CHAPTER 7 — THE LEDGER OF BLOOD
CHAPTER 7 — THE LEDGER OF BLOOD
Darkness swallowed the forensic laboratory.
The emergency lights failed to activate.
For one terrifying second, the only sound was frightened breathing.
Then—
BANG!
Another gunshot echoed through the hallway.
Someone screamed.
Detective Raymond Collins grabbed Beth's arm.
"Stay behind us!"
Dominic Moretti had already drawn his pistol, moving with the instincts of a man who had survived more ambushes than birthdays.
He spoke quietly into his earpiece.
"Alpha Team, report."
Nothing.
Only static.
"They've jammed our communications," one of his men muttered.
The hospital had become a trap.
At the far end of the corridor, flashlights suddenly flickered.
Black-clad figures emerged through the darkness.
Not rushing.
Walking.
Confident.
As though they already owned the building.
The lead attacker raised his weapon.
Dominic fired first.
The muzzle flash briefly illuminated the hallway.
One attacker dropped.
The others scattered behind concrete pillars.
Glass exploded.
Alarms screamed.
Doctors and nurses pulled patients into rooms, barricading doors with hospital beds.
Beth's heart pounded.
She had spent ten years saving lives.
Now she was watching people die only feet away.
A young security officer collapsed against the wall, clutching his stomach.
Blood poured through his fingers.
Without thinking, Beth ran.
"Beth!" Dominic shouted.
She ignored him.
The officer was barely twenty-three.
His pulse was fading.
She ripped open a trauma kit, packed the wound with gauze, and applied brutal pressure.
"Stay with me."
He cried out.
"It hurts..."
"I know."
"You're going to hate me for this."
She tightened the pressure.
The bleeding slowed.
Dominic watched in disbelief.
Bullets were still flying.
And Beth...
Beth was saving another stranger.
The attackers retreated almost as suddenly as they had appeared.
Not because they were defeated.
Because they had achieved their objective.
One of Collins's detectives sprinted into the lab.
"The microfilm!"
Everyone turned.
The evidence table was empty.
The scanned files had vanished from every computer.
Someone had erased the digital copies.
Only the original brass key remained.
The leader of the attack had stolen the ledger.
Or so he thought.
Beth looked toward the computer technician crouching beneath a desk.
"Did you finish the upload?"
The frightened technician nodded.
"I... I made an automatic backup."
"Where?"
He swallowed.
"Federal evidence servers."
Detective Collins smiled for the first time all night.
"They stole an empty drive."
Two days later...
The investigation exploded across America.
The backup files reached federal authorities.
Within hours, arrest warrants were issued.
Corrupt judges.
Police commanders.
State officials.
Business magnates.
The ledger exposed three decades of organized crime.
News helicopters filled Chicago's skies.
Television anchors called it the largest corruption scandal in Illinois history.
The Falcone Syndicate was finally being dragged into the light.
But its leader was still free.
Late that evening...
Beth received a handwritten note.
No stamp.
No return address.
Only one sentence.
Come alone if you want the truth about your father.
Below it was an address.
An abandoned railway depot.
Dominic read the note once.
Then tore it in half.
"You're not going."
Beth looked at him.
"If he knows what happened to my father..."
"It's a trap."
"I know."
"And you're still thinking about going."
She met his eyes.
"I've spent twenty-four years believing my father died in an accident."
Her voice trembled.
"I deserve the truth."
May you like
Dominic sighed.
"So we'll walk into the trap together."
