Chapter 112 The Angel Sent by God

Chapter 112 The Angel Sent by God

Kieran's body was shaking uncontrollably. He watched Ethan closing in on him, trembling with fear.

"Stay back!"

Kieran let out a hysterical scream. His hand shot into his uniform pocket and pulled out a metal syringe filled with glowing green liquid. Without a second's hesitation, he moved it toward the artery on his neck.

He knew exactly what would happen if Ethan got his hands on him — it would be worse than death. This was his only way out.

But just as the needle was about to break the skin —

Kieran was sent flying through the air and slammed hard into a brick wall over a dozen feet away.

Ethan stood where Kieran had been, casually turning the glowing green syringe over in his fingers.

"Trying to inject yourself?" He gave Kieran a cold look. "Your body couldn't handle cheap junk like this."

Kieran coughed violently. He knew he wasn't getting out of this alive.

Mission failed. The data never got out. Even the council's super-soldier had been taken down.

He knew The Aeterna Causality all too well. If they dragged him back, he'd spend whatever was left of his life as a live test subject, tortured until there was nothing left of him.

Kieran forced his eyes to move, watching Ethan still examining the syringe. With trembling hands, he pulled a Glock from his waist and shoved the barrel into his mouth.

A burst of red mist exploded from the back of Kieran's skull. He went still.

Ethan heard the shot. He stopped turning the syringe and looked at the mess Kieran had made of himself, letting out a tired sigh.

"Impatient idiot. Look at this mess."

A few minutes later, a line of black SUVs rolled in from the far end of the crowded street. Noah stepped out with a team of heavily armed security personnel and quickly sealed off the scene.

Noah glanced at Kieran on the ground, then at the massive figure knocked out cold in the crater, and frowned slightly. "Boss, sorry we're late."

"You're right on time. Just in time to clean up." Ethan tossed the green syringe to Noah. "Get that to the lab. I want a full breakdown of what's in it and what it does, as fast as possible."

He pointed to the briefcase on the ground. "Everything inside gets destroyed. Not a single byte left. As for the big guy —"

Ethan glanced over at Hunter in the crater. "Bring him back to the company. Find a solid room and lock him up. Hook him up to an IV too. Don't let him die on me."

Noah nodded without a word and immediately got his team moving.

……

A few hours later.

Ethan was sitting in his top-floor office going through documents when Noah pushed the door open and walked in.

"Boss, the big guy's awake."

Ethan raised an eyebrow and closed the folder. "Let's go say hello."

The reinforced medical room was in the secure zone beneath the building, its walls lined with high-strength alloy on every side.

When Ethan walked in, Hunter was nothing like before. He wasn't raging. He was sitting quietly on the oversized bed with his face buried in his hands, his eyes — once blank and vacant — now completely clear.

Ethan's hits had clearly broken whatever had been controlling him.

Hunter heard the footsteps and looked up. The next second he shot off the bed and came straight at Ethan in long, fast strides.

But he didn't attack. Three feet away from Ethan, he dropped to one knee.

Ethan blinked, caught off guard — because Hunter was crying.

"Thank you… thank you…" Hunter's voice shook with emotion. "You're my angel. God sent you to save me. He had to."

Ethan pulled one corner of his mouth up. "I don't have wings, and God and I don't exactly get along. Get up. Wipe your face. Then tell me what happened."

Over the next half hour, through a halting back-and-forth, Ethan pieced together Hunter's story.

A long time ago, Hunter had been an ordinary, decent man.

One night, The Aeterna Causality came for him — drawn by his extraordinary size and strength. They grabbed him off the street and threw him into an underground facility where daylight never reached.

Every day they pumped him full of drugs, reshaping his muscles and bones.

But that wasn't the worst of it. They had planted a neural toxin in his brain — a form of mind control.

The toxin didn't just strip Hunter of control over his own body. It kept his mind completely awake the entire time. He was trapped inside himself, forced to watch his own hands tear apart one innocent person after another, able to clearly remember every scream of every person who died by those hands.

"Every day I prayed to God," Hunter said, gripping his own hair in anguish. "I begged for someone to put a bullet in me and end it."

"Then you snapped my cervical nerve and cut off that damn toxin's connection. You have no idea what I felt in that moment."

Ethan watched the giant man in front of him, lost in guilt and grief. He was quiet for a moment, then reached out and put a hand on Hunter's broad shoulder.

"That wasn't your fault, Hunter."

He pulled his hand back and started thinking about what to do with this problem he'd landed himself with.

Then Hunter suddenly raised his head.

"Ethan, you're the one who pulled me out of hell." Hunter's fists tightened. "My hands will never be clean again. But I'm asking you to let me stay by your side. I'll do anything. Just let me serve you. Let me keep making it right."

Ethan raised an eyebrow and looked over Hunter's terrifying build.

He had no real reason to say no. A super-enforcer who showed up for free, with something close to fierce personal loyalty — this deal worked out no matter how you looked at it.

"Fine." Ethan nodded. "Starting today, you work for my company. Core security. Room and board included. But if you ever lose it on my property, I'll snap your neck myself. Are we clear?"

Hunter nodded hard. "I swear, Ethan. My life is yours from now on."

Once he'd calmed down a little, Hunter seemed to remember something. His expression turned serious.

"Ethan, you need to watch yourself." He lowered his voice. "When I was under their control, I heard those people in black robes talking. The Aeterna Causality has a lot more weapons like me. And they're organized into multiple tiers."

"They'll do anything to get what you have. Kieran failed, but they're not going to stop. I'm certain they already have their eyes on you."

"Their eyes on me?"

Ethan let out a short laugh. "Good. I've been trying to figure out where they are."

……

A few days later, early in the morning.

Ethan drove a black Mercedes G-Wagon with one hand on the wheel, heading to the office the same as any other day.

Just as the car was about to reach the toll gate at the start of the bridge, a rapid ringtone cut through the music in the cabin.

Ethan glanced at the screen on the dashboard. Unknown number.