Chapter 7 - Surgical Precision
The sacristy was dark, smelling of frankincense and old parchment. Outside, the sounds of structural collapse and automatic gunfire tore the silence apart as Julian’s surviving loyalists engaged the Vance security perimeter.
Elena’s hands were entirely steady. Blood welled up around the steel tip of her blade, but her focus was surgical. She had spent two years in Zurich studying biomedical engineering before she was dragged back into the family bloodline; she knew the architecture of Thorne’s black-market hardware down to the micron.
""Hold him,"" Elena ordered the guards, who pressed their heavy palms against Vincent’s trembling shoulders.
With a brutal, precise flick of her wrist, Elena wedged the titanium blade beneath the housing of the transdermal module, severing the capillary tubes before the main valve could open. Vincent let out a muffled roar of agony into the silk of his tie, his knuckles turning white against the wood.
Click.
The flashing green light flickered violently, transitioned to a solid amber, and died. Elena wrenched the bloody micro-capsule from his flesh and hurled it into an empty bronze chalice across the room. A second later, the tiny reservoir hissed, melting the brass with concentrated corrosive acid.
""It's out,"" Elena breathed, wrapping her father's arm with a strip torn from her lace bridal train.
Vincent sagged against the table, chest heaving, but the color was returning to his weathered face. He looked at his daughter, his eyes shining with grim pride. ""You're a demon, Elena.""
""I'm your daughter,"" she replied, wiping the blood from her knife onto the hem of her gown. ""Now let's finish this.""
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The heavy oak sacristy door suddenly splintered under the impact of a breaching ram. Wood fragments showered over them as two men in black tactical gear barreled through the gap. Elena didn't hesitate. She lunged forward, using the heavy crystal communion decanter on the table as a blunt weapon, shattering it across the first operator's helmet visor.
As the man stumbled back blinded, the second guard raised a suppressed submachine gun—aimed directly at her chest.
