Chapter 7 - Siege at Dublin
"Lockdown procedure!" Evelyn screamed over the deafening blare of the alarms. She grabbed a tactical rifle from a wall cabinet and tossed a heavy bulletproof vest onto my bed. "Put that on! Both of you, get into the reinforced bathroom at the back of the room!"
The floor beneath us shook as another heavy blast echoed through the facility.
Jake hadn't come alone. The foreign tech cartel he had been laundering money for wasn't going to let their hardware token fall into federal hands. They had dispatched a team of professional mercenaries to retrieve the drive—and eliminate all witnesses.
"Mom!" Ethan cried out as I strapped the heavy armor vest around his small torso. "We can't stay here! They're coming inside!"
"Listen to me, Ethan," I said, grabbing his face in both my hands and looking directly into his terrified eyes. "You are going to stay in that room, lock the door, and do not open it for anyone except me or Agent Reed. Do you understand?"
"No! I'm not leaving you!" he pleaded, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"I am not letting him hurt you again," I said firmly, kissing his forehead before shoving him into the small, windowless concrete bathroom. I slammed the heavy steel door shut and turned the manual deadbolt from the outside.
I grabbed a metal IV pole from beside the bed, my fingers tightening around the cold steel. The toxins were gone from my blood, replaced by a raw, unyielding fury that burned brighter than any fear I had ever felt.
Outside in the main corridor, gunshots erupted—sharp, rhythmic bursts of automatic fire followed by the heavy thud of tactical boots against concrete.
Agent Reed was crouched near the medical bay's entrance, firing controlled shots through the reinforced glass window into the hallway.
"There are four of them!" she shouted over the deafening noise. "Heavy tactical gear! They’ve breached the main security desk!"
Through the smoke filling the hallway, a figure stepped into view.
He wasn't wearing tactical armor. He wore a simple dark trench coat, his hands casually shoved into his pockets as if he were taking a evening stroll through the park.
It was Jake.
His face was completely calm, his posture relaxed, while men with assault rifles died around him. He stepped over the fallen body of a federal guard, his eyes searching the rooms until they landed directly on me through the shattered glass of the medical bay door.
May you like
He smiled. It was the same rehearsed, sickening smile he had worn at the dinner table before serving us poison.
"Hello, Sarah," his voice carried through the broken window, smooth and monstrously polite. "You really are remarkably resilient. I suppose I should have used a higher dosage."
