Chapter 3 - The Blood Oath
The boiler room smelled of rusted iron, hot oil, and decades of dust. I slid down the steel chute right behind the children, hitting the concrete floor in a low roll and coming up with my weapon raised. The shadows danced wildly against the brick walls as the furnace hummed its low, rhythmic bass. Lily was trembling, holding onto my trouser leg with both hands, while Theo knelt on the concrete, his face pale and focused. He was gently petting Cookie behind the ears, murmuring numbers under his breath to keep the animal calm.
"We stay quiet here," I whispered, kneeling down to wipe a smear of soot from Lily's cheek. "The boiler walls are reinforced steel. Their thermal optics can't see through the heat signatures."
Theo looked up at me, his glacier-blue eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that chilled me to the marrow. "They have acoustic locators, Luca. They track the harmonic resonance of heartbeats. Mine beats at ninety-two cycles per minute. They know my frequency."
Before I could process his words, the heavy iron door at the top of the boiler stairs groaned. Heavy footsteps descended the metal grating, slow and unhurried.
I raised my Kimber, aiming straight through the metal banister. The shadow lengthened across the floor, resolving into a familiar figure. It was Enzo.
In his right hand, he held a standard-issue tactical radio. In his left, a matte-black automatic pistol. His face was not that of a terrified soldier; it was calm, cold, and utterly detached.
"Enzo?" I breathed, keeping my aim steady on his forehead. "What is this?"
Enzo paused on the third step from the bottom, looking down at us with a mixture of pity and contempt. "Lower the piece, Boss. You’re fighting an ocean with a bucket. You don't understand what that boy is. You think he's a gifted runaway? He’s the crown jewel of Prometheus Vanguard’s neural synthesis initiative. Worth more than every shipping container, nightclub, and offshore account the Moretti family owns combined."
"You sold us out," I growled, my finger tightening against the trigger curve. "Twenty-two years by my side. You ate at my table. You attended my wife's funeral."
"And that’s why I’m here instead of the strike team," Enzo replied smoothly, stepping down to the concrete floor. "Prometheus paid me fifty million dollars just to confirm the serial tag on his ankle. Hand the boy over, Luca. They don't care about you. They don't care about Lily. They take E07 back to the lab, wipe his memory bank, and you get to live your peaceful retirement in Westchester."
Lily let out a terrified sob, burying her face into Theo's chest. Theo didn't flinch. He slowly stepped out from behind me, placing himself directly between Enzo's gun and Lily.
"You took pictures of my ankle while I was sleeping," Theo said, his voice flat, devoid of emotion. "You sent them to IP address 194.88.102.14. You told them to come before dawn so the blood wouldn't stain the carpets."
Enzo blinked, momentarily stunned by the child's uncanny precision. "Shut up, kid."
"He won't shut up," I roared, stepping forward and shielding both children with my body. "You broke the code of honor, Enzo. You brought monsters into my home and threatened my blood."
"He isn't your blood!" Enzo yelled, his composure finally cracking. "He's an experiment! A weapon in a diaper!"
"He's a child who sat at my table," I snarled. "And in this family, that makes him mine."
Enzo raised his weapon to fire, but Theo suddenly reached out and slammed his small hand onto the emergency release lever of the steam valve beside him. A deafening hiss erupted as high-pressure superheated steam blasted across the stairwell. Enzo screamed in agony as the scalding vapor blinded him, his shot going wild and ricocheting off the iron ceiling.
I lunged forward through the white steam, closing the distance in half a heartbeat. My fist struck Enzo's jaw with the force of a sledgehammer, sending his weapon skittering across the floor. Before he could recover, I pinned him against the concrete, the cold muzzle of my .45 pressed firmly beneath his ear.
"Tell me where their command post is," I whispered into his ear.
May you like
Enzo wheezed, skin blistered, a twisted smirk spreading across his bleeding lips. "It doesn't matter, Luca. Dr. Vance has already deployed the rest of the unit. You're already dead."
I struck him with the butt of the weapon, knocking him into unconsciousness. Tying him to the heavy steam pipes with industrial zip-ties, I grabbed his tactical radio, gathered Lily and Theo, and headed toward the secret drainage tunnel leading beyond the estate's perimeter.
