Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN WHO TOOK THE BULLET
The doors unlocked.
Vincent slammed the brakes.
The SUV spun across the highway.
I grabbed Daniel.
Elena grabbed Lucia.
Isabella screamed.
We crashed into a concrete barrier.
Everything went black.
When I opened my eyes, smoke filled the vehicle.
“Daniel!”
“I’m here!”
His voice came from beneath the seat.
I pulled him free.
“Lucia?”
No answer.
“Lucia!”
Elena was already moving.
She crawled through the wreckage.
“I have her!”
Then a gunman appeared outside.
He raised his weapon.
Elena pushed Lucia beneath the vehicle.
The bullet struck Elena's shoulder.
She collapsed.
I lost control.
I fired through the broken window.
The gunman fell.
I jumped out.
“ELENA!”
She was bleeding heavily.
Isabella pulled Lucia away.
Vincent checked the road.
“We have to move.”
I ignored him.
I lifted Elena.
“You're not dying.”
She laughed weakly.
“Boss…”
“Don't call me that.”
She looked at me.
“Then what?”
“Gabriel.”
She smiled.
“Okay… Gabriel.”
Her blood soaked my shirt.
We made it to an abandoned warehouse nearby.
Vincent barricaded the doors.
Isabella treated Elena's wound.
Daniel sat beside her.
“Don't die.”
Elena opened her eyes.
“I won't.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Daniel held her hand.
I watched.
Then I noticed the tracking device.
It wasn't under Elena's sleeve.
It was attached to the inside of her cleaning uniform.
Someone had planted it.
Which meant Elena hadn't betrayed us.
Someone had used her.
I looked at Vincent.
“Find out who.”
He nodded.
Thirty minutes later, he returned.
His face was grim.
“The device was planted at the hospital.”
“By who?”
He placed a photograph on the table.
A nurse.
“She's dead.”
“Who killed her?”
“We don't know.”
Elena sat up.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
She looked at the photograph.
“That isn't a nurse.”
“What?”
“She was a federal agent.”
Silence.
I stared at her.
“How would you know?”
“Because she recruited me.”
“For what?”
“To expose the Black Ledger.”
I realized something.
“This entire hospital attack…”
Elena nodded.
“Wasn't just about Daniel.”
“What was it?”
“To flush everyone connected to the old network into the open.”
Vincent looked at me.
“And it worked.”
A phone rang.
Nobody moved.
It was mine.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Adrian Voss spoke.
“Gabriel.”
“What?”
“Your father made one mistake.”
“Which was?”
“He believed blood made people loyal.”
I tightened my grip.
“You're wrong.”
“Am I?”
A pause.
“Ask Isabella what happened six years ago.”
I looked at her.
She was crying.
Voss continued.
“She'll tell you why Daniel was never supposed to be born.”
The call ended.
I turned toward Isabella.
“Tell me.”
She didn't answer.
“Isabella.”
She looked at me.
May you like
Then whispered:
“I was never supposed to survive Daniel's birth.”
