Bloodline Protocol

CHAPTER 4 — PHASE ONE

Morning crept into Raventon through a veil of fog and sirens. Derrick hadn’t slept; the black book and the keycard lay open on the motel table like a riddle that refused to rest.

Maya stirred on the second bed. “You’re still staring at it?”

“Trying to figure out why it called itself a code,” he said. “A keycard isn’t a code.”

“Maybe it opens one.”

He glanced at her. “You think Veil Industries would use plain plastic for access?”

“Not unless it’s bait.”

He gave a faint smile. “Exactly.”

Maya groaned, pushing herself up. “Then what’s the plan, genius?”

“Find where this card belongs, and what they want me to see.”

Two hours later they stood across from Veil Tower, forty stories of mirrored glass slicing the morning haze. Security drones circled the entrance. Men in gray suits flowed through revolving doors like machinery.

Maya whistled low. “That place screams untouchable.”

“Everything that looks perfect is hiding something,” Derrick said.

“Remind me again how we’re getting in?”

He handed her a lanyard and ID badge he’d forged overnight. “You’re Maya Trent, IT contractor. I’m Derrick Cole, facilities intern.”

She studied the badge. “You made these from a motel printer?”

He shrugged. “Old skills die hard.”

They joined the crowd entering the lobby. The air inside was polished chrome and soft jazz. Cameras blinked red behind tinted domes.

At the security desk, a guard scanned their badges. The keycard in Derrick’s pocket vibrated once, faintly. The scanner’s light flashed green. “Welcome to Veil Industries,” the guard said.

Maya leaned close as they walked past. “Okay, that was too easy.”

“They wanted me in,” Derrick murmured.

The elevator climbed in silence, mirrors reflecting their nervous faces. When the doors opened, they stepped into a corridor lined with abstract art and the soft hum of servers behind frosted glass walls.

“Phase one,” Derrick said quietly. “Find where the card fits.”

They began testing doors, maintenance rooms, data closets, executive lounges. Each time Derrick swiped the keycard, it stayed silent. After fifteen minutes Maya hissed, “This is pointless.”

He paused before a door marked Restricted – Level 7 Personnel Only. He swiped the card.

Beep. The light turned green. Maya’s eyes widened. “Okay, now I’m officially freaked out.”

The door opened into a narrow stairwell leading down, not up. Cold air rolled out, smelling of metal and ozone. They descended.

The basement looked nothing like the floors above. Concrete walls, humming generators, blinking monitors showing live street feeds.

At the center sat a single workstation, sleek, untouched, waiting. Maya hesitated. “If this triggers an alarm”

“It already has,” Derrick said, sliding the keycard into the terminal.

The screen came alive with a symbol: the serpent coiled around a circle. A line of text appeared: PHASE ONE — IDENTIFY YOUR LOYALTY.

“Loyalty to what?” Maya whispered.

Another line followed: TO TRUTH, OR TO BLOOD. CHOOSE.

Two options blinked: TRUTH and BLOOD.

Derrick’s pulse hammered. “It’s testing me.”

“Then pick one!” she said.

He hovered over the screen. “If I choose truth, they’ll think I’m after exposure. If I choose blood, they’ll know it’s personal.”

“Because it is personal.”

He pressed BLOOD. The room lights dimmed. A voice, digitized but eerily calm, filled the space. “You seek vengeance. Prove you’re worthy.”

The monitors flickered, shifting to live CCTV feeds of the city. One showed a man exiting a black sedan, tall, expensive suit, silver pin shaped like a serpent. Maya whispered, “Who’s that?”

“Marcus Veil,” Derrick said. “The man my father worked for.”

“Your test begins,” the voice said. “You have one hour. Follow. Decide his fate.”

The feeds switched to tracking markers, tracing Veil’s car through downtown. Maya spun toward him. “You can’t seriously think”

“I’m not going to kill him.”

“You sure? Because whoever’s running this wants exactly that.”

He grabbed the book. “Then let’s see what happens when I don’t play their game.”

They tailed the black sedan through Raventon’s business district, blending into traffic. Maya drove; Derrick watched the tracker pulsing on his phone.

“You realize we’re chasing one of the most powerful men in the city without backup,” she muttered.

“I don’t need backup.”

“You barely need oxygen, apparently.”

The sedan stopped outside a marble hotel. Veil stepped out, greeted by two bodyguards.

Derrick’s fingers tightened around the seatbelt. “He’s the one. He signed my father’s termination letter.”

Maya looked at him. “Then this is the moment you either stay human or become what they want.”

He exhaled slowly. “Stay here.”

“Derrick”

But he was already out of the car. Inside the hotel lobby, Derrick moved like a shadow. Veil was heading toward the elevators, phone pressed to his ear. “Mr. Veil,” Derrick called softly.

The man turned, polite confusion flickering across his face. “Do I know you?”

Derrick stepped closer. “We met a long time ago. My father worked for you, Elijah Haines.”

Something in Veil’s eyes shifted, recognition buried deep. “Ah. The accountant. Terrible tragedy.”

“Tragedy?” Derrick’s voice cracked. “He was murdered.”

Veil gave a practiced smile. “And you think I had something to do with it?”

“I don’t think. I know.”

The nearby guests turned to watch. Security began to move. Veil’s smile didn’t fade. “Son, whatever happened to your family was unfortunate, but dragging ghosts into boardrooms won’t bring them back.”

“Maybe not,” Derrick said quietly. “But it’ll bring you down.”

He turned and walked out before the guards reached him.

Maya waited in the car, engine running. “Well?”

“He’s lying,” Derrick said. “He knew my father’s name too fast.”

“What did the code want you to prove? Loyalty to blood? Looks like you just did.”

He looked down at his phone, the tracker feed was gone, replaced by new text: PHASE ONE COMPLETE. WITNESS RECORDED.

Maya frowned. “Witness?”

Across the street, a man in a raincoat lifted his phone, filming them. When Derrick met his gaze, the man smiled and ducked into the crowd. Maya cursed. “We’re being watched again.”

“Let them watch,” Derrick said. “They’ll see I’m not their pawn.”

Night fell by the time they reached the motel again. The black book now showed a new page: a map of Raventon marked with glowing points.

Each one pulsed faintly. “What are those?” Maya asked.

“Targets,” Derrick said. “Each one connected to Veil.”

“And what happens when you finish them all?”

He didn’t answer. The silence said enough. She sat beside him, voice softer. “You know, revenge is easy when it’s a goal. Harder when it’s your whole life.”

He looked at her. “You sound like you’ve been there.”

“Maybe I have.”

He studied her, but she turned away. The city lights danced across her face like secrets she wasn’t ready to tell.

Across town, in a glass office at Veil Industries, Marcus Veil poured himself a drink and stared at his reflection. “He’s alive,” he murmured.

A voice crackled through his earpiece. “Confirmed. The boy triggered Phase One.”

Veil’s jaw tightened. “Then begin Phase Two. If he wants to hunt, we’ll give him something to chase.”

Back at the motel, Derrick marked the first glowing point on the map with a knife tip. Blood from a small cut on his thumb smeared the page, and the ink shimmered. Maya flinched. “It’s reacting.”

The book absorbed the blood, and new words appeared, glowing faintly: THE HUNTER BLEEDS TO KNOW.

Derrick closed it carefully. “Then I’ll bleed as much as it takes.”