Chapter 8 - The Race Home
The chilling revelation hit Maria like a physical blow to the chest.
Charles Voss had sent heavily armed killers to murder her innocent three-year-old daughter.
“No,” Maria breathed, her entire world completely shattering.
“No, she’s just a baby!”
Daniel forced himself to stand up, ignoring the severe pain radiating from his head trauma and the freezing rain.
“We have fifteen minutes before they breach your building,” Daniel stated, his voice devoid of any panic.
He turned to Elias, his commanding presence fully restored despite wearing a soaked hospital gown.
“Give me your weapon and the keys to the sedan,” Daniel ordered.
Elias hesitated, looking at his boss’s pale face and trembling hands.
“Daniel, you just woke up from an eleven-day coma, you are in no condition to engage in a firefight,” Elias argued.
Daniel grabbed Elias by the lapels of his suit, pulling him terrifyingly close.
“That little girl held my hand in the dark and pulled my mind out of the void,” Daniel growled fiercely.
“I am not going to let Charles Voss touch a single hair on her head.”
Elias nodded slowly, handing over the suppressed pistol and the car keys.
Daniel practically threw Maria into the passenger seat of the sedan and climbed behind the wheel.
Elias jumped into the back seat just as Daniel slammed the gas pedal to the floor.
The car tore away from the construction site, speeding dangerously fast toward Maria’s neighborhood.
“Which apartment is yours?” Daniel asked, weaving flawlessly through the heavy city traffic.
“Building 4, apartment 2B,” Maria answered, her voice shaking uncontrollably.
“Mrs. Higgins is in 2A.”
Daniel didn't say another word, his dark eyes fixed intensely on the road ahead.
They reached the rundown apartment complex exactly fourteen minutes later.
Daniel parked the sedan haphazardly on the front lawn, entirely ignoring the curb.
They sprinted through the pouring rain toward Building 4.
The front door of the building was completely shattered, the cheap wood splintered across the hallway floor.
“They are already inside,” Elias cursed, pulling a backup weapon from his ankle holster.
They rushed up the narrow, dimly lit stairwell to the second floor.
The door to Mrs. Higgins' apartment, 2A, was kicked wide open.
Maria screamed, pushing past Daniel and running into the apartment.
The small living room was completely trashed, the furniture overturned and the lamps shattered.
Mrs. Higgins was lying on the floor near the kitchen, bleeding heavily from a vicious strike to the head.
Maria dropped to her knees beside her elderly neighbor.
“Mrs. Higgins, where is she?” Maria begged, tears streaming down her face.
Mrs. Higgins coughed weakly, pointing a trembling finger toward the bedroom.
“The men... they took the little girl,” the old woman whispered.
Maria let out an agonizing, heartbroken sob, collapsing onto the floor.
Daniel walked slowly into the room, stepping carefully over the broken glass.
His face was a mask of pure, lethal fury.
He noticed a small, folded piece of thick corporate cardstock resting deliberately on the kitchen counter.
Daniel picked it up and read the handwritten message.
He crushed the paper in his fist, his knuckles turning entirely white.
Elias stepped up beside him, checking the rooms for any lingering threats.
“What does the note say, Daniel?” Elias asked grimly.
Daniel looked at Maria, who was crying uncontrollably on the floor.
“Charles has her,” Daniel stated coldly.
“He wants to trade the girl for the master encryption drive to the Vanguard merger.”
Elias sighed heavily, shaking his head.
“The encryption drive is locked inside the estate server,” Elias reminded him.
“And the estate is currently swarming with Charles’s private security forces.”
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Daniel raised the suppressed pistol, checking the magazine with terrifying calmness.
“Then we are going to storm the estate and take it back,” Daniel announced.
