CHAPTER 4 — The Man Wearing Richard Holloway
CHAPTER 4 — The Man Wearing Richard Holloway
The morgue was silent except for the hum of refrigeration units.
Detective Ruiz pulled back the white sheet.
The dead man looked, at first glance, exactly like Richard Holloway.
The same tailored suit.
The same expensive shoes.
The same platinum wedding band.
Even the same hairstyle.
But one look at the fingerprints ended the illusion.
It wasn't Richard.
The face...
had been surgically altered.
Ruiz felt a chill crawl down his spine.
Someone hadn't simply planned a murder.
Someone had planned to erase a man.
At Holloway Manor, Evelyn couldn't sleep.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She answered without speaking.
A man's breathing filled the line.
Then...
"Evelyn."
Her heart stopped.
Richard.
"I'm alive."
Tears filled her eyes.
"Where are you?"
"I don't know."
His voice sounded weak.
"I wake up in different rooms."
"They keep moving me."
"You have to tell Detective Ruiz—"
The line crackled.
"They're inside the company."
"What?"
"The person behind this..."
"...isn't after our money."
Static swallowed half the sentence.
"They're after Project Atlas."
Evelyn frowned.
Project Atlas.
Richard had sworn that project had been canceled years ago.
The call suddenly cut off.
Ruiz arrived minutes later after tracing the incoming signal.
"Can you trace him?"
"Only roughly."
"Where?"
Ruiz looked frustrated.
"The phone bounced through six relay devices."
"So?"
"It could have been anywhere within fifty miles."
Evelyn clenched her fists.
"They wanted us to hear him."
Ruiz nodded.
"Which means the call wasn't a mistake."
"It was a message."
Downstairs...
One of the forensic officers interrupted.
"Detective."
Ruiz turned.
"We finished searching Vanessa's room."
"And?"
"We found passports."
"Fake identities."
"Cash."
"And this."
He handed Ruiz a small brass key.
Engraved on it were two words.
LOCKER 317.
No bank name.
No address.
Just a number.
Vanessa watched through the interrogation room window as Ruiz examined the key.
For the first time since her arrest...
she looked afraid.
Not because the police had found it.
Because they had found it too early.
That same night, miles away...
A man sat in total darkness inside an abandoned warehouse.
Richard Holloway was chained to a steel chair.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Still alive.
Across from him, another man slowly removed black leather gloves.
"You've caused us more trouble than expected."
Richard looked up.
"You'll never get Atlas."
The stranger smiled.
"Oh..."
"We already have half of it."
He slid a tablet across the floor.
Richard looked down.
The screen displayed live security footage.
Holloway Manor.
Every room.
Every hallway.
Every conversation.
Richard's blood ran cold.
There were hidden cameras in the mansion.
But not the ones Evelyn had installed.
May you like
Someone else...
had been watching them all along.
