Chapter 17 - The Chamber Behind the Wall
Security workers broke through the hollow section of concrete.
Behind it was a narrow steel passage descending beneath the abandoned testing facility. The air smelled of rust, dust, and old fuel.
Martin entered first with two armed officers.
Ethan followed despite repeated orders to remain behind.
The corridor opened into a hidden laboratory filled with machinery from another era. Mechanical gauges covered the walls. Old turbine components rested on steel tables. Paper records had been preserved inside sealed cabinets.
Nothing appeared abandoned.
A single lamp still burned above the central workbench.
Samuel Hale’s name was carved into its edge.
Ethan touched the letters.
His father had built this room.
Martin opened a cabinet and found years of maintenance reports, each documenting failures linked to counterfeit parts. Some records had been written after Samuel’s reported death.
“That’s impossible,” Martin whispered.
Ethan checked the dates.
The newest report was only six months old.
Someone had continued Samuel’s work.
A faint groan came from behind a storage rack.
The officers moved it aside and found Victor Lang lying on the floor with his wrists bound. His shattered watch remained strapped to his left arm.
He was alive.
A deep wound crossed his forehead, but he was conscious.
“Close the passage,” he whispered.
Martin knelt beside him.
“Where is your brother?”
“Already inside the airport.”
“We know that.”
“No,” Victor said. “You don’t understand. He isn’t controlling the airport from outside.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“He is the airport.”
Victor explained that Vincent Lang had spent years replacing key software, contractors, and security systems with companies under his control. Every badge reader, diagnostic network, camera server, and emergency system contained hidden access points.
Vincent did not need to enter restricted areas.
The systems obeyed him.
Ethan pointed toward the recent reports.
“Who wrote these?”
Victor looked at him for a long moment.
“Your father.”
The room fell silent.
Ethan’s face tightened.
“My father died.”
Victor slowly shook his head.
“Samuel survived the explosion.”
Martin stepped backward.
“No. I saw the remains.”
“You saw what Vincent wanted you to see.”
Victor struggled to sit upright.
“Samuel was badly injured. He went into hiding because Vincent threatened Ethan and his mother. He spent years tracing the network from this room.”
Ethan could barely breathe.
“Where is he now?”
Victor looked toward a locked steel door at the back of the laboratory.
“He disappeared three weeks ago.”
Before Ethan could ask more, something heavy struck the other side of the door.
Once.
Twice.
Then a voice called from behind it.
“Ethan?”
May you like
The boy froze.
It was his father’s voice.
