Chapter 13 - The Silent Sentry
Jo backed away slowly, clutching a thick black binder tightly against her chest. Her eyes darted toward the secondary emergency exit behind the shelving units, but one of the security guards immediately shifted to block the corridor.
"Give me the binder, Jo," Arthur Vance commanded, his tone smooth, venomous, and completely devoid of empathy. "My nephew is a blunt instrument. A soldier who knows how to shoot and break things, but knows nothing about how real power works. Do you know how much capital is tied into the approval of that drug? One hundred and forty million dollars. We will not let an insubordinate, hand-waving nurse burn that to the ground over two brain-damaged toddlers."
A volcanic fury ignited within Jo's chest. She didn't flinch. Instead, she took a single, deliberate step forward, her free hand signing with sharp, explosive violently: *THEY ARE NOT BRAIN-DAMAGED. THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS. AND YOU ARE A MONSTER.*
Arthur frowned, disgusted. "Stop making those ridiculous ape gestures. Give me the book before I have these guards take it off your broken hands."
Before the nearest guard could take two steps, the emergency door behind Arthur blew inward with a concussive crash that rattled the steel shelves.
A dark figure swept through the threshold like a thunderclap.
The first security guard was airborne before he even realized what had struck him, his back slamming into a row of metal shelves with enough force to send files scattering across the linoleum. The second guard reached for his side holster, but Daniel Vance’s hand clamped around his wrist like a hydraulic vise, twisting it downward in an instantaneous disarm. A lightning-fast palm strike to the guard's sternum drove the breath from his lungs, dropping him to the floor, gasping.
Arthur Vance stumbled backward in horror, his back pressing hard against a filing cabinet. "Daniel! What are you doing?! This is assault! I am your family!"
Daniel stood between Jo and his uncle, towering like an avenging titan. The ambient fluorescent lights reflected off his eyes, which were devoid of any mercy.
"You ceased being family the moment you signed the authorization to use my boys as laboratory specimens, Arthur," Daniel said in a voice that sounded like grinding millstones.
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Daniel plucked the binder from Jo’s hands with absolute gentleness, slid it under his arm, and then leaned in until he was mere inches from his uncle’s trembling face.
"You have thirty-six hours to secure the most expensive defense attorneys your offshore accounts can buy," Daniel whispered coldly. "Because when I finish testifying before the military tribunal and the state board, you won't just lose your hospital. You will spend the rest of your natural life in a federal penitentiary."
