Chapter 3 - BLOODLINES AND BULLETS
The violent concussive wave blew through the subterranean corridor, showering the medical bay in glass shards and concrete dust. Lily bolted awake with a sharp gasp, but instead of screaming or crying, she rolled out of the chair, instantly flattening herself against the floor beneath the heavy steel surgical table.
"Stay down!" I commanded, drawing my twin customized Kimber .45s from under my jacket.
"Dominic, take Lily!" Sophia cried out, struggling to rip the IV lines from her arm, but the neurotoxin had left her muscles withered and unresponsive.
"Nobody is touching either of you," I snarled, stepping into the corridor as the smoke began to swirl.
Three heavily armed men wearing black tactical gear and unmarked ballistic helmets moved swiftly through the ruptured security barrier. They weren't street thugs; their tactical spacing, suppressed submachine guns, and fluid target acquisition screamed elite paramilitary contractors.
The lead operative raised his weapon, sweeping the hallway. Before his barrel could align with my chest, I fired twice. The hollow-point rounds obliterated his visor, dropping him instantly onto the polished tile. The remaining two hitmen opened fire, the deafening rattle of suppressed 9mm rounds chewing through the drywall around my position.
I slid behind a reinforced steel pillar, returning fire with lethal precision. A shot caught the second gunman in the femoral artery; he collapsed with a gurgling scream. The third attacker attempted to flank my blind spot, tossing a flashbang down the narrow hallway.
Suddenly, a heavy stainless-steel tray clattered loudly against the far wall behind the flanking gunman. The mercenary flinched, snapping his weapon toward the distraction.
That microsecond was all I needed. I rounded the pillar and put two rounds cleanly through his chest.
Lowering my smoking pistols, I turned toward the doorway. Little Lily was standing beside the instrument cart, her face smeared with soot, holding an empty metal tray she had hurled to draw the killer's aim away from me. Her hands were shaking violently, but her jaw remained clenched in iron defiance.
"Good throw," I breathed, scooping her up in my left arm while keeping my right pistol raised. "You saved my life again."
"I told you," Lily whispered, burying her face into the crook of my neck, her tiny fingers clutching the collar of my Kevlar vest. "Mommy said we have to protect family."
Marco came sprinting down the hall, his weapon drawn, six compound security guards trailing behind him. "Boss! They breached through the underground drainage tunnel! We wiped out the perimeter team!"
I glared at Marco, my instincts screaming a vicious warning. The drainage blueprints were classified, known only to three people in the world—myself, Dr. Sterling, and Marco.
"Clear the bodies," I ordered coldly, keeping Lily shielded behind my frame. "And get Dr. Sterling back here. The attackers didn't come to kill me. They came to destroy the medical servers holding Sophia's blood analysis."
Marco looked at the shattered servers across the room, a fleeting, nervous twitch touching the corner of his mouth. "Then... the antidote formula is lost?"
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"No," I lied smoothly, staring into the eyes of my oldest friend. "I backed up the data to a private offshore drive ten minutes before the breach. We know exactly what poison was used."
***
