CHAPTER 6 — LOCKDOWN
The hospital lights flickered once.
Then again.
A loud electronic voice echoed through every hallway.
"WARNING. SECURITY SYSTEM FAILURE. MANUAL OVERRIDE ACTIVATED."
Doors that should have remained locked slid open one after another.
Medication rooms.
Operating theaters.
Executive elevators.
The neonatal intensive care unit.
Every security barrier inside St. Vincent Medical Center had just failed simultaneously.
Panic spread through the building.
Nurses rushed patients into rooms.
Doctors shouted instructions over the alarms.
Families searched frantically for loved ones.
Someone had transformed one of the safest hospitals in the state into complete chaos.
Marcus reacted instantly.
"Jonathan!"
"I'm here," Jonathan replied through the earpiece.
"Seal the twenty-first floor manually."
"We're trying."
"Electronic locks are dead."
"Then use people."
Marcus turned toward Adrian.
"Get Khloe to the surgical wing."
"No."
Adrian shook his head.
"They'll expect that."
Marcus understood immediately.
If the attackers had inside information, they would know every emergency protocol.
"We're changing the plan."
He looked at Emily Carson.
"How many patients are being discharged this morning?"
Emily frowned.
"Nearly forty."
Marcus nodded.
"Good."
"Khloe leaves with them."
Emily blinked.
"What?"
Marcus's voice became calm.
"No wheelchair."
"No VIP escort."
"No security detail."
"They're watching for those."
He pointed toward a housekeeping cart parked outside the room.
"We disguise her."
Khloe stared at him.
"You want me to hide?"
"I want you alive."
She instinctively touched her stomach.
"Our baby..."
Marcus gently took her hand.
"I'll protect both of you."
Outside...
Three men wearing hospital maintenance uniforms stepped off the service elevator.
They carried toolboxes.
Walked with confidence.
Smiled politely at passing staff.
No one questioned them.
Until one of the men quietly opened his toolbox.
Inside...
There were no tools.
Only suppressed pistols.
Military-grade communication equipment.
And a folded blueprint of the hospital.
The leader smiled.
"Phase Two."
The other two nodded.
"Target?"
"Mrs. Thorne."
"Alive?"
The leader thought for a moment.
"If possible."
"If not..."
He quietly chambered a round.
"...make sure the envelope burns with her."
Jonathan Reeves watched the security feeds from the temporary command room.
One monitor after another turned black.
Someone was remotely disabling cameras.
"Damn it."
His analyst looked over.
"They're in our system."
Jonathan's fingers flew across the keyboard.
"No."
"They're already ahead of us."
Every firewall they restored collapsed within seconds.
Every password changed automatically.
Whoever the hacker was...
They understood Thorne Global's security architecture better than Jonathan himself.
His stomach tightened.
Only a handful of people possessed that knowledge.
One of them...
Worked directly for Marcus.
Twenty-one floors above...
Emily quickly exchanged Khloe's elegant hospital gown for plain blue housekeeping coveralls.
She tucked Khloe's hair beneath a cap.
Added oversized glasses.
Even removed her wedding ring.
When she finished...
The billionaire's wife looked like an exhausted cleaning employee finishing a night shift.
Marcus smiled faintly.
"Perfect."
Khloe looked uncertain.
"I've never pushed a cleaning cart before."
"You won't have to."
Emily pointed toward another woman entering the room.
"She will."
The newcomer was in her early sixties.
Gray hair.
Kind eyes.
Wrinkled hands.
Her name badge read:
MARY COLLINS
Environmental Services.
Mary smiled warmly.
"I've worked here thirty-one years."
"I know every hidden hallway."
Marcus nodded respectfully.
"Can I trust you?"
Mary answered without hesitation.
"My son serves in the Marines."
"I know what protecting family means."
Adrian stepped closer.
"There is one problem."
Marcus looked at him.
"The baby."
"What about the baby?"
"Stress could trigger premature labor."
Khloe quietly swallowed.
Everyone fell silent.
Marcus gently placed his forehead against hers.
"We're getting through this."
She smiled weakly.
"You sound very sure."
"I'm not."
"But fear isn't going to help."
Suddenly...
Jonathan's voice exploded through the radio.
"They've reached the twenty-first floor!"
Marcus grabbed the earpiece.
"How many?"
"At least six."
"No..."
Jonathan paused.
"Eight."
"They're splitting into teams."
Marcus immediately drew the compact pistol from the emergency lockbox hidden inside the room.
Khloe looked surprised.
"You carry a gun?"
Marcus checked the magazine.
"My father insisted I learn."
He almost laughed at the irony.
Richard had prepared him to survive.
Perhaps...
Against Richard himself.
Outside the room...
The fake maintenance workers walked calmly down the hallway.
Room numbers passed one after another.
The leader stopped.
He compared the room number with the blueprint.
"This is it."
He nodded toward his partners.
One quietly attached a signal jammer to the wall.
Another removed a suppressed handgun.
The leader reached for the doorknob.
Inside...
Mary slowly pushed the housekeeping cart toward the rear service exit connected to the room.
Khloe crouched behind stacked linens.
Barely able to breathe.
Marcus squeezed her hand one final time.
"No matter what happens..."
"You keep moving."
She nodded.
"And you?"
Marcus smiled.
"I'll catch up."
She wanted to believe him.
The room door suddenly burst open.
The first attacker rushed inside.
Weapon raised.
But the hospital bed was empty.
The man looked confused.
"Clear!"
Another attacker entered.
"No patient."
"No doctors."
"No security."
The leader frowned.
"Impossible."
He looked toward the heart monitor.
Still running.
The IV bag still hung beside the bed.
Someone had left only seconds earlier.
Marcus stepped from behind the bathroom door.
Without a word...
He slammed a steel oxygen cylinder into the first attacker's shoulder.
The man crashed into the wall.
Before the second attacker could react...
Marcus struck him across the jaw.
The suppressed pistol skidded across the floor.
Adrian lunged forward.
Years of surgical precision translated surprisingly well into combat.
He drove an elbow into the third man's ribs.
The attacker collapsed.
"Go!" Adrian shouted.
Mary pushed the cart through the rear exit.
Khloe disappeared into the service corridor.
The leader recovered quickly.
He aimed directly at Marcus.
"You should've stayed out of this."
Marcus stared back.
"You broke into the wrong hospital."
The man smiled beneath his mask.
"No."
"We came to exactly the right one."
Then...
He said something that made Marcus's blood freeze.
"Your father sends his regards."
For just a fraction of a second...
Marcus hesitated.
The attacker's eyes narrowed.
That hesitation was enough.
He fired.
The suppressed shot echoed softly.
Marcus twisted instinctively.
The bullet tore through his left shoulder instead of his chest.
He staggered backward.
Pain exploded through his body.
"Marcus!"
Adrian caught him before he fell.
The attackers prepared to fire again.
Then heavy gunfire erupted from the hallway.
Jonathan Reeves and four armed executive security agents stormed the corridor.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
The hallway became a battlefield.
Attackers scattered in every direction.
One escaped through the stairwell.
Another jumped through a maintenance door.
A third fell after being tackled by security.
Within seconds...
The corridor was filled with shouting, alarms, and running footsteps.
Jonathan knelt beside Marcus.
"You're hit."
Marcus gritted his teeth.
"Find..."
He struggled to breathe.
"...Khloe."
Jonathan looked toward the service hallway.
"The cart?"
Marcus nodded.
"They'll realize."
Jonathan immediately understood.
If the attackers had discovered the empty room...
They would search every escape route.
Including the service tunnels.
Meanwhile...
Two floors below...
Mary pushed the housekeeping cart as calmly as she could.
"Keep your head down," she whispered.
Khloe remained hidden beneath blankets and folded towels.
Every bump sent pain through her abdomen.
Then...
Mary suddenly stopped.
Three maintenance workers stood ahead.
Blocking the hallway.
One smiled politely.
"Morning."
Mary forced a smile.
"Morning."
The man's eyes drifted toward the cart.
"Mind opening it?"
Mary's grip tightened around the handle.
For thirty-one years she had cleaned hospital floors.
Today...
She was about to gamble her life.
She looked directly at the stranger and answered,
"Only if you show me your employee badge first."
The man's smile disappeared.
Slowly...
He reached inside his toolbox.
But instead of an ID card...
May you like
He pulled out a black handgun fitted with a suppressor.
And pointed it directly at Mary.
