All Chapters of BLOOD DEBT: Chapter 11 - Chapter 15

Dino’s POVI had never opened those files in many years, not out of secrecy, but because they were covered with excessive blood.They sat on my individual server, and were kept, closed over three layers of clearance, any movement or conversation thereof being neither noticed nor recalled by anyone save the dead. I read them tonight, since the name of Drina was never to be forgotten, and because I felt that silence was beginning to be a crime.The screen was dimly lit in the dark office in which I poured myself a drink that I was not determined to take. The capital of Madrid was extending beyond the glass walls, breathing life, unaware of the ghosts breathing within my empire."Archive," I said. "Operation Ashfall."The machine hesitated like it was about to start.Then the files appeared.Dates. Locations. Redacted names. The number of casualties is coldly listed. I made it page at page, my jaw clenching with it. Ashfall was not a raid. It was a cleansing. Entire blocks erased. The so

Dino’s POVThe call preceded the settlement of the smoke.Attack confirmed by your voice,” Sofia, said, my voice tightened. "Drina's convoy was hit."I was holding the phone in my hand. "Is she alive?""Yes," she replied quickly. "Shaken. Minor injuries. The driver is dead."I then shut my eyes for half a second and afterwards reopened them. "Lock the city.""That's already in motion.""I want the shooter," I said. "Alive if possible."I ended the call and moved.Madrid never slept that night. Sirens were disseminated through the streets. Cameras shifted. Checkpoints rose in minutes. This was my city, and someone had fired a rifle without authorisation.Such an error would cost them it all.“Trace the path”, I said, entering the operations room. I desire rooftops, windows, and unfinished architecture. Where a clean view could be had.Men moved fast. Screens lit up. Drones went up.Sofia stood beside me. "This was professional.""I know," I said.“Too clean to get a chance to hit,” she

Drina’s POVWhere we were going was not told to me.In the morning, two guards were waiting out of my door, as was their usual practice, clad as they always were, with faces blank, and hands near their arms. One of them shook his head down the corridor."Walk," he said.I pulled myself close and got out with my head lowered as though I was frightened to see something. Inside, I was counting.Steps. Turns. Cameras.This was the time of quiet in the estate. Light poured in through tall windows and rested on marble floors and costly art, which did not matter to me. To make myself look stiff, not sure of my movements, as if every sound made me nervous."Faster," the second guard said.I am trying, I was whispering, and I was shaking.We were travelling through a long corridor where no cameras were on the corners of the ceiling. I noticed it immediately. The guards came to a halt, unconsciously, and their shoulders lowered slightly. I marked it in my head.Blind spot.We turned left. Then