Chapter 8 - The Final Diagnosis
Nathan didn't wait for the sheriff. He vaulted over the second-floor railing, dropping ten feet to the grand staircase below, his boots hitting the wood with a heavy thud. He scrambled to his feet just as Marcus reached the top of the stairs, panting heavily, a vicious grin plastered across his face.
"You can't stop me, Nathan!" Marcus snarled, pulling a heavy hunting knife from his belt as his rifle jammed. "I'm going to take my kids, leave the state, and burn this entire mountain to the ground!"
Nathan didn't raise his gun. He let the Sig Sauer slide from his fingers, letting it clatter down the wooden steps.
Marcus blinked in surprise, then laughed maniacally. "What, out of bullets? Time to die, doctor."
Marcus lunged forward, thrusting the knife toward Nathan’s chest with lethal intent.
Years of standing at a surgical table had taught Nathan how to read human anatomy under pressure. He didn't try to block the blade with brute strength. Instead, using the precise calculations of a cardiothoracic surgeon, Nathan sidestepped at the exact microsecond of the lunge, grabbing Marcus’s wrist and twisting it with blinding torque.
CRACK!
The sound of bone snapping echoed over the howling wind outside. Marcus screamed in agony, dropping the knife as it clattered down the stairs.
Before Marcus could recover, Nathan delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to his chest, sending the larger man tumbling backward down the entire flight of wooden stairs. Marcus crashed into the wrought-iron banister at the bottom, his body going limp as he hit the hardwood floor, unconscious and broken.
The house fell silent, save for the whistling wind against the shattered glass doors.
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Sheriff Miller emerged from the hallway, his weapon still raised, breathing heavily as he looked down at the broken form of Marcus Kane. He lowered his gun and looked up at Nathan.
"Well," Miller murmured, wiping sweat from his forehead. "I've seen some complicated surgeries in my time, Nathan, but that was a pretty clean extraction."
