Chapter 4 - THE TRUE WEIGHT OF VICTOR KANE"It’s not a bomb," Victor said softly, the silence stretching across the tarmac like a drawn blade.
Eli lowered his arms slightly, his breath hitching as he felt the bag grow noticeably lighter against his chest. The unnatural, heavy thrumming was gone.
"Then what the hell is it?" one of the officers demanded, his gun hand shaking slightly under the sheer pressure of Victor’s unblinking stare.
"It’s an insurance policy," Victor replied, taking another slow step forward. "My enemies have been hunting us for six months. The Bratva, the Outfit, and three corrupt directors inside the intelligence agency who want my ledger back. They didn't want to shoot me in a boardroom. They wanted a public spectacle. They wanted me cornered where I couldn't fight back."
"You're insane," the handler whispered, staring at the school bag. "You used your own son as a mule? You strapped a tracking and surveillance beacon—a live transmission rig linked to every assassin on the East Coast—onto a ten-year-old boy?"
Victor’s eyes flashed with a sudden, dangerous fire. "I kept him alive. If he was with me in the car, they would have blown us to atoms outside the estate. In a crowd, with federal security, they hesitated. They had to wait for the checkpoint."
"Dad..." Eli choked out, the word tasting like ash in his mouth. "You... you knew they were waiting for us?"
"I knew they were watching every exit, Eli," Victor said, his voice softening just a fraction, though his face remained carved from granite. "I had to draw them out. Apollo here..." Victor nodded respectfully toward the German Shepherd, who growled a low, warning note in response. "...Apollo smells fear, yes. But he also smells chemical residue. High-grade military tracking ink. The kind they spray on high-value targets."
"He wasn't barking at a bomb," the handler realized, his eyes widening in horror as the puzzle pieces clicked together. "He was barking at a beacon. The boy was painted."
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"Correct," Victor said smoothly.
And then, the sky above them lit up.
