Chapter 3 - SURGEON WITH A SCALPELBefore the mercenary could pull the trigger, Nathan moved with the precise, lethal reflexes honed by decades of high-pressure trauma surgeries. He knew the layout of his home blindfolded; they were strangers in an unfamiliar, dark space.
Nathan hurled the titanium surgical rod directly into the nearest mercenary’s face. The heavy metal struck the man's nose with a sickening crunch, dropping him to his knees.
Nathan lunged forward, grabbing the fallen man’s rifle and sweeping his foot under the second mercenary’s legs. The second man crashed hard onto the glass-strewn marble floor. Nathan slammed the butt of the rifle into the man’s temple, instantly knocking him cold.
Marcus gasped, taking a panicked step backward toward the shattered window frame, pulling a heavy snub-nosed revolver from his jacket.
"You're out of your depth, Nathan!" Marcus spat, his hands shaking violently as he aimed the gun at Nathan’s chest. "You think you're a tough guy now? You're a snob in a lab coat!"
"I'm a man who knows every nerve, artery, and bone in the human body, Marcus," Nathan said, stepping forward, the silent rifle held steady in his grip. "I know exactly where to hit you so you feel every second of dying."
"Try it!" Marcus shrieked. "You kill me, and you'll never stop the hit squad coming for those kids! The cartel doesn't just want the babies, Nathan—they want what Sarah stole!"
Nathan stopped. "The thumb drive."
"Ah, so she gave it to you!" Marcus sneered, a terrifying smile spreading across his blood-stained teeth. "That drive contains the offshore account numbers holding forty million dollars of cartel money. I told them Sarah took it. If I don't deliver those kids and that drive to the airstrip at the base of the mountain by midnight, a strike team will incinerate this entire ridge. You can't protect them from what's coming!"
Nathan looked down at his watch. 11:15 PM.
Suddenly, the mercenary Nathan had disarmed on the floor lunged up, wrapping his arms around Nathan’s waist. The sudden weight pulled Nathan to the floor. The rifle clattered away across the slippery glass.
Marcus saw his moment. He didn't fire; instead, he turned and sprinted back out into the blizzard, heading toward his heavy 4x4 truck parked in the driveway.
Nathan slammed his elbow back into the mercenary's throat, crushing his windpipe, and scrambled to his feet. He sprinted to the shattered window, watching the red taillights of Marcus’s truck speed away down the winding, ice-covered mountain road.
"He's heading to the base," Nathan muttered, wiping blood from a cut on his cheek.
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He rushed back down to the panic room. The steel door slid open. Rosa was kneeling over Lily, whose face had turned a terrifyingly dark shade of gray.
"Dr. Pierce! She's stopped breathing!" Rosa screamed.
