Chapter 13 - The Strike at Midnight
The crimson emergency lights cast long, distorted shadows across the wide oncology corridor as the smell of burning copper and sulfur drifted upward.
Daniel moved to the suite door with panther-like precision, drawing a customized matte-black semi-automatic sidearm from a concealed shoulder holster.
"Dr. Sterling, get Eleanor into the reinforced bathroom behind the wardrobe and lock the steel deadbolt," Daniel ordered without turning his head.
"Maya, stay behind me."
"With all due respect, Mr. Vance," Maya replied, her voice dropping into a razor-sharp, disciplined cadence, "I'm not hiding behind anyone."
She grabbed a heavy stainless-steel IV pole from the corner of the room, unscrewing the weighted base with two swift twists of her wrist.
In less than three seconds, she transformed the medical apparatus into a five-foot reinforced steel combat staff.
Outside in the hallway, the sound of heavy tactical boots stomping over shattered glass rapidly approached the ninth-floor pavilion.
Three heavily armed men wearing black balaclavas, Kevlar body armor, and night-vision goggles rounded the corner with silenced submachine guns raised.
They weren't common street thugs; their deliberate sweeping patterns and tactical spacing marked them as professional mercenaries.
At the front walked Silas Kane, a towering scarred operative clutching a customized tactical shotgun with a heavy drum magazine.
"Vance!" Silas’s voice boomed through the echoing corridor, raspy and distorted through his tactical headset.
"Make this easy on your mother and the boy!"
"Throw out the waitress and step back, or we breach this entire ward with high-explosive thermite!"
Inside the room, Daniel caught Maya’s eye, giving her a single, silent nod that communicated years of unspoken tactical understanding.
Daniel kicked the heavy oak door wide open, firing three controlled shots down the center corridor before ducking back behind the reinforced doorframe.
The heavy nine-millimeter rounds struck the lead mercenary directly in the chest plates, shattering the ceramic armor and driving him hard against the wall.
The corridor instantly erupted into deafening chaos as the two remaining mercenaries unleashed fully automatic fire toward the doorway.
Plaster exploded from the walls like white snow, and high-caliber rounds chewed through the wood trim in a continuous roar of violence.
Daniel waited for the inevitable rhythmic pause in their fire as the mercenaries’ magazines ran dry.
The second the mechanical click of an empty receiver echoed through the hallway, Daniel shouted: "Now!"
Maya exploded out of the doorway like a thunderbolt, low to the ground to avoid any stray secondary fire.
Her steel staff cut through the crimson air with a terrifying whistle, striking the closest mercenary directly across his kneecap with bone-crushing force.
The mercenary shrieked as his leg folded inward, dropping him instantly to the blood-slicked tile.
Before he could draw his sidearm, Maya spun with rotational momentum, driving the blunt end of the steel staff directly into his throat.
The man choked on his own breath, collapsing backward into unconsciousness.
Silas Kane roared in fury, raising his heavy tactical shotgun directly toward Maya’s chest at point-blank range.
"Die, you little bitch!" Silas snarled, his finger squeezing the trigger.
Maya didn't attempt to jump away; she lunged straight forward into the dead zone beneath the shotgun’s barrel.
She slammed the flat of her palm upward against the weapon’s receiver, forcing the barrel toward the acoustic ceiling tiles.
The shotgun discharged with an earth-shattering boom, obliterating the overhead sprinkler system and sending a torrent of cold water raining down upon them.
Water sprayed across Maya’s face, but her eyes never blinked, locked entirely onto the killer’s throat.
Silas attempted to drive his heavy tactical elbow into Maya’s temple, utilizing his massive two-hundred-and-fifty-pound frame to crush her.
Maya ducked beneath the swinging elbow, using the mercenary’s own forward momentum to trap his right arm across her shoulder.
With a ferocious kiai that echoed down the entire hall, she executed a perfect shoulder throw, launching the massive killer over her back.
Silas slammed spine-first onto the polished hospital tiles with a sickening impact that knocked the wind entirely out of his lungs.
His shotgun skittered across the wet floor, coming to rest at Daniel Vance’s polished dress shoes.
Daniel stepped forward through the falling cascade of sprinkler water, his pistol aimed directly between Silas Kane’s eyes.
"Move a single muscle, Kane, and your contract ends right here on this floor," Daniel whispered, his voice vibrating with absolute lethality.
Silas lay gasping in the pool of water, clutching his fractured ribs, staring up into the cold, merciless eyes of Daniel Vance.
Maya stood over him, her steel staff held in a defensive guard, her chest heaving as the freezing water soaked through her clothes.
Footsteps rushed up the emergency stairwell as twelve heavily armed Vance tactical operators poured into the corridor, securing the perimeter with lethal efficiency.
The team swept the floor, disarming the downed operatives and zip-tying their wrists behind their backs in seconds.
"Floor is clear, Mr. Vance!" the tactical captain shouted over the rushing sound of water.
"Perimeter outside is fully contained; all six secondary perimeter drivers have been neutralized by our sniper team."
Daniel didn't lower his weapon from Silas’s forehead.
"Who paid you, Kane?" Daniel demanded, clicking the hammer back on his pistol.
Silas spat a mouthful of blood and water onto the floor, glaring up with defiant hatred.
"You know who paid me, billionaire," Silas coughed, his breath rattling in his crushed chest.
"Victoria Sterling gave me twelve million from a Swiss vault to bring her the girl’s head."
"She’s sitting in her cell right now, waiting for the confirmation photo."
May you like
Daniel’s lips curved into a dark, glacial smile that sent a shiver through the hardened killer’s spine.
"Then let's make sure Victoria Sterling gets her final confirmation," Daniel said coldly.
