Chapter 4 - The Predator Strikes Back
Across the city, Blake Cavanaugh was pacing the length of his ruined apartment, his ribs wrapped tightly in medical tape.
He kicked the broken remnants of the front door, his face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage.
His cell phone buzzed on the kitchen counter, displaying a restricted number that made his blood run cold.
“I hear a door got kicked in, Blake,” a raspy voice hissed through the speaker. “And worse, I hear Adrian Moretti did the kicking.”
Blake wiped a line of sweat from his forehead, desperate to maintain the illusion of control.
“It’s a misunderstanding with my wife, boss,” Blake lied smoothly. “Moretti overstepped, but I am handling it.”
The voice on the other end laughed, a dry, humorless sound that promised violence.
“You better handle it, because if Moretti starts digging into your clean little wife, he finds our money trails,” the boss threatened.
Blake ended the call and hurled the phone against the wall, shattering the screen into a spiderweb of glass.
He knew he could not take Adrian Moretti on directly in a street war.
Adrian controlled the ports, the unions, and the loyalty of the most dangerous men in the state of Maryland.
But Blake had a different kind of weapon; he had the illusion of the law on his side.
He walked over to his desk, pulling out a pristine folder containing photos of Mara smiling, playing the perfect, happy partner.
He drove straight to the downtown precinct, walking into the bustling lobby with tears streaming down his perfectly bruised face.
“My wife has been kidnapped,” Blake cried to the desk sergeant, his voice cracking with practiced despair. “A mobster named Adrian Moretti took her, and she is pregnant with my child.”
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Within hours, sirens were wailing outside Adrian’s legitimate business fronts, from the downtown restaurants to the harbor warehouses.
Blake was going to use the police to flush the rat out of his maze.
