Chapter 5 - Blood on the StairwellI hit the heavy metal fire door of the stairwell with my shoulder, tumbling down the concrete steps into the subterranean basement level.
My knee screamed in protest as I slammed into the concrete wall, skin scraping raw. I pushed myself up, ignoring the searing pain, and scrambled behind a row of heavy industrial laundry carts stacked near the maintenance lockers.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Heavy boots descended the stairwell door.
"Spread out," a harsh voice hissed in the shadows. "She didn't make it to the garage. She's down here."
I crouched behind a mountain of industrial linen, holding my breath, pressing my hand tightly against my mouth to silence my ragged breathing. My chest burned. Every heartbeat felt like a hammer striking an anvil.
A shadow stretched across the concrete floor, creeping closer.
Closer.
The beam of a tactical flashlight swept across the floor, stopping just inches from my white sneakers.
My fingers groped blindly behind the cart. My hand brushed against a heavy, steel wrench left behind by a maintenance worker. I gripped it with both hands, my knuckles aching.
The operative stepped around the linen cart, his weapon raised, scanning the dark corner.
"Found you, little nurse—"
I didn't wait for him to finish the sentence.
With a surge of desperate adrenaline, I lunged upward from the crouch, swinging the heavy steel wrench with all my weight.
CRACK.
The wrench caught him squarely across the temple. The operative’s eyes rolled back instantly, his weapon clattering harmlessly to the concrete as he dropped like a felled tree.
I stood there, panting, staring at the motionless body sprawled at my feet. My first time taking down a man with brute force. My hands were coated in a cold sweat.
Before I could catch my breath, a heavy pair of arms wrapped around me from behind with terrifying speed, pinning my arms to my sides.
"Clever little bird," a cold voice whispered directly into my ear.
Scarface.
He wrenched me backward, lifting my feet off the ground, cutting off my air supply. I kicked and thrashed, striking backward with my heels, but he was too heavy, too strong. My vision began to blur around the edges as dark spots danced in my eyes.
"Say goodbye to the doctor," Scarface hissed, raising his knife in his free hand.
Suddenly, the heavy basement loading dock doors at the end of the hall exploded inward with a deafening crash of splintering steel and twisted iron.
"Drop her," a voice boomed through the subterranean gloom.
May you like
A voice that made the air in the room drop twenty degrees.
Damian.
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