Chapter 5 - The Contract of Blood
“She’s in early stage labor!” Lucas called out into his comms headset, hovering over Elena as she gasped through another brutal contraction. “Dr. Harrison, get down to Bunker Level Two immediately!”
A side door in the bunker opened, and an older woman in medical scrubs rushed inside, carrying a portable emergency obstetrics kit.
“Get her on the exam table!” Dr. Harrison ordered, snapping on sterile gloves. “At thirty-two weeks, we need to slow these contractions down or prepare for an emergency delivery! Her blood pressure is dangerously high!”
Elena lay back on the stainless steel medical table, her teeth grinding together as another contraction ripped through her body. Sweat soaked her hair, plastering it to her forehead.
“I can't... I can't do this now...” Elena sobbed, gripping Lucas’s hand with a force that surprised them both. “My baby... he’s too small...”
“Listen to me, Elena,” Lucas said, leaning down so his gray eyes locked onto hers with fierce intensity. “You are Arthur Carter’s daughter. You are stronger than Daniel Hale, stronger than Vanguard, and stronger than anything they throw at us. Focus on my voice. Breathe.”
Above them, a deep detonation shook the bunker’s concrete ceiling. Dust rained down onto the medical equipment.
On the security screen, Daniel stood in front of the bunker’s heavy steel blast door. One of his technicians was attaching heavy magnetic thermite charges to the electronic locking mechanism.
“They’re melting the lock,” Dr. Harrison warned, her hands trembling as she hooked up an IV line to Elena’s arm. “We have less than ten minutes before they blow that door!”
Daniel’s voice echoed through the bunker’s intercom system, smooth and terrifyingly close.
“Elena!” Daniel’s voice boomed. “I know you’re down there! Stop playing the victim and open the door! If you surrender now and sign the parental custody transfer, I’ll let your father live! I’ll even let Sophie go free!”
Beside Daniel on the monitor, Sophie looked up, her eyes wide with shock. “Daniel... you promised me we were going away together after this! You said I was going to help raise the baby!”
Daniel turned to Sophie, his eyes cold and devoid of any emotion. “Raise the baby? You stupid girl. You were just a tool to keep your sister distracted. Did you really think I’d marry a traitor who betrayed her own blood?”
Sophie stumbled back, her face turning chalk-white as the realization hit her. Daniel had used her, manipulated her debts, slept with her, and ruined her relationship with Elena—all while treating her as disposable trash.
Teardrops spilled down Sophie’s cheeks. She looked at the bunker door, then down at the thermite control box held by the technician standing next to her.
In the bunker, Elena watched the screen through her sweat-slicked vision. Another contraction seized her body, but she kept her eyes on her sister.
“Sophie...” Elena whispered into the bunker intercom microphone near her pillow. “Look at what he did to us. Look at what he made you into.”
On the screen, Sophie froze hearing Elena’s voice through the external speaker.
“He doesn't love you, Sophie,” Elena panted into the microphone, fighting through the blinding pain. “He’s going to kill Dad. He’s going to take my baby. And then he’ll eliminate you so there are no witnesses. Help me... please...”
Daniel turned toward the door, screaming into the intercom, “Ignite the thermite!”
The technician reached for the detonator button.
Suddenly, Sophie lunged forward.
With a desperate, wild scream, Sophie snatched the heavy chemical fire extinguisher off the corridor wall and smashed it with all her strength into the technician’s head.
The technician collapsed to the floor. Sophie grabbed the thermite detonator box, threw it onto the concrete ground, and stomped on it until the wires shattered into pieces.
“You crazy bitch!” Daniel roared, lunging toward Sophie.
Sophie didn't run away. Instead, she grabbed the heavy steel emergency lock lever on the corridor wall—the secondary manual override—and slammed it down.
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Heavy steel security bars crashed down from the ceiling, trapping Daniel and his remaining three mercenaries in the upper corridor, physically separating them from the bunker entrance!
“Run, Elena!” Sophie screamed through the intercom, tears streaming down her face as Daniel slammed against the steel bars behind her. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, El!”
