Chapter 11: Blood for Blood
Chapter 11: Blood for Blood
The attack inside the Carver Estate changed everything.
By morning, Daniel had doubled the number of guards on the property. Every employee was questioned. Every security system was replaced. No one entered or left without Marcus's authorization.
Still, Daniel knew one painful truth.
Walls could not protect Hannah if the enemy already knew how to get inside.
Three days later...
Caleb was finally strong enough to speak for more than a few minutes at a time.
Daniel, Marcus, Hannah, and Martin gathered in the mansion's private library.
Caleb's voice remained weak, but his mind was sharp.
"The man they called 'The Accountant' never met anyone directly."
"How did he give orders?" Daniel asked.
"Through coded ledgers."
Caleb pointed to the journal recovered from Locker 214.
"I copied everything before they caught me."
Marcus opened the notebook.
Several pages contained columns of meaningless numbers.
"They're not financial records," Caleb explained.
"They're messages."
Daniel looked closer.
"You can read them?"
Caleb nodded.
"Only because I discovered the key."
He turned to the last page.
With trembling fingers, he wrote several letters beneath one of the coded sequences.
Slowly...
A sentence appeared.
THE MOTHER MUST NOT GIVE BIRTH.
Silence swallowed the room.
Hannah instinctively wrapped both arms around her stomach.
Marcus stared at the words.
"They're talking about Hannah."
Caleb nodded.
"They knew about the pregnancy months ago."
Daniel's face darkened.
"Before Aaron died."
"Yes."
Another sentence emerged from the code.
REMOVE THE BROTHER.
Caleb lowered his head.
"That was me."
The third message was even shorter.
ACCIDENT APPROVED.
No one needed to ask what it meant.
Aaron's murder had been ordered like a routine business transaction.
That afternoon...
Dr. Abrams insisted Hannah leave the mansion for another prenatal examination.
"I'd rather stay here," Hannah admitted.
The elderly doctor smiled kindly.
"So would I."
"But your baby deserves certainty."
Daniel refused to let her travel alone.
"I'll drive."
Marcus frowned.
"We should use the convoy."
Daniel shook his head.
"Too obvious."
He chose an unmarked black SUV instead.
Only Marcus and one escort vehicle followed.
Across the city...
Victor Kane watched the convoy through binoculars from the rooftop of an abandoned hotel.
He smiled into his radio.
"They're moving."
A distorted voice answered.
"Proceed."
Victor lowered the radio.
"With pleasure."
The highway along Narragansett Bay was unusually quiet.
Rain drifted lightly across the windshield.
Hannah looked out the window.
"It's peaceful."
Daniel kept his eyes on the road.
"Too peaceful."
She turned toward him.
"You think something's wrong?"
Before he could answer...
Marcus's voice exploded through the radio.
"Boss!"
A deafening blast erupted behind them.
The escort vehicle vanished in a ball of fire.
Daniel slammed on the brakes.
Another explosion ripped apart the road ahead.
The SUV spun sideways.
Glass shattered.
Smoke filled the air.
"Hannah!"
Daniel threw himself across her just as a hail of bullets tore through the driver's side.
The windshield exploded.
Tiny fragments of glass rained across the dashboard.
Hannah screamed.
Five black SUVs emerged from the surrounding trees.
Masked gunmen poured onto the highway.
Daniel reached for his pistol.
"Stay down."
Marcus's damaged vehicle skidded through the flames.
Three surviving guards returned fire.
The gunfight echoed across the empty shoreline.
Daniel opened his door.
"I'll draw them away."
"No!"
Hannah grabbed his sleeve.
"You can't."
"I have to."
"If you leave—"
"They'll kill us both."
Their eyes met for only a second.
Daniel gently squeezed her hand.
"I'll come back."
Then he stepped into the storm of bullets.
Daniel moved with deadly precision.
Years of experience kept him one step ahead.
Two attackers fell before they realized he had left the vehicle.
A third reached for a grenade.
Daniel shot him first.
Marcus joined him from behind a concrete barrier.
"They've boxed us in."
Daniel counted quickly.
"Still eight left."
Marcus looked toward the SUV.
"Hannah?"
"Stay with the car."
Another burst of gunfire answered him.
One bullet struck Daniel's left side.
The impact staggered him.
He ignored it.
Another round grazed his shoulder.
Still he kept firing.
Marcus shouted,
"You're hit!"
"I'm aware."
Blood spread beneath Daniel's jacket.
Inside the SUV...
Hannah watched in horror.
Daniel was slowing.
Every movement became heavier.
Another gunman circled toward his blind side.
She looked around desperately.
Her eyes landed on the emergency flare gun beneath the passenger seat.
Without thinking...
She grabbed it.
"Hannah!" Marcus shouted.
She ignored him.
Opening the rear door, she fired the flare directly into a nearby fuel truck abandoned beside the road.
The bright red projectile disappeared beneath the vehicle.
One second.
Two.
Three.
A massive explosion erupted.
Flames roared into the sky.
The blast knocked several attackers off their feet.
Daniel seized the opportunity.
"Marcus!"
Together they pushed forward.
Within minutes...
The remaining gunmen fled into the forest.
Silence slowly returned.
Broken only by the crackling fire.
Daniel took one step toward the SUV.
Then another.
His vision blurred.
He reached the door...
And collapsed.
"Daniel!"
Hannah rushed to him despite the doctor's orders.
Blood covered his shirt.
Far more blood than he had allowed anyone to see.
Marcus knelt beside him.
"Call Dr. Abrams!"
Daniel weakly grabbed Marcus's wrist.
"No hospitals."
Marcus stared.
"Boss—"
"No police."
"They'll ask questions."
"They always do."
Hannah pressed both hands against Daniel's wound, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.
"Stay with me."
He looked at her through fading vision.
"You and the baby..."
His voice had become little more than a whisper.
"...are safe."
Tears streamed down Hannah's face.
"What about you?"
A faint smile appeared.
"I kept my promise."
His eyes closed.
Hours later...
Inside the Carver Estate's hidden medical suite...
Frank Donnelly carefully removed the bullet.
The same retired medic who had unknowingly saved Daniel's life a year earlier now stood over him once again.
Marcus looked surprised.
"You know him?"
Frank smiled sadly.
"You could say we've crossed paths before."
Daniel drifted in and out of consciousness.
Fragments of memory flickered through his mind.
Cold rain.
A woman's trembling hands.
An old marine garage.
Someone whispering...
"Please don't die."
His heartbeat quickened.
The memories refused to stay buried.
Outside the operating room...
Hannah sat alone.
Her hands were still stained with Daniel's blood.
She couldn't bring herself to wash it away.
Martin quietly placed a blanket around her shoulders.
"He'll survive."
She nodded without speaking.
After several minutes, she whispered,
"He almost died because of me."
"No."
Martin sat beside her.
"He almost died because he chose to protect someone who couldn't protect herself."
Hannah looked through the small window into the operating room.
Daniel lay motionless beneath the surgical lights.
For the first time since Aaron's death...
She realized losing another man she cared about terrified her more than she wanted to admit.
And somewhere in the darkness beyond the estate...
A shadow watched photographs of the burning highway.
The mysterious mastermind smiled.
"Excellent."
Victor Kane frowned.
"We failed."
The figure slowly shook his head.
"No."
He pointed to one photograph.
Daniel shielding Hannah with his own body.
"Now she knows."
"Knows what?"
The mastermind's smile widened.
"Exactly how much Daniel Carver is willing to bleed for her."
He extinguished the cigar in a crystal ashtray.
"And people who love..."
May you like
He looked toward the storm outside.
"...are always easier to destroy."
