Chapter 7
The hidden room contained dozens of old computer parts.
Cards.
Tokens.
Security chips.
Dad had collected prototypes for years.
The technician found a silver authentication token nearly identical to Samuel’s.
Then he found an old gold chip.
“Can you make them look real?”
I asked.
“For a few minutes.”
“That’s all we need.”
Samuel gave him the real silver token.
I gave him Mom’s gold chip.
He copied identification markings onto the fakes.
My black card was harder.
There was only one.
Martin pulled a dark credit card from his wallet.
“This?”
The technician shook his head.
“Wrong material.”
Samuel opened a drawer.
Inside lay another scratched prototype card.
No name.
The technician began working.
Outside, Victor shouted.
“Three minutes!”
Transmission: 58%.
Ortiz radioed officers.
No response.
“They may be blocking communications.”
Martin whispered, “How many men does Victor have?”
“Enough.”
Samuel looked at the security monitor.
Cameras outside showed four armed men.
Victor stood in the hallway.
My father was on his knees beside him.
Blood on his face.
But alive.
I stared at him.
For the first time in my life, my father was only twenty feet away.
Samuel put a hand on my shoulder.
“We’re going to get him back.”
I nodded.
The technician finished.
“Fakes.”
I held them.
My hands shook.
Ortiz said, “We need a plan.”
“I open the door.”
“No.”
“He wants me.”
“That’s exactly why you don’t.”
“If someone else brings the keys, he’ll know.”
Ortiz hated it.
But she knew I was right.
Martin said, “I go with him.”
Victor shouted, “Two minutes!”
Transmission: 71%.
Dad lifted his head outside.
He looked toward the hidden doorway.
Even through the camera, I saw his fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
I slipped the real keys into a metal server case.
The technician sealed it.
“Signal shielding,” he said.
“Victor’s scanner won’t detect them.”
“Where do we hide it?”
Samuel pointed toward the floor.
A removable panel.
We slid the case underneath.
Ortiz whispered instructions.
“When the door opens, you stay behind Martin.”
“I need to be visible.”
“You stay behind him.”
“Fine.”
She looked at Martin.
“If Victor reaches for Ethan, you move back.”
Martin nodded.
“And if he shoots?”
Martin looked at me.
“He won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Ethan is the only person who can activate the card.”
Victor didn’t know we already had.
Transmission: 83%.
I held the fake keys.
My fingers felt numb.
“Open it.”
Samuel touched my face.
“You look like your father.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“He was terrified at your age too.”
“Of what?”
“Losing the people he loved.”
The door opened.
Victor stood ten feet away.
He looked older than in Mom’s photograph.
But his eyes were the same.
Cold.
Dad was beside him.
Two men held his arms.
The moment Dad saw me, his face collapsed.
“No.”
I couldn’t breathe.
He whispered my name.
“Ethan.”
I wanted to run to him.
Instead I stayed behind Martin.
Victor smiled.
“Family reunion.”
Dad struggled.
“Don’t give him anything!”
A man hit him.
“Stop!” I shouted.
Victor raised one hand.
The man stopped.
“Keys.”
I held them up.
Victor’s eyes locked onto my black card.
“Bring them.”
“Let my dad go first.”
He laughed.
“You’ve been watching too many movies.”
“I’m not coming closer.”
Victor stepped toward Dad.
Put a gun near his shoulder.
“Then I shoot him.”
Dad looked at me.
His eyes filled.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry.”
Victor rolled his eyes.
“Touching.”
Dad ignored him.
“I should have found you.”
My throat tightened.
“You thought I was dead.”
“I should have checked.”
“Dad.”
The word came out before I could stop it.
His face broke.
Victor looked annoyed.
“Enough.”
He reached out.
“Keys.”
Transmission: 91%.
I walked forward.
Martin moved with me.
Victor pointed the gun.
“Martin stays.”
I took another step.
Dad shook his head.
“No.”
I reached Victor.
He grabbed the fake keys.
Examined them.
Then smiled.
“Finally.”
He motioned to his men.
They released Dad.
Dad stumbled toward me.
I ran.
He dropped to his knees and caught me.
For one second, nothing else existed.
He held me so tightly I couldn’t breathe.
“You’re alive.”
“So are you.”
He touched my face.
“You’re so big.”
I started crying.
He laughed while crying too.
Then Victor said, “Nathaniel.”
Dad’s expression changed.
He looked at the three fake keys in Victor’s hand.
Then at me.
I whispered, “They’re fake.”
His eyes widened.
Victor didn’t hear.
He walked toward the hidden room.
“Now we shut down the transmission.”
Dad stood.
“What transmission?”
I looked at him.
“You made it.”
He stared.
“Did you activate the archive?”
“Accidentally.”
“What percentage?”
The technician shouted from inside.
“Ninety-seven!”
Victor stopped.
His head snapped around.
“What?”
Dad smiled.
It was the first time I saw the version of him Martin described.
Reckless.
Funny.
Dangerous.
“Oh, Victor.”
Victor looked at the keys.
Then at me.
His face changed.
“You.”
I stepped behind Dad.
Victor lunged.
Ortiz fired.
The bullet struck the floor beside his foot.
“Drop the weapon!”
Victor raised his gun.
Dad pushed me down.
Gunfire exploded.
Martin pulled me behind the wall.
Police rushed from upstairs.
Victor’s men fired.
Ortiz returned fire.
Samuel dragged the technician down.
The monitor flashed.
99%.
Victor screamed, “Destroy the server!”
One of his men threw something.
A small black device.
Dad saw it.
“EMP!”
It landed inside the hidden room.
A violent electrical crack filled the air.
Monitors went black.
The server lights died.
Silence.
Everyone stopped.
Victor started laughing.
“You lose.”
Dad stared at the dead equipment.
“No.”
Victor laughed harder.
“All those years.”
He looked at Dad.
“All that running.”
He looked at Samuel.
“All your pathetic planning.”
Then at me.
“And the child ruins it.”
I felt something in my pocket.
The scratched card.
Warm.
I pulled it out.
A tiny green light blinked.
Dad stared.
“What?”
The card vibrated.
Then displayed one tiny number.
100.
Victor’s smile vanished.
Dad began laughing.
“No.”
Victor stepped backward.
“No.”
Phones began ringing.
Martin’s first.
Then Ortiz’s.
Then Samuel’s.
All at once.
The technician’s phone lit up with alerts.
Dad stared at me.
“The transmission completed before the pulse hit.”
Victor’s face turned gray.
Ortiz’s phone rang again.
She answered.
“Ortiz.”
She listened.
Then looked directly at Victor.
“Yes, Director. We have him.”
Victor ran.
He slammed through the hallway.
Two officers chased him.
Dad started after them.
Samuel grabbed him.
“Stay with your son.”
Dad stopped.
He looked at me.
Then chose me.
That mattered.
More than I expected.
He pulled me into another hug.
“I’m not leaving again.”
Outside, engines roared.
Helicopters approached.
Federal agents.
State police.
News crews.
Victor had spent eleven years trying to erase my family.
Now every secret he buried was being copied across the world.
But while everyone celebrated, the technician stared at one surviving monitor.
Its backup battery had rebooted.
A list of names appeared.
Hundreds.
Politicians.
Bank executives.
Doctors.
Lawyers.
Judges.
One name made Martin step backward.
“No.”
Dad saw it too.
His smile disappeared.
I walked closer.
“What?”
Nobody answered.
May you like
Then I saw the name.
MARTIN REEVES.
