Chapter 4 - THE SIEGE BEGINSThe lock down was initiated not by hospital protocol, but by cold, calculated paranoia.
Elena didn't hesitate. She knew Dr. Wexler would fold like a cheap tent the moment anyone flashed a badge or a bribe. She marched back to the front desk, swept past a trembling Viola Reyes, and slammed her hand onto the master emergency override console.
"Elena, what are you doing?" Viola whispered, her eyes wide behind her thick glasses. "The board is going to—"
"Viola, listen to me very carefully," Elena interrupted, her voice trembling with absolute urgency. "Pull the fire alarms on the west and north wings. Do not call the fire department. Just trigger the smoke dampers and seal the electronic shutters on floors three and four. If anyone asks, system malfunction."
Viola looked at Elena’s face—pale, determined, and entirely dead serious—and nodded without a single word of argument. For forty years, Viola had trusted her gut. Her gut was currently screaming.
Within seconds, the heavy steel security shutters dropped with a loud, mechanical clank across the main elevators and emergency stairwells of the pediatric wing. Red emergency strobe lights began to flash silently against the sterile white walls.
In Trauma Bay Two, little Chloe stirred, her small hand clutching the edge of the blanket. Elena rushed to her side, checking her IV drip.
"You're safe," Elena whispered, smoothing the dark curls back from the little girl's damp forehead. "You're going to be okay."
Dante stood by the door, watching them. His phone buzzed silently against his palm. He glanced at the encrypted screen, and his face went from cold to lethal.
"They're here," Dante said.
"How many?" Elena asked, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"Fourteen. Municipal police uniforms, private security contractors on our payroll who turned traitor, and three professional cleaners," Dante said, sliding a heavy, black Glock 19 out of a concealed holster under his arm and checking the magazine with a practiced click. "They bypassed the security gates on the ground floor. They think they're walking into a slaughterhouse."
"This is a hospital!" Elena hissed, furious. "People are recovering from surgery down the hall! You brought a war into a pediatric ward!"
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"I didn't start the war, nurse," Dante replied, his eyes cold as winter steel. "I intend to finish it. Get under the bed. Now."
Before Elena could retort, the heavy glass doors at the end of the pediatric corridor shattered into a million glittering shards.
