Chapter 6 - Midnight Ambush at St. Jude’s
The air inside the hospital’s sub-basement smelled of rust, steam, and damp concrete.
I pushed Lena’s transport wheelchair through the dark corridor, while Dr. Hayes walked beside us, carefully holding a portable incubation pod containing tiny baby Leo. The baby was wrapped in heated blankets, sound asleep, his little chest moving steadily beneath an oxygen tube.
Detective Lin walked ahead, her gun drawn, her flashlight cutting through the heavy darkness.
"How much further?" I whispered, my ears hyper-attuned to every sound echoing through the concrete pipes.
"Another hundred yards," Dr. Hayes breathed. "The tunnel opens into the old subway maintenance bay. My personal station wagon is parked right outside the service alley."
Suddenly, a loud, metallic screech rang out from behind us.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Heavy footsteps echoed down the concrete corridor.
"I know you're down here, Ethan!" a booming, sophisticated voice echoed through the dark.
Richard Sterling walked into the light of our flashlight beam, flanked by two armed men in tactical gear. He wore a tailored cashmere topcoat, his gray hair perfectly styled, holding a pearl-handled pistol in his right hand.
"Richard," Lena hissed from her wheelchair, leaning forward despite her physical weakness. "You monster."
"Oh, Lena, sweet child," Richard smiled, a cold, empty expression that made my skin crawl. "You always were too smart for your own good. Just like your mother. If you had just taken your multi-million-dollar allowance and stayed in your painting studio, none of this would have been necessary."
"You poisoned my wife!" I shouted, stepping in front of Lena’s chair and the incubation pod. "You tried to bury my son alive!"
"Business, Ethan," Richard said smoothly, raising his pistol. "Nothing personal. Do you have any idea what fifty-one percent of Sterling BioTech is worth on the Asian market? Three billion dollars. I didn't spend twenty years building that company just to hand the keys to an idealistic girl and a schoolteacher."
"Put the gun down, Sterling!" Detective Lin shouted, aiming her weapon straight at his chest. "You’re surrounded by state warrants!"
"Am I?" Richard chuckled softly. "Check your phone, Detective."
Lin didn't lower her gun, but her eyes flicked sideways for a fraction of a second.
"Judge Miller just revoked your police credentials," Richard explained, taking a slow step forward. "As of five minutes ago, you are no longer a detective. You are an armed trespasser interfering with a private medical transport. My men are authorized to use lethal force to protect corporate assets."
The two tactical guards raised their submachine guns.
"Ethan... run!" Lena screamed.
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Before Richard could pull his trigger, Dr. Hayes slammed his shoulder into a heavy brass steam valve on the wall beside him.
A deafening roar erupted as a wall of boiling, white steam exploded from the high-pressure pipe, obscuring the entire tunnel in an impenetrable fog!
