Chapter 3 - Shadows in the Corridor
The sterile scent of the private suite was instantly overwhelmed by the sharp, metallic tang of cordite. Lily gasped, pulling her knees up to her chest, but Victor had already moved. With a speed that belied his graying hair and heavy frame, he had his hand inside his breast pocket, drawing a matte-black Sig Sauer before the alarm had finished its second cycle.
""Marcus, lock the secondary vault door,"" Victor ordered, his voice dropping into the calm, clipped cadence of a combatant. ""Sarah, slide off the far side of the bed. Get behind the steel bulkhead.""
Sarah didn't argue. Driven by sheer maternal instinct, she swung her legs over the bed, dragging the IV pole with her. Pain surged through her abdomen, but she ignored it, wrapping her arms around Lily as they crouched low in the recessed corner behind the heavy medical cabinet.
Through the reinforced frosted glass of the double doors, two silhouettes emerged. One collapsed forward against the glass, leaving a sickening smear of crimson as he slid down—Victor’s door guard.
The second figure kicked the electronic latch. Sparks showered from the destroyed keypad, and the heavy door burst open.
A man stepped through, drenched in rain, wearing tactical gear beneath an unzipped leather bomber. A heavy suppressive pistol hung in his grip. Behind him stood Julian, soaking wet, his eyes wild and bloodshot, holding an empty keycard reader.
""I told you, Victor!"" Julian shrieked, his voice cracking with hysteria. ""You leave me with nothing, I take everything down with me! The Russians are downstairs—give me the override keys to the port terminals, and Sarah lives long enough to hold that bastard child!""
Victor didn't raise his voice. He didn't even raise his gun yet. He simply stood between the intruder and the bed, towering like a mountain.
""You brought street rats into my hospital, Julian?"" Victor asked, his voice dead and dry. ""You really believe Dmitri Kozlov cares about your debts?""
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""He cares about twenty million in port revenue!"" Julian yelled, gesturing frantically to the gunman. ""Take him out, Lev! Do it now!""
The gunman raised his weapon, leveling the barrel directly at Victor’s forehead. But before his finger could tighten on the trigger, a thin red dot appeared on the gunman’s throat, followed instantly by the deep shatter of the suite’s ballistic outer window.
