Chapter 6 - Blood on the Railbed
“Victoria pays well, but not well enough to murder a child in cold blood, Marcus,” Julian said quietly, his voice steady as he subtly shifted Maya behind his legs.
Marcus gave a dry, humorless smirk. “You think this is about money, Julian? Victoria doesn't just pay me. Her father owns the agency that holds my family’s debts. If I don’t deliver that child and the drive by sunset, my daughters will be the ones who vanish into Blackwood Ridge.”
The revelation struck Julian with the force of a hammer. Victoria’s web wasn’t simply a plot of greed; it was an apparatus of total extortion that had enslaved every person around him for years.
“Then you know what they do at Blackwood,” Julian said, taking a half-step forward. “You know that once she gets what she wants, she clears the board. You, me, Maya—none of us are loose ends she can afford to leave.”
Marcus’s hand twitched slightly on the grip. His jaw tightened. “She told me your wife died in the crash. She showed me the autopsy report.”
“The report was fake,” Julian said. He reached slowly into his pocket, keeping his movements painfully deliberate, and extended the glowing tablet. “Look at the status line. Date of entry: yesterday morning. Elena is alive. She’s being used as clinical leverage against the trust. Once Victoria gets my legal sign-off, she’ll terminate Elena and eliminate you to bury the paper trail.”
Marcus stared at the blue glare of the screen. His eyes darted to the alphanumeric code that matched the serial numbers of the biometric cages at Blackwood. For five agonizing seconds, the only sound was the steady drip of condensation on the iron rails.
Slowly, the barrel of Marcus’s pistol lowered by two inches.
“They’ve already locked the gate at the Ridge,” Marcus whispered, looking up. “Victoria’s private convoy left the wedding ten minutes ago. She knows you got the file. She’s going there to wipe the server and shut down life support before the state police can be mobilized.”
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“Can you get us inside?” Julian asked, his voice low and dangerous.
Marcus checked his tactical watch, then looked down at Maya, who was watching him with wide, unblinking hazel eyes. He holstered the weapon with a sharp snap. “I can get you through the outer perimeter. But once we’re inside the medical basement, we’re on our own.”
