Bloodline Secrets
The gloved hand muffled Mara’s breath. Her pulse hammered as the whisper lingered: Home was never a place. It was a promise. She bit down, hard. The grip loosened. She spun, wrenching free.
“Talk!” she hissed. “Who are you?”
A shadow leaned close, rain dripping off the mask. “Not yet. They’re listening.”
“Then make me understand.”
The woman on the rail coughed, blood flecking her lips. “He’s not lying. They always listen. They hear everything.”
Elias’s voice crackled through the comms. “Mara, extraction window is closing. You’ve got thirty seconds before those teams breach your position.”
“Then talk fast,” Mara snapped. “What’s the Circle? Why me?”
The masked figure tilted his head. “Because your blood answers questions you’re afraid to ask.”
“Enough riddles. Names, not poetry.”
“Names get people killed.”
“People are already dying!” Mara shouted. “Every victim ties back to me. Why?”
The woman on the rail grabbed Mara’s sleeve, eyes wild. “Because you were there. You just don’t remember.”
Mara froze. “What do you mean there?”
“She’s delirious,” Elias said in her ear. “Don’t let her anchor you. Get out.”
“No,” Mara whispered. “She knows something.”
Boots thundered on the ladder below. Voices barked orders, close, coordinated.
The masked man leaned in, so close Mara could see her own reflection in his visor. “If you want truth, follow the bloodline. Find the orphan file.”
“What file?”
He pressed something cold into her palm—a key card slick with rain. “South archives. Room thirteen. But you didn’t hear it from me.”
“Why help me?” she asked.
“I’m not helping you,” he said. “I’m saving myself.”
Gunfire erupted below, sharp cracks ricocheting through the harbor.
“Move!” Elias yelled. “They’re breaching!”
Mara grabbed the injured woman’s arm. “She comes with me.”
The masked man blocked her path. “She’s marked. If you take her, you’ll never outrun them.”
“I’m not leaving her to die.”
“She already chose death when she spoke to you.”
The woman shook her head violently. “No. Don’t listen. Take me. Please. They’ll erase me if you don’t.”
Mara’s throat tightened. “You’re coming.” She shoved past the masked man.
Bullets tore into the catwalk, sparks spitting off the rail. Mara ducked, dragging the woman with her.
Elias’s voice was urgent. “South ladder now! I’ll cover with suppressing fire.”
“You better not miss,” Mara said.
“I never miss.”
She half-dragged, half-carried the woman down the ladder. Shouts followed them, boots hammering metal. Elias’s rifle cracked in controlled bursts—two men went down screaming.
“Mara, left!” Elias warned.
She spun, firing into the smoke. A figure toppled.
“Clear path,” Elias said. “Get to the van.”
They ran, splashing through puddles, breath ragged. The woman stumbled, coughing blood.
“Stay with me!” Mara growled.
“Too late,” the woman gasped. “They’ll silence me before dawn.”
“Not if I lock you in a safe house.”
“You don’t get it. Safe houses burn. They always burn.”
Mara clenched her jaw. “Then we’ll fight fire with fire.”
They burst into the van. Elias slammed the driver’s door shut and floored the gas. Tires screeched. Bullets pinged off the metal shell as they sped into the rain-slick streets.
Inside, Mara pressed the woman against the seat. “Tell me everything. Start now.”
The woman’s hands trembled. “I was one of ten. They called us candidates. Trials, injections, whispers through speakers. Some vanished. Some screamed until they didn’t anymore.”
Mara’s blood chilled. “Where was this?”
“Facility. Underground. They said it was for the future. Said we were chosen. I only escaped because… because of you.”
“Me?” Mara demanded. “I’ve never seen you before tonight.”
“You don’t remember,” the woman whispered. “But you opened a door once. You let me out. They said you’d come back for answers.”
Elias glanced at Mara in the mirror. “She’s unstable. Don’t anchor to her.”
“Shut up, Elias,” Mara snapped. “She knows something.”
“Or she’s planting bait.”
The woman coughed again, shuddering. “Ask about Project Ashen. Ask about your father.”
Mara’s grip faltered. “My father’s dead.”
“Is he?” the woman said weakly. “Or was he part of them?”
Mara’s heart lurched. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
The van jolted as Elias swerved. “We’ve got company.”
Black SUVs roared up behind them, headlights cutting through rain. Muzzles flashed from the windows.
“Hold on!” Elias barked.
Bullets shattered the rear glass. Mara shielded the woman. “Keep her down!”
Elias yanked the wheel, the van fishtailing into a narrow alley. “We can’t outrun them for long. Options?”
Mara loaded her pistol. “We fight.”
Elias shook his head. “Not here. Not with her bleeding out.”
The woman seized Mara’s wrist. “Don’t stop. If they catch me, it’s over. Burn the file. Don’t let them use me again.”
“You’re not dying on me,” Mara growled.
“They won’t let me live. None of us.”
The SUV slammed their bumper. Elias cursed. “We lose traction, we’re done.”
Mara leaned out the window, firing. A windshield cracked. The SUV swerved but stayed on them.
“Not enough,” Elias muttered. “We need cover.”
“Take Ninth Street,” Mara ordered. “Industrial tunnels.”
“You sure?”
“Do it.”
He swerved hard. Concrete walls rose around them as they dove into the tunnel system. Echoes swallowed gunfire. The SUVs followed.
The woman sagged, eyes rolling back. “Mara…”
“Stay awake!” Mara shouted. “What’s your name?”
The woman smiled faintly. “They took it. But once… they called me Lila.”
Mara’s chest tightened. “Lila. Don’t quit on me.”
“Blood remembers,” Lila whispered. “So will you.”
Her head slumped.
“Lila!” Mara shook her, but no response.
Elias cursed. “She’s coding. We need a medic.”
Mara pressed her fingers to Lila’s throat. Faint pulse. Weak. “We don’t stop. Drive.”
The tunnel narrowed. The SUVs closed in.
“End of the line in two hundred meters,” Elias warned. “Dead end.”
Mara’s stomach dropped. “Then it’s a trap.”
A new voice crackled over the van’s comms—smooth, cold, unfamiliar. “Detective Quinn. You’ve chased ghosts long enough. Time to come home.”
Mara froze. “Who is this?”
“Family,” the voice said. “Bloodline doesn’t lie.”
The tunnel lights flickered. Ahead, steel doors slid shut, sealing the exit.
The SUVs braked behind them, hemming them in. Engines rumbled. Shadows moved.
Mara raised her gun, jaw set. “Elias… looks like we’re not leaving.”
He chambered a round, eyes on her. “Then we make them regret finding us.”
The comm crackled again, colder now. “Open the van, Detective. Or we burn it with you inside.”
Mara’s finger tightened on the trigger. Rain dripped through cracks in the tunnel roof, each drop echoing like a countdown.
She looked at Elias. “We fight or surrender. Choose.”
And from the back seat, weak but clear, Lila’s voice rasped one last word: “Run.”
The tunnel lights died, plunging everything into darkness.