Chapter Two: The Dead List

In the back of the property was a maintenance room with a mechanical lock Ethan had modified years ago. He entered six digits. The door opened. It was not a maintenance room. Body armor hung from the wall beside passports, cash, encrypted communicators, folding rifles, and three laptops with no network history. In the corner was an old whiteboard. Seven names were written on it. A black cross followed each one. Marcus looked around and finally understood the kind of man who had saved him. "Who are you?" Ethan opened a laptop and inserted the drive into an isolated reader. Layers of encryption unfolded on the screen like chains being pulled apart. His fingers moved across the keyboard without hesitation. "A dead man," he said.