Chapter 3 - The Blood Alliance
Ten minutes later, Maya slipped through the private elevator shaft into Dante Caruso’s private study.
The room was a opulent nightmare. IV poles, heart monitors, and expensive leather armchairs stood surrounded by Renaissance paintings. On the massive mahogany bed lay Dante Caruso—once a world-renowned biotech tycoon, now reduced to an emaciated husk hooked to three different infusion pumps.
"You came..." Dante rasped, his sunken eyes tracking Maya as she stepped out, holding a fire extinguisher like a club, with Ethan clinging to her belt.
"Where is the override key?" Maya demanded, stepping close to his bed.
"In my chest pocket..." Dante gestured weakly with a trembling hand. "A flash drive. It bypasses Langley’s biometric locks on the outer perimeter gates. But... you have to inject the epinephrine from my emergency kit into my central line. Langley spiked my IV with a paralytic two hours ago."
Maya examined the IV line rapidly. She was a professional; she could spot the milky discoloration of a sedating blocker instantly. "If I give you 1 mg of epi, your heart rate will skyrocket. In your condition, it could give you a massive stroke."
"If you don't..." Dante gasped, his chest heaving, "Langley’s mercenaries will breach this room in three minutes. Take the shot, Nurse."
Maya took a deep breath, grabbed the pre-filled adrenaline syringe from the tray, and slammed it into the port.
Within five seconds, Dante’s eyes snapped wide open. His flatlining heart monitor burst into a frantic, rhythmic beep. He sat bolt upright, gasping violently for air as life surged back into his dying nerve endings.
"Ethan..." Dante breathed, staring at the little boy who hid behind Maya’s legs. "Look at you..."
Ethan stared at the dying billionaire, his tiny lips quivering. "Are you... the bad man?"
"I was," Dante wept, reaching out a trembling, liver-spotted hand, though he didn't dare touch the child. "I was a monster who thought money could buy immortality. But you... you are the only good thing my legacy ever produced."
May you like
Dante reached into his pocket and handed Maya a heavy brass flash drive shaped like a crest. "Take it. The river exit leads to a boat house. The key unlocks the speedboat tied to the dock."
Before Maya could grab it, the heavy double doors of the master suite blew inward with a violent, explosive bang.
