ON THE RUN

Chapter 2: Ghosts of the Hollows

Ethans lungs were on fire as he ran through the alleys behind his sisters house. The rain had slowed down to a drizzle. The city never slept. Sirens were getting louder. Ethan knew he had to move fast. He was already wet. His guard uniform was torn from when he escaped through the basement window. Every shadow looked scary to him.

He could not run for long. Logan Pierce was already looking for him. Pierce was a legend. A special forces guy who caught bad guys for money. He did not care about being famous he just wanted the payout.. The money for catching Ethan Carter had to be a lot by now.

Ethan hid behind a trash can as two police cars drove by lights flashing. He waited until they were gone then he moved again staying in the shadows. He was thinking about what to do. He could not go to any houses. Those places were not safe anymore. He did not have money. Just forty dollars in his pocket.. He did not have any guns.

He had something more important: information. He had learned a lot in prison. He had listened to people talk. He remembered names. He knew about Victor Kane and Commissioner Sullivan. He knew about a network that went all the way to the top.

He needed a phone that could not be tracked. He saw a payphone outside a laundry place and he went to use it. He called Olivia Brooks, a journalist who had tried to work with him before he went to prison. She had always thought that something was not right about his case.

The phone rang a times. Then Olivia answered. "Brooks " she said.

"Olivia it's Ethan Carter " he said.

There was a pause. Then she took a breath. "Jesus Christ you really escaped. The news is over the place."

"I do not have time " Ethan said. "I need help. Meet me at the observatory in Riverside Park. One hour. Come alone."

Olivia said she would come. Ethan hung up the phone. Wiped it clean. Then he went back into the night.

Riverside Park was a part of town. The old observatory was on a hill and it was all broken and covered in graffiti. Ethan got there early. Looked around to make sure no one was hiding. He found a spot to watch from and he waited.

Then he saw headlights. A car was coming. Olivia got out of the car. She looked around. Ethan whistled softly. She saw him. She came over to him. Said, "Carter you look like you've been through a lot."

Ethan said, "Three years in prison will do that to you." He was still careful. He did not know if he could trust her.

Olivia showed him some papers she had. They were about his case. They showed that something was not right. Ethan looked at them. He saw some names he knew. There was Victor Kane. There was Commissioner Sullivan.. There was another name: Adrian Cross. He was a guy who had a lot of power.

Then they heard some cars coming. They were quiet. Ethan knew they had to go. "Move!" he said.

They ran into the park towards the hiking trails. Behind them people were. Cars were stopping. A voice was talking through a megaphone. "Ethan Carter, surrender and we might let you live."

Ethan and Olivia kept running. They went into the woods. They did not stop until they were deep in the trees. Then they heard a gunshot. It was close. Ethan knew they had to keep moving.

They found a tunnel that went under the river road. They went inside. They kept moving until they came out on the other side. They were in a place with a lot of train cars and warehouses. It was a place to hide.

Olivia called a guy named Mason Walker. He was a hacker. He might be able to help them. Ethan was careful. He did not know if he could trust Mason.

Mason said he would help them. They were going to meet him at dawn in an auto repair shop. Ethan and Olivia went there separately to make sure no one was following them.

Mason was already there. He was a guy with crazy hair and glasses. He had a lot of computers and machines with him. Ethan asked him if the place was safe. Mason said it was. He had done a lot to make sure they could not be found.

Ethan felt a little better. He had some hope now.. He knew that hope could be dangerous in a place, like Blackridge.

Ethan got to work away his fingers moving quickly across the keyboard. Multiple screens lit up the inside of the van, which was pretty dark. "I have been trying to figure this out for years " he said. "The Blackwood murder file is locked up tight. There are some clues that might help us. Look at this."

He pulled up some records. There were deposits into Lucas Hayess accounts and they happened right around the time of the murder. There were also some accounts linked to Adrian Cross.. There was even a secret communication log that talked about "neutralizing the detective" just days before Ethan got arrested.

Olivia leaned in close. "This is great " she said. "If we can get this out to the public -"

But then there was a bang outside and the van rocked a little bit.

"There are drones moving around " Mason said, his eyes getting wide. "There are vehicles and they are armed."

Ethan grabbed his pistol. "It is time to go " he said. "Mason can you upload what you have to a kind of switch that will release the information if I do not check in every twenty-four hours?"

Mason was already doing it. He was typing away on his computer.

They all got into Olivias car, which was hidden nearby. As they drove away from the garage three SUVs started chasing them. Bullets were hitting the back of the car and Ethan shot back from the window. He broke the windshield of the SUV but it kept coming.

"Drive faster " he yelled.

Olivia was driving well weaving in and out of traffic. They got on the highway and the city was up ahead. The chase was getting more intense with police cars joining in. The lights and sirens were really loud.

Ethan was thinking a lot. They needed to lose the people chasing them and then find a place to hide. His sister Emily was probably being. His old mentor Jack Donovan might be in danger too.. They had to keep moving.

A helicopter showed up above them shining a light down. Logan Pierce was in the helicopter. Ethan could see him clearly.

"He is really persistent " Ethan said.

Olivia took an exit ramp fast. They lost one of the SUVs.. Two more were still following them. Mason was working from the backseat. He was still connected to the internet.

"I have a place ready " he said. "It is a subway station. It is two blocks ahead."

They left the car in a parking garage. Ran away on foot. They were weaving in and out of people, who were running away from them because they saw the guns. The entrance to the subway was boarded up but Mason had some tools. They got inside just as the people chasing them were turning the corner.

Inside the subway tunnels it was damp and quiet. Mason set up an internet connection and kept digging.

"This is bigger than we thought " he said after a minutes. "There is a name that keeps coming up in the messages. Michael Lawson. He is the Director of the National Intelligence Bureau. He is not just involved he might be in charge of the thing."

Ethan was starting to understand. Lawson was the man who had testified against him in court.

The truth was coming out. The people chasing them were getting closer.

As they heard some voices in the distance Ethan checked his gun. "We need to keep moving " he said. "We need to expose them all of them."

Olivia looked at him. She was determined. "Together " she said.

For the time in three years Ethan was not alone.

But the people who were chasing them had eyes everywhere and they were getting closer.

---

Ethan, Olivia and Mason spent the few hours walking through the old subway tunnels under Blackridge. The tunnels were like a maze with some parts collapsed, some water on the ground and some homeless people living there. Masons technology was helping them stay one step ahead. They were changing the security cameras. Sending fake locations to the police.

At one point they came out into a maintenance area near the Financial Core. The big buildings were above them. They were like symbols of the power that was against them. Ethan saw a news billboard with his face on it: "ESCAPED CONVICT ETHAN CARTER ARMED AND DANGEROUS. $500,000 REWARD."

"Business is doing well " he said, being sarcastic.

They kept moving. Emily was able to send a message through Olivias secure channel. There were more fake forensic reports. The original bullet from Blackwoods body did not match Ethans gun. Someone had switched the evidence.

The group found a place to rest and plan. Mason pulled up information. "Victor Kane is the face but he answers to Adrian Cross. Cross has ties to contractors run by Alexander Reed.. Lawson is in charge pulling the strings for a bigger plan. Fake contracts, a surveillance state, total control of key industries."

The plan was huge. Blackwood had discovered it. Was killed. Ethan was the person to blame. An honest cop who could be sacrificed to close the case quickly.

As they were getting ready to move they found trouble.

A team of police officers came into the tunnels from a street-level entrance. They threw flashbang grenades. The darkness was filled with light. Ethan shot back covering Olivia and Mason as they retreated deeper.

"Split up!" he yelled. "Meet at the cannery if we get separated!"

The gunfire was loud like thunder. Ethan got hit in the arm. He kept moving. He used the environment to his advantage. Trains, pipes, shadows. He took down two officers with shots trying not to hurt them too much. He did not want to become the monster they said he was.

He lost track of Olivia and Mason in the chaos. He trusted they could take care of themselves. He came out alone into the night near the river docks and he stole a small fishing boat. He drove it downstream getting away from the danger.

Hours later he was. Exhausted, but he made it to the old cannery on the industrial waterfront. It was a complex of abandoned factories. Olivia was already there having escaped capture by being a journalist and knowing the back alleys. Mason arrived twenty minutes later having abandoned his van but still having the data.

"We got lucky " Olivia said, bandaging Ethans arm. ". This will not last. We need a plan."

Ethan looked out at the dark river. "We hit them where it hurts " he said. "We start leaking the evidence, a little at a time. We build pressure. Then we go after the big people."

The night was long as they refined their strategy. Mason set up internet connections and anonymous servers. Olivia reached out to trusted contacts in the media. Ethan planned their move. Maybe confronting someone lower, on the chain to flip them.

As the sun started to come up a new threat emerged. A lone figure approached the cannery perimeter. He was tall and methodical. Logan Pierce had found them again.

Ethan gripped his pistol. The war was just. The people chasing them were getting closer.