Chapter 8 - The Sub-Basement Standoff
"Daniel!" I screamed, lunging forward without thinking.
"Evelyn, wait!" Detective Carter yelled, grabbing my vest to hold me back.
The heavy steel emergency door slammed down with a deafening THUD, sealing Room B-204 off from the main hallway. The electronic keypad beside the door glowed bright red, locked solid.
Dr. Vance backed up against the wall, her hands raised in panic. "Detective, you don't understand! You shouldn't be here!"
Carter spun around, aiming his service weapon directly at Dr. Vance’s chest. "Keycode! Give me the override code for that door NOW!"
"I... I can't!" she gasped, shaking her head hysterically. "Julian controls the security locks from the corporate office upstairs! If I override it, the central protocol flushes the room atmosphere!"
"They are killing my husband in there!" I yelled, stepping into Dr. Vance’s face, pulling her by the collar of her white coat. "Look at me! You took an oath to save lives! Look at what your brother turned you into!"
Dr. Vance looked into my eyes, her frame trembling under the pressure. Tears welled in her eyes as the red strobe lights reflected off her glasses.
"He... he told me Daniel was going to destroy our family's company," she sobbed. "He said Daniel was a corporate spy!"
"He’s a father!" I screamed in her face. "He’s a husband! My daughter is in the hospital asking if her daddy is ever coming home! Give me the code!"
Dr. Vance swallowed hard, her hand shaking violently as she reached toward the glowing red keypad.
"The master override is 8-4-9-2," she whispered. "But hurry... Victor isn't going to leave him alive."
I punched the numbers into the keypad: 8... 4... 9... 2.
The digital lock beeped green. The heavy steel door slowly hissed upward.
As soon as the gap was two feet wide, Detective Carter ducked underneath, rolling into the room with his pistol raised. "Police! Hands where I can see them!"
BANG!
A gunshot echoed inside the small lab room.
Carter grunted, falling backward against the doorframe, blood immediately soaking through his right shoulder sleeve.
"Carter!" I shrieked.
Inside the room, Victor Cole stood beside Daniel’s bed, holding his silenced weapon aimed straight at the door. On the medical monitor, Daniel’s heart rate was spiking erratically, the red line flickering toward zero as the dark liquid from the IV reached his arm.
"You're too late, Evelyn," Cole said with a cold, terrifying calm. "The cardiac arrest cocktail is already in his bloodstream. He has less than two minutes."
Cole raised his gun, pointing it straight at my head.
"No!" Carter roared from the floor, firing two rapid shots from his dropped position.
The bullets struck the medical control panel behind Cole, showering the room in bright electrical sparks and shattering the liquid monitor glass.
Cole instinctively ducked for cover behind a steel storage cabinet.
I didn't think. I didn't feel fear. I felt only pure, unadulterated motherly and marital instincts taking over every nerve in my body.
I sprinted past the gunfire straight to Daniel’s bed.
I grabbed the IV tube connected to his arm and yanked it out with all my strength. The needle ripped free, spraying clear liquid and blood across the white sheet.
"Daniel! Daniel, wake up!" I cried, grabbing his face in my hands. His skin was ice-cold, his lips blue.
On the cardiac monitor, the flatline sound began: BEEEP... BEEEP... BEEEEEEEEEEEE...
"No, no, no!" I sobbed, placing my hands on his chest and beginning frantic CPR compressions. "One... two... three... four... Come back to me, Daniel! DON'T YOU LEAVE US!"
Behind me, the sound of heavy boots scraped against the floor.
I turned around while keeping one hand on Daniel’s chest.
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Victor Cole was standing over me, his gun aimed directly between my eyes, his face covered in dark shadow.
"You should have stayed at your budget meeting, Evelyn," Cole whispered coldly, pulling his finger tight against the trigger.
