Chapter 5 - Blood in the Corridors
Miller’s hand dropped instinctively to his side, his fingers brushing the grip of his concealed firearm. His eyes darted around the dim room, landing first on the empty bed, and then shifting sharply to the shadows beside the door frame.
Before Miller could draw his weapon, Nicholas moved.
With a burst of lethal, suppressed fury, Nicholas swung the heavy steel IV pole in a vicious arc. The metal rod slammed directly into Miller’s jaw with a sickening crunch. Miller didn't even have time to scream; his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed heavily onto the linoleum floor, unconscious and bleeding.
I let out a sharp gasp, clapping both hands over my mouth to stifle a scream.
Nicholas stood over him, breathing heavily, his chest heaving under his open hospital gown. The violence had taken a heavy toll on his weakened body; a fresh trickle of blood began to seep through the bandages near his temple.
"Help me drag him into the bathroom," Nicholas ordered, his voice tight with pain.
"Nicholas, you're bleeding! You could tear your stitches—"
"If we don't move him, his backup will be walking through that door in two minutes," Nicholas interrupted, grabbing Miller by the collar. With my reluctant help, we hauled the unconscious head of security into the tiled bathroom and locked the door from the inside.
We stepped back into the main suite just as the heavy security alarms began to wail through the corridor.
Wee-oo! Wee-oo! Wee-oo!
"Damn it," Nicholas cursed, his dark eyes flashing. "Miller set a dead-man’s switch. If his comms drop for more than sixty seconds, the whole floor goes into lockdown."
The sound of heavy, booted footsteps echoed down the hallway. Shouts and overlapping radio chatter filled the air outside Room 412.
"They're coming!" I panicked, grabbing my lab coat. "There's no way out! The elevators are locked down during an alarm!"
Nicholas didn't panic. He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, pushed back the heavy curtains, and examined the reinforced glass.
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"There's always a way out," Nicholas said calmly. He picked up a heavy brass lamp from the bedside table and smashed it directly into the corner of the glass pane with all the remaining strength in his body.
Crack! A spiderweb of fractures spread across the thick, bulletproof window as the cold rain poured in from the Chicago storm outside.
