Countdown

I drove the black Dodge Charger I’d taken from the manor valet with the pedal buried to the floor.

The V8 roared like a beast in the rain. I blew through four red lights and, in the eighth minute, threw the car sideways to a stop outside the ER entrance of St. Jude Medical Center.

I shoved open the fire door on the ICU floor. The hallway air was cold as a freezer.

No doctors. No nurses.

Just two men in black waterproof trench coats standing at the corner by Lily’s room.

They had their caps pulled low on purpose, but the black scorpion tattoo at the collar gave them away.

Moretti family cleaners.

The second they saw me, their hands went to the backs of their waists.

I didn’t slow down. I went straight through them.

The man on the left had just started to draw his Glock when I drove a brutal front kick into his knee.

Something cracked.

His scream never got out. My left hand locked around his throat, and I slammed his whole body into his partner on the right.

Bang!

They hit the wall hard.

I snatched the Glock 19 out of the air and smashed the grip into the right man’s temple.

Bone cracked. His eyes rolled back, and he dropped.

I stripped both magazines with practiced hands, dragged the two unconscious bodies into the dirty utility room beside the hall, then pushed open the ICU door.

Inside, the heart monitor let out weak, urgent beeps.

Five-year-old Lily lay in the hospital bed with a ventilator over her face. Her skin was so pale it almost blended into the sheets.

Her attending physician, Dr. Evans, was drenched in sweat. The moment he saw me, he looked like a drowning man spotting land.

“Mr. Vance! Thank God you’re here!”

His voice shook. “Ten minutes ago, several men claiming to be security shut down access to the backup blood supply. Lily went into ventricular fibrillation just now. We got her back, but her blood levels are collapsing. This hospital isn’t safe anymore. She won’t last two hours. We need to move her now. We need a medical helicopter to get her to East Coast General.”

I looked at Lily’s thin arm, covered in tubes and lines, and felt my chest lock up like a vise had closed around it.

She was the only blood my old brother-in-arms had left in this world. Three years ago, I disappeared and buried my name so those cross-border arms traffickers would never find her.

“Prep her for transport,” I said coldly, pulling out my phone and calling Elena.

The Blackwood consortium owned the best private emergency medical network in the city. One word from Elena, and a fully equipped helicopter would be on the rooftop pad in five minutes.

The call rang a long time before she answered. In the background, I could still hear the jazz from the manor, the laughter, the champagne crowd.

“Ares, if you’re calling to apologize for your behavior tonight, you’re too late.” Elena’s voice dripped with arrogance. “You’re signing the divorce papers tomorrow. I’m done letting you ruin my life.”

“Authorize a Blackwood emergency medical helicopter. Now. Land it at St. Jude.” I forced my anger down and spoke fast. “Lily needs to be transferred. The blood supply’s been locked down by the mob. She’s in critical condition.”

Silence for one second.

Then Elena laughed, cold and mocking.

“Ares, you are completely pathetic. To stall the divorce, to squeeze one last payment out of me, you’re using some stray bastard child to make up a story like this? The mob? What is this, a movie?”

“Elena, listen to me. I’m not joking. Authorize the helicopter.” I gritted my teeth so hard my jaw hurt. It took everything I had not to reach through the line and crush her throat.

“Whether she lives or dies has nothing to do with me,” Elena said flatly. “And stop using that little burden to disgust me.”

Then the phone changed hands.

Victor’s voice came through. Smug. Vile.

“Listen, stray dog. Every dollar Blackwood has, including medical dispatch funds, is now part of my marital assets with Elena. I already notified the flight crew and every hospital under our network. All of your access as the ex-husband is frozen.”

He paused, savoring it.

“If that sick little thing is about to die, use the public phone in the hallway and order her a cheap urn. And don’t call again.”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The line went dead.

I stared at the disconnected screen, and the last scrap of restraint I still held toward that fake marriage vanished.

Elena had cut it herself.

She chose the impostor and the mafia.

Fine.

I didn’t need to spare the Blackwood family’s reputation anymore.

Expressionless, I crushed the phone in my hand and dropped the pieces into the trash.

Then I turned to the heavy metal medical cabinet, planted both hands on it, and shoved it hard until it jammed tight against the reinforced door.

After that, I pulled down the blinds and checked every blind spot in the room, every camera angle, every vent.

“Mr. Vance... what are you doing?” Dr. Evans stared at me in horror as I racked the slide and chambered a round.

“Stay with her. Whatever happens, do not stop life support.” I stepped to the bedside and gently tucked Lily’s blanket in around her.

Her eyelashes trembled. Like she felt I was there. The tight line between her brows eased a little.

“I’m here,” I said quietly. “No one’s taking you.”

Outside, from the far end of the hallway, came the rapid chime of elevator doors and the heavy sound of boots.

The Moretti family’s main crew had reached the floor.

They were never going to send only two men to clean me up.

Then, in that suffocating pressure, the clock struck midnight somewhere out in the city.

The old black military watch on my wrist gave a faint buzz.

The screen lit up. The red countdown reading 00:00:00 flashed three times.

Then the whole display turned a deep green.

A line of encrypted text rolled across it:

[Federal system confirmation: three-year judicial undercover seal expired.]

[Restrictions lifted.]

[Aegis Circle founder access restored.]

I watched that green light, slowly raised my pistol, and aimed at the hospital room door that was about to be smashed open.

The monster that had been silent for three years could finally break its chains.