Page 23 of The Assassin's Captive
Three AM passes on my watch as I scroll to Emilio's contact. The call will wake him, but the information I carry won't wait for business hours. My thumb hovers over the screen while I rehearse the words that will change everything between us.
The phone rings twice before his voice cuts through the night air, gravelly with sleep and irritation.
"This had better be worth waking me up."
"It is." I take a breath and step into territory I've never navigated. "The woman from the car accident—there's been a development."
"What development? You said you were handling it." He's not just sleepy. He's probably drunk too. His words are slurred.
"I am. But the hospital ran routine blood work. DNA testing flagged a match in the national database."
"DNA testing is routine?" he grumbles, and I hear the rush of fabric shifting in the background.
"It must be when the person has no identification. Her ID must've been lost in the wreck or something. Look, it was a match," I tell him, already bracing for his reaction.
Emilio's breathing changes on the other end of the line, becoming more alert. "A match to what?"
"To you."
The words punctuate the air between us across the digital connection. I can hear him processing, calculating, rejecting the possibility before it can take root. "That's impossible."
"The laboratory confirmed it. Direct familial match to your sample from the tax case two years ago… The one where they thought you killed that Interpol agent. They have you in the database, Boss." I have to make this very clear to him or he's going to think I’m crazy.
"This is a setup. Someone's playing games, trying to get close to me through manufactured evidence."
His voice carries the steel that has kept him alive and in power for three decades. Emilio Costa doesn't believe in coincidences, doesn't trust information that seems too convenient or complications that arise at inconvenient times.
"The woman is a prosecutor, Emilio. She's been building cases against your organization for months. Why would she manufacture a connection that puts her in danger?"
"Because it's exactly what no one would expect. Smart strategy—claim blood ties to gain protection, then use that access to destroy us from the inside." Add a hiccup to the mess and it confirms what I know—he's been drinking too much.
I understand his logic, but I've seen the test results. Laboratory science doesn't lie, and the hospital has no reasonto fabricate evidence that creates problems rather than solving them.
"I'm sending you proof."
I end the call and photograph the DNA report with the secure phone's camera. The image captures every detail—the laboratory letterhead, the technical analysis, the conclusion that links her genetic profile to his. I encrypt the file and transmit it through channels that will reach him without leaving traces in any system that law enforcement can access.
The phone rings again before I can pocket it. "Where did you get this?"
Emilio's voice has changed, becoming quieter and more dangerous. The steel remains, but underneath I hear something I've never detected before—uncertainty.
"I took it from her medical chart before anyone else could see it. Only the attending physician and lab technician know about the results."
"And they're still alive?"
The question doesn't surprise me, nor does his reaction. Emilio's first instinct is always to eliminate sources of exposure, to control information by removing the people who possess it. "Victor is on it, Boss. Don't worry."
"Which means we have time to figure out how this happened and what it means." I hear him moving around on the other end of the line—footsteps across the floor, the sound of a door closing, the clink of glass against glass. He's pouring himself another drink, which means he's accepting the possibility that the DNA results are legitimate.
"Where is she now?" he asks around a sip of whatever liquor he's served himself.
"Here. Safe. Under medical supervision."
"Good. Keep her there. No contact with the outside world, no press, no police. Nobody knows she exists until I decide what to do with her."
The instructions are clear, but they create complications he hasn't considered. Hospital staff will notice her absence when the morning shift arrives. Police will investigate the disappearance of an accident victim who was stable enough to walk out on her own. Questions will multiply into investigations that could expose all of us.
"The hospital will report her missing."
