"Then we go together."
Daniel shook his head.
"He specifically said alone."
Sarah looked at him.
"And you believe anything Hayes says?"
Daniel took a deep breath.
"No."
He picked up the recording device.
"But I believe he wants this."
At 11:57 PM, Daniel arrived at the abandoned municipal courthouse.
The building was surrounded by darkness.
He entered through the main doors.
His footsteps echoed through the empty hallway.
"Captain Hayes!"
No answer.
Then the lights switched on.
Hayes stood at the top of the staircase.
Two armed men were beside him.
Arthur was sitting in a chair near the wall.
His face was bruised.
His hands were tied.
Daniel approached slowly.
"Let him go."
Hayes smiled.
"Do you have the documents?"
Daniel held up a folder.
"And the recording?"
Daniel showed him the device.
Hayes nodded.
"Put them on the floor."
Daniel did.
One of the guards picked them up.
Hayes examined the folder.
Then he looked at Daniel.
"You were a promising officer."
Daniel stared at him.
"How many people have you killed?"
Hayes sighed.
"You're asking the wrong question."
"What is the right question?"
Hayes walked down the stairs.
"How many people were willing to die to protect this city?"
Daniel looked at Arthur.
"This city doesn't need protection from the truth."
Hayes stopped.
For a moment, his expression changed.
Then he smiled.
"That's what Michael said."
He pulled out a gun.
Daniel froze.
"Don't."
Hayes aimed at him.
"You should have stayed away from that old man."
A gunshot exploded.
Daniel felt something strike his chest.
He stumbled backward.
The world seemed to slow down.
Arthur screamed.
"NO!"
Daniel fell against the staircase.
Hayes approached and looked down at him.
"Such a waste."
Then the captain turned toward the guards.
"Take the old man."
They began dragging Arthur toward the exit.
But nobody noticed the small red light blinking inside Daniel's jacket.
The recording device James had given him was still transmitting.
Every word.
Every threat.
Every confession.
Outside the courthouse, Sarah and James were listening through a receiver.
Sarah's face turned pale.
"He shot him."
James immediately grabbed his phone.
"Call emergency services."
Sarah looked at the screen.
Then she saw something.
A second signal had appeared.
The recording had been uploaded to a remote server.
A notification flashed.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
Sarah looked at James.
"Daniel planned this."
James shook his head.
"No. He hoped it wouldn't come to this."
Inside the courthouse, Hayes ordered his men to leave.
Arthur was pushed toward a black vehicle.
Before entering, he looked back at Daniel's motionless body.
His eyes filled with tears.
"Forgive me, son."
The vehicle disappeared into the night.
Minutes later, the courthouse was empty.
Daniel lay motionless on the floor.
Blood spread across his uniform.
Then, very slowly, his fingers moved.
His eyes opened.
The bullet had struck his protective vest.
He was injured, but alive.
He reached for his phone.
The screen was cracked.
He tried calling Sarah.
No signal.
Then a new message appeared.
An unknown number.
Daniel, if you are alive, do not trust James Wilson.
He stared at the message.
A second message arrived.
He was the one who told Hayes where you would be tonight.
Daniel felt his blood turn cold.
He slowly looked toward the courthouse entrance.
James had been helping them.
James had brought them the evidence.
James had promised to protect them.
But someone had betrayed him.
And the most frightening part was that Daniel no longer knew which side James was really on.
Then another message appeared.
This time, it contained a photograph.
A photograph of Michael Bennett.
He was standing inside a room.
Older.
Alive.
And beside him stood Commissioner Edward Blackwood.
The caption beneath the photograph contained only one sentence.
YOUR FATHER IS STILL WAITING FOR YOU.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Arthur had spent nine years searching for his son.
Now Daniel knew the truth.
Michael was alive.
And he was being held by the most powerful man in the city.
But before Daniel could understand what the message meant, the phone went dark.
Outside, sirens began approaching.
Someone had called the police.
And this time, Daniel was the one who needed to disappear.
Because the night he was shot was not the night Daniel Carter died.
It was the night he officially became a target of the entire police department.
Daniel Carter slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he noticed was the smell of disinfectant.
The second was the pain in his chest.
He tried to sit up, but a sharp sensation forced him back against the mattress.
"Don't move."
A woman's voice came from the corner.
Daniel turned his head.
Detective Sarah Mitchell was sitting beside the window.
Her face looked exhausted.
"Sarah?"
She immediately stood.
"You're awake."
Daniel looked around.
"Where am I?"
"An abandoned medical clinic. It's safe for now."
He tried to remember what had happened.
The courthouse.
Captain Hayes.
The gunshot.
Arthur being dragged away.
Then the mysterious messages.
Daniel suddenly grabbed Sarah's arm.
"Where's Arthur?"
Sarah looked down.
"We don't know."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Hayes took him."
"I know."
"How long have I been here?"
"Almost six hours."
Daniel looked toward the window.
"What about James?"
Sarah did not answer immediately.
That silence told him everything.
"Sarah, what happened?"
She placed a phone on the table.
"We found something."
The screen displayed a photograph of James Wilson entering a building.
Behind him was Commissioner Edward Blackwood.
Daniel stared at it.
"James?"
Sarah nodded.
"Three days before the courthouse incident, James met Blackwood twice. We also discovered that his bank account received several payments from Northbridge."
Daniel shook his head.
"No. He was helping us."
"Maybe he was. Maybe he was helping them."
Daniel remembered the warning.
Do not trust James Wilson.
"Did you speak to him?"
"He's disappeared."
Sarah opened another file.
"We also discovered that the evidence he gave us was incomplete."
Daniel frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"The recording was real, but several sections had been removed. James knew more than he told us."
Daniel stared at the screen.
For three years, James had been his closest friend.
He had trusted him with his life.
Now he had no idea who the man really was.
Sarah placed another photograph on the table.
It showed Commissioner Blackwood standing outside a private hospital.
A young man stood beside him.
Daniel immediately recognized the face.
Michael Bennett.
"Where did you get this?"
"From a surveillance camera. The photograph was taken two weeks ago."
Daniel slowly sat up.
"He's alive."
Sarah nodded.
"And we finally know where he's being held."
She opened a map.
A private medical facility stood outside the city, surrounded by trees and high security fences.
Its official name was Blackwood Recovery Institute.
But Sarah had discovered that the property was registered under a shell company connected to Northbridge.
Daniel looked at the map.
"That's where they're keeping him."
"Probably."
"Then we go there."
Sarah shook her head.