room stood an old projector.
Still running.
A single videotape played across a dusty screen.
The recording was dated...
Twenty-four years earlier.
The image flickered.
A younger Officer Michael Hayes appeared on the screen.
Alive.
Exhausted.
His uniform stained with blood.
He looked directly into the camera.
"If anyone is watching this..."
"...it means they failed to silence the truth."
David's heart pounded.
It was the first time he had seen his father's face move since childhood.
Michael continued speaking.
"There is corruption inside this prison."
"But it doesn't end here."
"It reaches judges..."
"Politicians..."
"Private contractors..."
"And people far above the Department of Corrections."
David stood frozen.
Victor lowered his head.
Then Michael said something that neither of them expected.
"If my son ever finds this recording..."
"I need him to know one thing."
David's eyes filled with tears.
"I was never trying to become a hero."
"I was trying to come home."
The room became completely silent.
Then Michael looked slightly off camera.
Someone had entered the room while he was recording.
He smiled sadly.
"If you're here already..."
"...then I suppose this is goodbye."
The recording suddenly cut to static.
David couldn't breathe.
Victor quietly placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry."
David wiped his eyes.
"No."
"My father didn't leave this behind so I could cry."
"He left it so we could finish what he started."
At that exact moment...
A slow clap echoed from the darkness.
Both men spun around.
Deputy Warden Sloan stepped out from behind the shelves.
But he wasn't alone.
Behind him stood the prison warden...
Two senior government officials...
And a man in an expensive black suit whom Victor recognized immediately.
Victor's face turned pale.
"It can't be..."
David whispered,
"Who is he?"
Victor answered in disbelief.
"He's the man who built this prison."
"I watched him die... twenty years ago."
The stranger smiled.
"That's what we wanted everyone to believe."
The man everyone thought had been dead for two decades...
May you like
Had just walked back into the room.
And he knew every secret they were trying to uncover.
