Chapter 5 - THE HUNTRESS AWAKENS
Hook: She played the victim to perfection. Now, she's playing the executioner.I didn't die.
In fact, the sudden drop in my vitals was a self-induced trick. During my training, I had learned how to control my breathing to manipulate heart rate monitors—a simple trick to clear the room of unnecessary eyes.
The moment the doctor and Reyes stepped out to consult, I ripped the IV out of my arm.
I ignored the throbbing pain in my shoulder and the dull ache in my abdomen. I slipped out of the hospital bed, grabbing a set of scrubs from a laundry cart in the hallway. Within five minutes, I was walking out of the hospital's rear exit into the cool night air.
The hunter had become the prey, and the prey was tired of running.
I walked three blocks to a local diner, using a payphone to call a secure courier service. Twenty minutes later, a young man delivered a small black backpack I had placed in a safety deposit box years ago.
Inside was fifty thousand dollars in cash, a clean passport, a Glock 19, and a laptop with a secure VPN.
I sat in the back corner of a twenty-four-hour internet cafe, my fingers flying across the keyboard.
The virus I had planted in the database was already working. I could see the digital pings. Victor’s network had accessed the file. They were trying to decrypt it at a private warehouse on the docks of the city.
I zoomed in on the satellite map. The warehouse belonged to "Vance Logistics."
I opened a secure chat terminal and typed in a single IP address—the personal server of Alejandro Vargas, the head of the Sinaloa-affiliated cartel that supplied Victor Vance with his product.
I dragged and dropped a single PDF file into the chat. It was a genuine bank statement showing that Victor had skimmed over four million dollars from Vargas’s shipments over the last three years, funneling the money into a private account in the Cayman Islands.
I typed a brief message:
“Victor Vance is preparing to run. He has your money, and he’s planning to pin the leak on his wife. He’s at the Vance Logistics warehouse right now.”
I hit send.
I closed the laptop, packed my bag, and checked the Glock.
Tanner thought I was a helpless victim. He thought he could use my love for our unborn child as a weapon against me. But he forgot one thing: a mother protecting her child isn't weak. She is the most dangerous predator on earth.
I caught a cab to the docks.
The rain began to fall, slicking the asphalt and reflecting the yellow glow of the streetlights.
As the cab pulled up a block away from the warehouse, I saw headlights cut through the darkness. Three black SUVs, driving fast and without their lights on, pulled up to the entrance of Vance Logistics.
Vargas’s men had arrived.
I stepped out of the cab, pulling my hood over my head. I walked slowly toward the warehouse, blending into the shadows.
Inside, I could hear shouting.
"I swear, Alejandro, it’s a lie!" Victor’s voice echoed through the metal walls of the warehouse. "I didn't steal from you! The database was hacked! It was my wife! She set me up!"
"Your wife is an ex-cop, Victor," a cold, heavily accented voice replied. "And you are a thief. You think we don't know how to read a ledger?"
A gunshot echoed through the night, loud and final.
I crept closer, slipping through a side door.
In the center of the warehouse, Victor Vance lay on the concrete floor, a pool of dark blood expanding around his head. Alejandro Vargas stood over him, wiping his golden gun with a silk handkerchief.
But Tanner wasn't next to Victor.
I scanned the room. Tanner was scrambling toward the back exit, his face pale with terror, clutching a duffel bag tightly to his chest. He had used the distraction to steal Victor’s emergency cash.
"Tanner," I whispered from the shadows.
He stopped dead in his tracks. He turned slowly, his eyes widening as he saw me standing in the dim light, the Glock pointed straight at his chest.
May you like
"Maya?" he gasped, his voice trembling. "How... how are you here? You're supposed to be in the hospital!"
"You always did underestimate my pain tolerance, Tanner," I said, taking a step forward.
