Chapter 11 - Beneath The City
The elevator descended for almost a minute.
When the doors opened, cold underground air rushed inside.
A stone tunnel stretched into darkness.
Electric cables had been installed along the ceiling.
Recent tire marks cut through decades of dust.
Alexander and Marcus moved carefully.
The tunnel walls carried faded Blackwood symbols.
Alexander touched one.
His family had built this place.
Now criminals were using it against him.
Voices approached.
They hid behind an old support column.
Two syndicate guards walked past.
Marcus quietly subdued the first.
Alexander caught the second before he could reach his radio.
They continued deeper.
The tunnel divided into three passages.
Alexander remembered the journal.
One route led toward the docks.
One traveled toward the financial district.
One eventually passed beneath Blackwood Estate.
The syndicate could have entered his home without ever crossing the gates.
That explained everything.
The security failures.
The impossible timing.
The hidden movement.
Alexander looked at Marcus.
"We never had an outside intruder."
Marcus understood.
"They came from underneath."
A distant scream echoed through the tunnel.
Sarah.
Alexander ran.
Marcus followed.
They reached an old underground station built from brick and iron.
Dozens of crates filled the chamber.
Weapons.
Cash.
Stolen artwork.
Documents.
Alexander saw evidence from crimes stretching back decades.
The Ouroboros Circle had been using the tunnels as a private criminal highway.
Sarah was tied to a chair near the center.
Silas stood beside her.
Adrian Cole stood opposite him.
The deputy commissioner was wearing his police uniform.
Alexander finally saw the truth.
Cole was not investigating the syndicate.
He was leading part of it.
Another person stepped from the shadows.
Alexander stopped.
Edmund's daughter.
His cousin Victoria Blackwood.
Elegant.
Calm.
Smiling.
Alexander had known Victoria since childhood.
She had attended his wedding.
She had held Lily hours after she was born.
Victoria slowly applauded.
"Welcome home, cousin."
Alexander felt something inside him turn cold.
May you like
The enemy was not merely inside his family.
The enemy carried his blood.
