Chapter 7 - Ambush at the Clinic
“Get down!” one of Romano’s bodyguards roared, tackling Isabella to the floor as a volley of silenced gunfire ripped through the white walls, splintering wood and shattering medical equipment.
Isabella rolled smoothly behind a reinforced concrete pillar, drawing a compact Sig Sauer pistol from her shoulder holster with practiced, lethal precision. She didn't panic. Her heart rate remained steady, her breathing controlled—the exact tactical training her grandfather had drilled into her since she was twelve years old.
“Sector four is compromised!” Luca’s voice crackled fiercely through her earpiece. “Isa, report!”
“We’re pinned in the lobby!” Isabella shouted back over the roar of gunfire, peeking around the corner to return fire. Two masked mercenaries in tactical gear dropped in the courtyard outside the shattered glass doors. “Dr. Vance tried to use us as bait! Reinforcements are needed immediately!”
“Hold your position! I’m three minutes out!” Luca yelled.
Inside the reception booth, Dr. Julian Vance was scrambling toward a private emergency exit tunnel behind his desk. He thought he could slip away in the chaos and let his hired hitmen clean up the loose ends.
“Not so fast, Doctor,” Isabella muttered coldly.
She vaulted over the reception desk, landing silently on her feet. Before Julian could push open the heavy steel blast door, Isabella’s boot slammed into the metal, locking it shut. She pressed the cold barrel of her pistol directly against the back of his neck.
Julian froze, his breath catching in his throat. The intellectual arrogance vanished, replaced by sheer, primal terror.
“Open the security override console,” Isabella commanded. “Now.”
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Trembling violently, Julian punched the master bypass code into the wall keypad. Instantly, the exterior security shutters slammed down, sealing the lobby and trapping the remaining mercenaries inside a concrete box with no escape route.
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