Chapter 8 - The Secret of the Wool BlanketVance laughed, a wet, bloody sound that rattled in his throat. —You're bluffing. The encrypted drive in the offshore account requires the genetic key. The child... the child is the only living match on the planet.—
The boss didn't answer immediately. He walked slowly toward the center of the room, where Miller and the remaining guards stood in respectful, awestruck silence. He knelt down beside K19, who was still groaning on the floor with a shattered knee, staring up in absolute terror.
—You spent months plotting against me, K19, the boss said softly, looking down at the traitor. —You believed I went soft because I stopped attending the meetings, because I spent my nights locked in the private quarters. You thought I was losing my grip on the city.—
K19 trembled, unable to speak, pressing himself flat against the floor as the war dog loomed over him like a statue of judgment.
—You never wondered why the baby arrived without a sound, did you?— the boss continued, his voice echoing quietly in the ruined room. —You assumed it was an orphan left by some desperate mother on the streets.—
The boss slowly unzipped the tactical sling, reaching inside with infinite gentleness. He didn't pull out a child.
He pulled out a heavy, high-density quantum data core, wrapped securely inside the old, hand-stitched wool blanket to keep it insulated from magnetic interference.
The room went dead silent.
The guards stared in stunned disbelief. Even Miller’s jaw dropped.
—It’s... it’s not a child?— Tommy whispered, his eyes wide.
—It was never a child, the boss said, holding the heavy data core in his hands. —It was a decoy package designed to flush out every rat in my organization. The baby story was a trap. I planted the rumor of an orphan in my private quarters three weeks ago, knowing that a man like K19 couldn't resist investigating a perceived weakness.—
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Vance’s face turned the color of ash as he realized the horrific truth. —No... that's impossible. The biometric signatures... the heartbeat simulation—
—I programmed a medical-grade fetal audio simulator into the core’s internal housing, the boss said, standing up and sliding the core into a secure steel briefcase handed to him by Miller. —It emitted a genuine heartbeat and thermal signature to trick any casual thermal scan. I didn't hide a baby because I went soft, Vance. I hid a bomb inside my own house, and waited for my enemies to light the fuse.—
