Chapter 7 - Hunt in the Storm
The arrest of Police Commissioner Callahan and the total liquidation of Vance’s traitorous syndicate sent shockwaves through the highest corridors of power in Illinois.
Over the next forty-eight hours, federal agents backed by Damian’s ironclad evidence seized millions in illegal assets, shutting down corrupt political networks that had plagued Chicago for decades. The city was finally being cleansed—not by the law, but by the relentless wrath of Damian Voss protecting those he loved.
Yet, one loose end remained.
Callahan’s chief enforcer—a ruthless mercenary named Viktor—had escaped the night raid on the manor. Desperate, facing a lifetime in a maximum-security prison, Viktor knew he had only one card left to play.
He targeted Nora’s grandmother.
It happened at 2:00 PM at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Nora had gone to visit her grandmother, Mrs. Evelyn Ellison, who was recovering miraculously in the hospital’s top-floor VIP suite. The room was guarded by two of Damian’s best men, but Viktor had forged federal marshal credentials, slipping past the main lobby security during a shift change.
Nora stood by her grandmother’s bed, holding the old woman’s frail, warm hand.
"He looks at you like you're his entire world, Nora," Evelyn said softly, a gentle smile lifting her wrinkled cheeks. "I've lived eighty years, child. I know the look of a man who would pull down the stars from the sky if you asked him to."
Nora blushed, looking out the hospital window at the Chicago skyline. "Gran... he’s Damian Voss. He lives in a world of gold and iron. I’m just a diner waitress."
"You are a woman with a heart of pure gold, Nora," Evelyn corrected her firmly. "And that man was drowning until you walked into his life."
The heavy wooden door to the suite swung open.
Instead of the regular nurse, Viktor stepped into the room, wearing a doctor’s white coat over a tactical vest. In his hand was a heavy, silenced pistol aimed directly at Evelyn’s heart monitor.
"Don't scream," Viktor growled, his voice rasping. "One sound, diner girl, and I turn off your grandmother’s life support and put a bullet through her head."
Nora’s blood ran cold, but she stepped smoothly between Viktor’s gun and her grandmother’s bed, shielding the old woman with her body.
"What do you want?" Nora asked, her voice dropping into that same unshakable iron tone that had carried her through every crisis.
"Damian Voss destroyed my life," Viktor spat, his eyes wild with desperation. "He took my money, my crew, my freedom. You are going to call him. You are going to tell him to come to the rooftop helipad alone, unarmed, with ten million dollars in bearer bonds—or I send you and your grandmother over the edge of this building."
Nora stared at him. She knew that if Damian came up to that rooftop unarmed, Viktor would kill him without hesitation.
"Okay," Nora said softly, reaching into her pocket for her phone. "I'll call him."
She unlocked her phone and dialed Damian’s private line. She placed it on speakerphone, holding it out so Viktor could see.
"Nora?" Damian’s voice came through instantly, sharp and alert. "Is everything okay at the hospital?"
Nora looked Viktor directly in his bloodshot eyes.
"Damian," Nora said clearly. "The sky is red today. I'm with Gran."
There was a half-second pause on the line.
The sky is red. It was the private code word Damian had established with her two days ago—the signal that she was being held at gunpoint.
"I understand, Nora," Damian replied, his voice chillingly calm. "Tell him I will be on the rooftop in three minutes. Alone."
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Viktor grinned sadistically, snatching the phone from Nora’s hand and smashing it under his boot. "Smart girl. Now, move!"
Grabbing Nora by her arm, Viktor dragged her out of the room, down the service hallway, and up the concrete stairs leading to the windy, rain-slicked rooftop helipad twenty stories above the city streets.
