Chapter 2 - THE BLACK SITE
"They don't want us dead. They want us compliant. And that is ten times worse."Dan woke up to the smell of ozone and damp concrete.
His hands were chained behind him, suspended from a heavy rust-covered pipe overhead. His feet barely touched the cold floor. His shoulders burned with a deep, dislocating ache.
He didn't panic. Panic was an amateur’s luxury. Instead, he systematically assessed his body. No broken bones. Minor concussion. The drug was mostly out of his system, leaving only a metallic taste on his tongue.
"You're awake," a voice rasped from the dark.
He looked across the room. Hannah was strapped to a heavy steel chair, her head slumped forward. She was conscious, but barely. A thick, clear plastic tube ran from her neck to a small, medical device resting on a stainless-steel table beside her. Inside the device, a pale blue liquid was pulsing slowly.
"Where are we?" Hannah whispered.
"An old Cold War bunker, judging by the dampness and the thickness of the concrete walls," Dan said, his eyes scanning the room for structural weaknesses. "Somewhere in the Red Desert, most likely. An hour or two south of the cabin."
"They... they put something in me, Dan," she sobbed, a rare crack in her stoic armor. "Before I passed out. My chest... it feels heavy. It feels like it’s vibrating."
Before Dan could answer, the heavy steel door of the room groaned open.
The man in the charcoal suit walked in. He was accompanied by two guards carrying submachine guns, and behind them, limping slightly but very much alive, was Victor Hail.
Hail’s face was bruised, his expensive suit replaced by a orange prison jumpsuit, but he was smiling. "I told you, Brooks. You should have killed me when you had the chance. Mercy is a liability."
"Shut up, Victor," the man in the charcoal suit said calmly.
Hail instantly went quiet, his chest puffing up with suppressed rage, but he didn't dare speak again.
The man stepped toward Hannah, tapping the glass of the medical device on the table. The blue liquid pulsed faster in response.
"My name is Julian Cross," the man said, looking at Dan. "I am the Director of Acquisitions for Redmont Therapeutics—or rather, the parent company that actually owns the patent on the drugs Deputy Reed so carelessly exposed."
"You're laundering synthetic fentanyl through state-approved medical shipments," Dan said, his voice flat. "You're killing thousands to fund private black-budget operations."
"A very simplistic view of global economics, Mr. Brooks," Cross smiled. "We are stabilizing regions. But that is beside the point. You see, the trial next month was going to be a minor inconvenience. But then Deputy Reed decided to keep a backup drive. A physical ledger of our overseas accounts. She hid it before we arrived at your cabin."
Cross leaned down, his face inches from Hannah's. "Where is the ledger, Hannah?"
Hannah spat at his face. The saliva hit his cheek.
Cross didn't flinch. He slowly pulled a silk handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. "I expected as much. You're a law enforcement officer. You believe in things like duty and honor. So let me explain what is currently inside your body."
He pointed to the small, metallic cylinder beneath her collarbone.
"That is a micro-infusion pump. It is currently locked onto your subclavian artery. Inside the pump is a highly concentrated neurotoxin—Redmont Compound 9. Right now, the pump is receiving a continuous 'hold' signal from this local server on the table."
Cross smiled, a cold, terrifying expression.
"If this server is destroyed, or if you move more than five miles away from it, the signal terminates. The pump will immediately dump the entire payload into your bloodstream. You will be dead in forty-five seconds. Your lungs will paralyze, and your heart will simply stop beating."
Dan’s chains rattled as he surged forward, his muscles straining against the steel. "If you touch her—"
"I don't need to touch her, Mr. Brooks," Cross said, turning to him. "You are going to retrieve the ledger for us. You have twelve hours. If you are not back with the drive, I will simply turn off the transmitter. And you will watch her die through a live video feed."
Cross turned to one of his guards. "Release him."
May you like
The guard stepped forward, unlocking Dan's handcuffs. Dan dropped to the floor, instantly dropping his center of gravity, preparing to strike.
"I wouldn't," Cross warned, holding up a small remote control with a single red button. "This manual override can trigger the release instantly. Play your role, SEAL. Or the girl dies now."
