Chapter 5 - The Poisoned Pawn
I slammed my foot on the gas pedal and raced toward my brother's house.
Mark was a coward and a traitor, but he was still my flesh and blood.
I arrived at his large suburban home and kicked the front door open.
The living room was completely destroyed.
Furniture was overturned, glass was shattered across the floor, and blood stained the expensive rug.
I found Mark convulsing on the kitchen floor with white foam gathering at the corners of his mouth.
I dropped to my knees and rolled him onto his side to keep him from choking.
He clutched my jacket tightly with trembling, icy fingers.
He gasped that Vanessa had given him the same neurotoxin she used on our father, but at a lethal dose.
I immediately grabbed my trauma kit and administered a broad-spectrum counteragent.
I prayed it would be enough to stabilize his heart until the paramedics arrived.
Mark looked up at me with tears streaming down his pale face.
He confessed that he owed the criminal syndicate two million dollars in gambling debts.
Vanessa had promised to clear his debt if he helped her steal our father's entire estate.
He admitted he had stood by and watched her beat an old man with a bat out of pure fear for his own life.
I felt a mixture of profound pity and absolute disgust for the man lying on the floor.
The counteragent slowly began to work, and his violent tremors finally subsided.
He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and pressed it into my hand.
He whispered that it was the address to the bank where Vanessa kept her safety deposit box.
He warned me that she was heading there right now to empty it and vanish forever.
I called for an untraceable private ambulance to pick him up.
I could not trust the corrupt local police dispatchers to save his life.
I drove toward the address written on the crumpled paper.
It was an old, private banking institution located in the industrial district of the city.
I walked into the grand lobby and flashed my badge at the nervous bank manager.
I demanded access to the underground vault immediately.
The manager turned pale and pointed toward the heavy steel doors in the back.
He stammered that Vanessa was already inside the vault.
I drew my weapon and moved cautiously down the marble hallway.
I pushed the heavy vault door open and stepped into the dim light.
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Vanessa was not emptying a box of money or diamonds.
She was wiring a massive explosive device directly to the main structural pillars.
