Chapter 3 - SHADOWS IN THE CORRIDOR
Before Nia could process Daniel's words, the hospital's main lights flickered violently.
Once.
Twice.
Then the floor plunged into darkness.
The red emergency backup lights kicked on two seconds later, casting a bloody, ominous glow across the sterile white corridor.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
The security alarms at the end of the hall began to chime.
"Stay behind me," Daniel ordered instantly, his physical posture shifting from desperate lover to lethal commander in a fraction of a second. He reached beneath his charcoal sweater, drawing a sleek black semi-automatic pistol from a shoulder holster he had clearly hidden from the nursing staff.
"Daniel, this is a hospital!" Nia gasped, backing up against the desk.
"Julian Vance knows I survived the poison," Daniel said, his eyes scanning the dimly lit hallway. "He knows if I wake up completely, his empire falls by sunrise. He’s closing the deal."
At the far end of the corridor, the heavy double doors of the ICU swung open. Two men in black tactical gear stepped through, holding silenced pistols.
Where were Victor and Daniel's guards?
Nia’s breath hitched. Looking down the hall, she saw Victor sitting slumped against the wall, unconscious, a dart sticking out of his neck.
"They used tranquilizers on my perimeter," Daniel muttered, pulling Nia behind a concrete support pillar just as a silent bullet shattered the computer monitor she had been standing next to moments ago.
Glass rained down around them.
"Nia, listen to me," Daniel said, his hands framing her face as they crouched together in the dark. His thumb wiped a smudge of dust from her cheek. "There’s a service staircase behind the pharmacy supply closet. Do you know it?"
"Yes," she whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"Take it. Go down to the sub-basement, unlock the ambulance bay, and don't stop running until you're inside the police precinct on 4th Street."
"What about you?" Nia grabbed his coat lapels. "Daniel, you just got out of an ICU bed! You can't take on an armed squad!"
Daniel looked at her, a faint, dark smile touching his lips—the same arrogant, beautiful smile he had given her four years ago when she yelled at him for getting stabbed by a "kitchen cabinet."
"I survived a bullet to the chest at twenty-seven, three ambushes at thirty, and a lethal dose of oleander three hours ago," Daniel whispered, pressing a sudden, hard kiss to her forehead. "I’m not dying in your hospital, Dr. Bennett. It would ruin your perfect survival statistics."
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Before she could argue, Daniel stepped out into the open hallway, firing three precise shots into the darkness.
"Hey!" Daniel roared at the attackers, his voice carrying the terrifying authority of a man who owned the night. "You want the head of the Han family? Come get him!"
