Chapter 7 - The BreakoutAs Alan’s hand reached out toward my shoulder, I didn't flinch. I waited until the exact microsecond his focus shifted to the needle.
Now.
With an explosive roar born of pure paternal fury and decades of elite combat training, I threw my entire body weight backward. The heavy nylon zip-tie snapped with a sharp crack, and my right arm burst free from the pipe.
Before Alan could react, I whipped my arm around, grabbing his wrist with a vice-like grip and twisting it upward with bone-breaking force.
Alan screamed as the syringe flew from his fingers, clattering onto the concrete floor and shattering into a puddle of blue liquid.
"Julian!" Alan shrieked in agony.
Julian reacted instantly, drawing a concealed Walther PPK pistol from his jacket, but I didn't give him the time to aim. Using Alan as a human shield, I lunged forward across the five feet separating us, slamming my brother into the metal table.
The laptop, medical dossiers, and the tablet detonator crashed to the floor in a chaotic shower of metal and glass.
Julian cursed, trying to angle the pistol around Alan’s thrashing body, but I drove my knee upward into Julian’s midsection with the force of a battering ram. The wind rushed out of his lungs in a violent wheeze, and the gun slipped from his fingers, sliding across the basement floor into the dark shadows.
"You... old bastard..." Julian gasped, clutching his stomach as he slumped against the concrete wall.
I didn't hesitate. I grabbed Alan by the collar of his white coat, slammed him against the steel pipe I had just freed myself from, and wrapped my arm securely around his throat, cutting off his air supply until his eyes rolled back and he slumped unconscious to the floor.
I turned my fierce, unforgiving gaze back to Julian, who was struggling to push himself up from the floor.
"The game is over, Julian," I said, my voice echoing off the damp concrete walls. "Where is the security override code for St. Mary’s?"
Julian wiped a smear of blood from his lip, letting out a wheezing, hysterical laugh.
"You think stopping us changes anything, Richard?" Julian choked out, smiling through the pain. "David is already inside the hospital. Even if you fly there right now, you won't make it past the security detail we have waiting in the lobby. You're walking right into an execution."
May you like
I didn't answer with words. I drew back my fist and struck him once—precisely—rendering him unconscious before he could utter another word.
I grabbed Julian’s encrypted satellite phone from the floor, stepped over Alan’s limp body, and sprinted up the concrete stairs toward the exit.
