CHAPTER 6: THE MONSTER THEY CREATED
CHAPTER 6: THE MONSTER THEY CREATED
By sunrise...
The battle was over.
Twenty-six attackers had entered the warehouse.
Only eleven walked back out.
Every survivor surrendered.
Not because they had run out of ammunition.
Because they had run out of courage.
Rumors spread across Portland before breakfast.
Caleb Rossi had declared open war.
For the first time in decades...
Every criminal family was afraid.
News helicopters circled the industrial district.
Official reports described the explosions as a gas leak.
The public never learned the truth.
But those who lived in the shadows knew.
The balance of power had shifted overnight.
Inside the underground medical unit...
Hannah sat while a doctor stitched another cut on her arm.
"You keep collecting scars," the doctor joked.
"I'd rather collect photographs."
The elderly physician smiled.
"So would he."
She looked toward the hallway where Caleb stood speaking quietly with Marcus.
"They don't seem to trust each other."
"They don't."
"Then why work together?"
"Because they hate the same people."
Marcus finally approached her.
"I verified something."
"What?"
"The children."
"They're real."
He placed a confidential file onto the table.
Over forty missing-person cases.
Every child in Caleb's photographs had once appeared on those lists.
Some had been missing for years.
All had mysteriously been found alive.
No explanation.
No arrests.
Only anonymous tips.
Marcus looked almost embarrassed.
"For years..."
"We thought Rossi was expanding his criminal empire."
"And?"
"It turns out..."
"He was dismantling everyone else's."
Before Hannah could process the revelation, alarms suddenly echoed throughout the command center.
Not security alarms.
Medical alarms.
A young guard burst into the room.
"Boss!"
Caleb turned immediately.
"What happened?"
"They poisoned one of the rescued girls."
The room froze.
"What?"
"She collapsed after breakfast."
Doctors sprinted toward the infirmary.
Caleb arrived seconds later.
A little girl no older than eight lay unconscious.
Her breathing had become dangerously shallow.
The chief physician looked grim.
"Injected poison."
"When?"
"Sometime during the night."
"Impossible."
"No one entered."
The doctor held up a tiny stuffed rabbit.
"It was hidden inside this."
Everyone stared.
The toy had been donated only hours earlier.
Someone had hidden a microscopic injector inside the fabric.
When the child hugged it...
The needle activated.
Hannah felt sick.
"They targeted a child..."
Caleb's face became frighteningly still.
"They targeted my family."
Marcus frowned.
"Family?"
Caleb gently brushed the little girl's hair away from her face.
"I promised every child under this roof..."
"...that no one would ever hurt them again."
The doctor's voice broke the silence.
"We need the antidote."
"Do we know the toxin?"
The physician swallowed hard.
"It's experimental."
"I've never seen it before."
Caleb slowly stood.
Then looked toward his intelligence chief.
"Find who made it."
The man nodded.
"How long do I have?"
The doctor answered quietly.
"Six hours."
Caleb picked up his coat.
"I'll be back in five."
Marcus stepped in front of him.
"You can't just storm into the city."
Caleb's eyes never left the door.
"The people responsible aren't hiding."
"They're celebrating."
"And I'm about to ruin their morning."
As he walked away, Hannah noticed something she had never seen before.
Not anger.
Not hatred.
Pain.
Deep, silent pain.
The kind carried only by someone who had already buried too many innocent people.
She suddenly realized something terrifying.
The most dangerous man in Portland wasn't feared because he loved violence.
He was feared because, once he chose someone to protect...
He never stopped.
Even if it meant bringing an entire criminal empire crashing down with him.
May you like
And somewhere across the city...
The people who had poisoned an innocent child were about to discover why even murderers whispered Caleb Rossi's name with fear.
