Chapter 1 - THE MAN AT THE FARMHOUSE“Before you decide what to do, Viktor, there's something you need to know about the man who helped you escape.”
Detective Gabriel Morel spoke so quietly that Viktor almost wished he had shouted.
Shouting was familiar. Threats were familiar. The cold metallic sound of handcuffs closing around his wrists was familiar.
But Gabriel's calm voice, standing in front of an isolated farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, was something Viktor had never learned how to handle.
Behind him, his younger brother Milan shifted nervously.
“What man?” Milan demanded.
Gabriel didn't look at him.
“The one who arranged your transfer this morning.”
Viktor felt his stomach tighten.
Three years.
For three years, he had dreamed of getting out of prison. He had imagined the first breath of free air, the first night without guards shouting orders, the first moment he could look at the sky without seeing it through reinforced glass.
Now that freedom was within reach, something about it felt terribly wrong.
He looked toward the farmhouse.
An elderly woman stood behind the screen door, her trembling hand pressed against her chest.
Jeanne Morel.
Gabriel's mother.
The coincidence seemed impossible.
Yet there she was, watching two escaped prisoners confront her son in the driveway.
Viktor turned back.
“Start talking.”
Gabriel glanced at Milan.
“Your brother should hear this too.”
Milan laughed bitterly.
“I'm standing right here.”
“Then listen carefully.”
Gabriel slipped his car keys back into his pocket.
He had offered the vehicle moments earlier, but Viktor now noticed something important.
Gabriel had never actually promised to let them escape.
He had only offered them a way to leave the farmhouse without hurting Jeanne.
And Viktor knew exactly why that distinction mattered.
Three years earlier, Gabriel had made a similar offer.
Back then, Viktor had been hiding inside an abandoned warehouse outside Chicago after a robbery turned deadly.
A security guard named Thomas Bennett had been shot during the robbery. Viktor insisted he hadn't fired the weapon, but surveillance footage placed him at the scene, and his fingerprints were found on the getaway vehicle.
Gabriel had spent six weeks tracking him.
When the detective finally cornered Viktor inside the warehouse, he didn't immediately rush in with armed officers.
Instead, he approached alone and offered him a choice.
Come outside peacefully.
Tell the truth about what happened.
And let the justice system determine his guilt.
Viktor had mistaken that offer for a promise of freedom.
When he stepped outside, officers arrested him.
He was later convicted of armed robbery and conspiracy. The evidence wasn't sufficient to prove he had killed Bennett, but the judge sentenced him to twelve years in prison for his role in the crime.
He had served three years when the transfer happened.
Three years of concrete walls.
Three years of nightmares.
Three years of blaming Gabriel Morel for everything he had lost.
And now Gabriel stood before him again.
“The transfer wasn't routine,” Gabriel said.
Viktor frowned.
“What?”
“You were supposed to remain at Blackwater Correctional Facility until your next court hearing.”
Milan's head snapped up.
“What hearing?”
Gabriel finally looked at him.
“The hearing about the evidence that disappeared from Viktor's original case.”
Viktor stopped breathing for a moment.
“What evidence?”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“A recording from the night Thomas Bennett died.”
The forest seemed to grow silent around them.
Viktor stared at him.
“There was no recording.”
“There was.”
“Then why wasn't it presented at my trial?”
“Because someone removed it before the prosecution received the complete evidence file.”
Viktor felt heat rising into his face.
For three years, he had insisted that he hadn't killed Bennett.
For three years, nobody had believed him.
Even Milan had eventually stopped asking questions.
Now Gabriel was telling him that evidence existed.
Evidence that might prove the truth.
“Who removed it?” Viktor demanded.
Gabriel hesitated.
That hesitation frightened Viktor more than anything else.
“I don't know yet.”
Milan stepped forward.
“Then why are you telling us this?”
“Because somebody found out the recording had resurfaced. Two days later, Viktor's transfer orders were changed.”
Viktor looked at his brother.
Milan was staring at the ground.
“Who arranged the escape?” Gabriel asked.
Milan didn't answer.
Viktor turned fully toward him.
“Milan?”
His brother rubbed his mouth.
“Somebody contacted me.”
“Who?”
“A man.”
“What man?”
“I don't know his real name.”
Viktor grabbed Milan's jacket.
“You told me you knew a guard who could help!”
“I lied!”
The words exploded into the cold afternoon air.
Jeanne gasped behind the screen door.
Viktor released his brother slowly.
Milan looked ashamed.
“I didn't know what else to do. They said you were going to die in prison.”
“Who said that?”
Milan swallowed.
“They sent me pictures.”
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
“Pictures of what?”
“Viktor sleeping in his cell. Viktor in the prison yard. Viktor talking to his lawyer.”
Viktor felt the blood drain from his face.
Someone had been watching him.
Not from outside the prison.
From inside.
Milan continued.
“They said the next time I got a picture, you'd be dead.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Did they tell you where to go after the escape?”
Milan nodded.
“A road near the state line. Somebody was supposed to pick us up.”
“Did they give you a vehicle?”
“No. We took one ourselves.”
“Did they tell you to avoid the main highway?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked toward the woods.
For the first time, Viktor saw genuine concern cross the detective's face.
“What?” Viktor demanded.
Gabriel didn't answer immediately.
He took out his phone and checked the screen.
No signal.
He looked toward the farmhouse.
“Mom, go inside. Lock the door.”
Jeanne hesitated.
“Gabriel—”
“Please.”
Something in his voice convinced her.
The door closed.
Gabriel turned back toward the brothers.
“Listen carefully. My car is parked behind the barn. The keys are in my hand. I'm willing to let you take it to get you away from my mother, but I'm not promising you immunity or safe passage. There's an emergency call box at the old ranger station six miles east. If you want to surrender somewhere safe, that's your best option.”
Viktor stared at him.
“Why would you help us?”
“Because whoever arranged your escape may be expecting you to reach that pickup point.”
“And?”
“And I don't think they're planning to pick you up.”
Milan went pale.
Viktor felt a terrible realization forming.
The stolen vehicle.
The abandoned road.
The unexpected breakdown.
The farmhouse.
Had they really arrived here by coincidence?
Or had somebody planned for them to be driven into this part of the forest?
A faint mechanical sound interrupted his thoughts.
Gabriel heard it too.
He raised one hand.
“Quiet.”
The sound grew louder.
An engine.
Then another.
Vehicles approaching along the narrow dirt road.
Gabriel moved toward the farmhouse.
“Inside. Both of you.”
Viktor hesitated.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No,” Gabriel said. “I expect you to want to stay alive.”
Two black SUVs appeared between the trees.
Their headlights were off.
Their windows were tinted.
And they were moving much too quickly for anyone visiting an isolated farmhouse.
Gabriel reached the porch.
“Mom! Get away from the windows!”
The first SUV stopped fifty yards from the house.
The second blocked the driveway.
Four men climbed out.
None wore uniforms.
One carried a rifle.
Viktor instinctively reached for Milan.
“Run.”
But Gabriel was already moving.
He pushed the brothers toward the cellar entrance beside the porch.
“Downstairs. Now!”
A gunshot cracked through the afternoon.
Wood splintered above Gabriel's head.
Milan screamed.
Gabriel shoved him through the cellar door.
Viktor followed.
Before descending, he glanced back.
Gabriel stood beside the farmhouse, facing the approaching men.
He had finally drawn his weapon.
But instead of firing, he shouted something that made the armed men stop.
“Tell your boss I still have the original!”
Viktor froze on the cellar stairs.
The original.
The missing recording.
Gabriel looked toward him.
And in that brief moment, Viktor saw something he hadn't seen three years earlier.
Fear.
Not fear of dying.
Fear that the truth would die with him.
Then a voice came from outside.
A voice Viktor recognized.
“Gabriel Morel. You should have burned that recording when I gave you the chance.”
Viktor's heart stopped.
May you like
Because the man speaking was supposed to have been dead for three years.
It was Thomas Bennett.
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