Chapter 3 - Blood in the White HallwayVincent didn't wait for them to breach. He threw his full weight against the heavy wooden door, smashing it outward into the hallway. It caught the lead mercenary square in the face, the crunch of a broken nasal bone echoing down the corridor.
Before the second gunman could raise his assault rifle, Vincent swept his leg, sending the man crashing hard onto the floor, and wrenched the weapon from his grip.
"Vance!" Vincent roared, recognizing the cold, scarred face of the man stepping out from behind the corner.
Vance smirked, clapping his hands slowly. "Impressive, Vincent. Twenty years on top, and your reflexes are still razor-sharp. But you forgot the cardinal rule of empires: never fall in love."
Vance’s hand darted out, grabbing a terrified nurse by the hair and pressing the barrel of a pistol against her temple. "Drop the rifle, Crowe, or the girl and the kid get painted across this white wall."
Vincent’s jaw tightened until the bone threatened to snap. His fingers hovered over the trigger of the assault rifle. Every calculation in his brain raced through angles, distances, and probabilities. If he shot, Vance would pull the trigger on the nurse, and in the chaos, Leo was exposed.
"You want me, Vance," Vincent said coldly, lowering his weapon an inch. "Let them go."
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"Oh, I'm taking you, Vincent," Vance laughed softly. "And I'm taking the boy as a souvenir."
Suddenly, the overhead emergency sprinkler system shrieked to life, flooding the hallway in a blinding cascade of artificial rain.
