Chapter 18 - Face to Face with Death
Adrian grabbed me from the table, pulling me in front of him as a human shield, pressing the cold steel blade of the scalpel directly against my jugular vein.
"One step closer, Ethan, and I slice her throat!" Adrian shrieked, his pale eye wild with desperation.
Ethan halted ten feet away, lowering his rifle slightly, his chest heaving with exertion. "Put the knife down, Adrian. You're out of moves."
"I built this empire!" Adrian roared, his blade digging slightly into my skin—a thin line of crimson appearing on my neck. "I gave life to kings and presidents! You're nothing but a spoiled rich kid who got lucky!"
"Ethan, don't listen to him!" I yelled, ignoring the sharp sting at my throat. "The facility is rigged with explosives! Victoria set a self-destruct sequence!"
Ethan’s eyes flicked to a digital timer on the wall behind Adrian: 02:15... 02:14...
Victoria had betrayed Adrian too. She intended to bury all evidence—including the real surgeon and me—under thousands of tons of collapsed concrete.
"You see?" Adrian laughed psychotically. "We all die here today!"
"Not her," Ethan said softly.
In a fraction of a second, Ethan dropped his rifle, reached into his tactical holster, pulled a secondary knife, and hurled it with lethal precision. The blade buried itself deep into Adrian’s shoulder.
May you like
Adrian gasped in agony, dropping the scalpel. I instantly twisted out of his grip, dropping to the floor. Ethan leaped over the operating table, tackling Adrian into a row of glass chemical cabinets.
Glass shattered everywhere. Ethan grabbed Adrian by the collar, smashing his head into the tile floor until the mad doctor went completely limp.
