Chapter 6 - The Ransom of Blood
David woke up to the agonizing feeling of freezing water being splashed violently across his face.
He gasped desperately for air, coughing heavily as his blurred vision slowly returned to focus.
He was tied tightly to a heavy metal chair inside a damp, dimly lit warehouse.
His head throbbed with immense pain, and warm blood trickled slowly down his cheek.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, dear husband," Sarah's cruel voice echoed off the concrete walls.
David struggled furiously against the thick nylon ropes, but they were tied with professional military knots.
"Where is my son?" David roared, his voice sounding hoarse and desperate.
"Leo is perfectly safe for now, waiting quietly in the next room," Sarah replied calmly.
She held up the glowing blue flash drive she had violently extracted from the stuffed bear.
"Do you have any idea what Maya hid on this drive before she supposedly died?" Sarah asked, pacing in front of him.
"I told you, I know absolutely nothing about your criminal organization," David spat back aggressively.
"This drive contains the encrypted bank accounts holding two billion dollars in cartel money," she explained smugly.
"Maya stole it to cripple us completely, but she locked it with a biological failsafe."
Sarah stepped closer, grabbing David roughly by the jaw to force eye contact.
"The files can only be decrypted by scanning the retinal pattern of Maya's direct bloodline."
David's eyes widened in sheer horror as the terrifying truth finally clicked into place.
"You need Leo's eyes to open the files," David realized aloud, his heart stopping in his chest.
"Exactly, and once the transfer is fully complete, neither of you will be useful anymore," she smiled wickedly.
Vance walked out of the dark shadows, holding a heavy steel crowbar in his right hand.
"The boss is arriving in five minutes to oversee the transfer personally," Vance reported to Sarah.
"Good, prep the boy for the retinal scan immediately," Sarah ordered without a shred of human empathy.
Vance turned toward a rusted metal door at the back of the room and unlocked it slowly.
David pulled at his bindings with absolute desperation, ignoring the skin tearing painfully off his wrists.
He had to save his son before the Syndicate boss arrived to execute them all.
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Suddenly, the heavy metal roll-up doors at the front of the warehouse exploded completely inward.
A massive black armored truck smashed fiercely through the wall, crushing Vance instantly beneath its heavy tires.
