Chapter 227 217 : Unseen Help (2)
Ezekiel looked at Butcher and silently cursed.
Today had turned into a complete disaster.
Not only had he been captured by three ordinary men, but they were now threatening to ruin everything he had built by releasing footage of his personal life.
That was the last thing he could afford.
His entire career depended on the image he had carefully created over the years. To millions of followers, he was a faithful man of God. If that image collapsed, so would the donations, the television appearances, and the influence that came with them.
Vought had no loyalty to failures, and he knew they would cut him loose the moment he became a liability. He had spent years climbing to this position, and there was no way he was going back to being a nobody.
He took a slow breath and looked directly at Butcher.
"So if I tell you everything I know about Compound V, you'll leave me alone. Correct?"
Butcher met his gaze without hesitation.
"Aye. We get the information, and we're done here."
Ezekiel remained silent for a moment before finally giving in.
"The shipments currently go to the neonatal ward at Cincinnati General Hospital. That's the present drop-off location."
Mother's Milk immediately picked up on one word.
"Current location? Does that mean the drop-off point changes?"
Ezekiel nodded.
"It changes from time to time. I don't decide where the shipments go, and I don't know where the next location will be. I'm only told where the current delivery needs to end up, and that's all I know."
Butcher watched Ezekiel closely, trying to decide whether he was lying. After several seconds, he glanced at Mother's Milk and gave a small nod.
"Well then, mate. Have a nice day."
Instead of walking back through the club, Butcher swung the butt of his gun into the already damaged window. The remaining glass shattered, and he climbed out.
Mother's Milk followed without hesitation.
Hughie wasted no time climbing out after them.
Ezekiel remained tied to the chair, staring at the broken window in disbelief.
He pulled against the bedsheets again, but they held firm.
"What the hell..."
He pulled against the bedsheets again.
The restraints didn't budge.
What confused him even more was the complete lack of security.
The room had partially collapsed.
There had been shouting, fighting.
Yet not a single guard had come to investigate.
Outside, Butcher, Mother's Milk, and Hughie hurried across the parking lot and climbed into their car.
"Well, we've finally got a location."
Mother's Milk stayed quiet until they had driven several blocks away.
"Butcher... doesn't any of that strike you as strange? First, we somehow ended up inside that room without even opening the door."
"Then, right when Ezekiel had us beaten, the bloody ceiling collapsed on him. We should've been the ones losing that fight."
Butcher kept his eyes on the road.
"Aye. Somebody was definitely pullin' strings. That's not luck. Things don't line up that perfectly."
Hughie looked out the window before speaking.
"I think it was the white-haired guy."
Both Butcher and Mother's Milk turned toward him.
"The one you saw at the Triad place?" Mother's Milk asked.
Hughie nodded.
"Yeah. I saw him outside the window just before everything happened."
"The creepy white-haired bloke who disappeared?" Mother's Milk asked.
"That's him," Hughie replied. "He was outside only moments before you two suddenly appeared in the room."
Butcher frowned.
"So you're tellin' me this white-haired psycho helped us?"
Hughie shrugged.
"It's the only explanation I can think of. We got out of a situation we had no business surviving. First you two suddenly appeared inside the room, then the ceiling came down at exactly the right moment. I don't know how he did it, but it feels like someone was helping us from the outside."
Butcher stayed silent for a few moments.
"If that's true," he finally said, "then we've got another bloody mystery on our hands. I just can't figure out why a Supe would help us."
Ethan had already walked some distance away when he saw Butcher's car pull out onto the road.
"Has Butcher become desperate?" he thought.
The man had taken enormous risks tonight.
Breaking into a private club full of Supes, exposing himself to Ezekiel, and chasing Compound V this openly wasn't something a careful man would normally do.
Then again, Ethan understood why.
Butcher had spent years searching for any clue about what had happened to Becca. Every lead had either gone nowhere or pointed back to Vought. A man could only spend so long chasing ghosts before patience gave way to obsession.
When someone was cornered long enough, they stopped choosing the safest option.
They chose the only option they believed was left.
"That obsession is making him gamble everything," Ethan muttered.
He looked in the direction the car had disappeared.
"But it's going to bring him trouble."
Vought protected Compound V more than anything else.
Now that Butcher had reached Samaritan's Embrace and squeezed information out of Ezekiel, it wouldn't take long before Vought realized someone was following the trail.
Once that happened, Butcher wouldn't just be hunting the truth anymore.
Vought would start hunting him .
***
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