Chapter 8 - The Cornered Rat
The news of the Newark raid broke like a thunderclap across the state. The FBI had discovered a horrific illicit medical lab, human trafficking logs, and financial records linking Victor Volkov directly to international money laundering. Volkov’s assets were frozen overnight, and a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.
Realizing he had been utterly outmaneuvered, Volkov went into hiding. But a cornered rat is always the most dangerous.
On Monday evening, while the medical team in the Catskills was preparing Evelyn for the bone marrow extraction from Natalia, Dominic received a direct video call on his encrypted satellite phone.
The screen flickered to life, showing Victor Volkov sitting in a dark, concrete basement somewhere in Brooklyn. He looked disheveled, his expensive hair messy, a desperate madness gleaming in his eyes.
"You think you’ve won, Dominic?" Volkov hissed, holding up a remote detonator. "You used the feds to destroy my life. You stole my asset. But I know where you took her. I have a rat inside your logistics team. I know about the cabin in the Catskills."
Dominic’s blood ran cold. He looked out the window at the dark woods surrounding the medical sanctuary. "If you come near this property, Victor, my sniper teams will take your head off before you cross the perimeter."
"I don't need to cross the perimeter," Volkov laughed maniacally. "My man already planted a thermite charge beneath the auxiliary oxygen supply tanks behind the main cabin three hours ago. If I press this button, your clean-room facility burns to ash in thirty seconds. Your wife, the girl, the doctors... everyone dies."
Dominic didn't hesitate. He gestured to Reyes, who was standing nearby, to immediately trace the signal and mobilize the defensive perimeter.
"What do you want, Victor?" Dominic asked, keeping his voice dead even to buy time.
"I want the donor back, and I want an armored helicopter to take me to an international vessel off the coast," Volkov demanded. "You have thirty minutes to bring Natalia to the clearing at the base of the mountain. If I see anyone else, or if the helicopter isn't there, I press the button."
The line went dead.
Dominic turned to Reyes. "Did you trace it?"
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"We have a general location in Brooklyn, boss, but we can't get a strike team there in thirty minutes," Reyes said grimly. "And we checked the oxygen tanks. He’s right. There’s an advanced incendiary device wired into the structural foundation. If we try to defuse it manually, it might trigger a pressure sensor."
Dominic stood in the center of the room, the walls closing in once again. But this time, he wasn't going to use brute force. He was going to use his own mind.
