Chapter 3 - The Blackout Ward
Sebastián pulled himself up using the edge of the hallway radiator, shaking off the residual electric shocks.
The hallway was eerily deserted, bathed only in the sterile hum of fluorescent tubes.
His mother, Octavio, and the private guards were gone, having locked down the surgical corridor behind reinforced steel doors.
Sebastián looked down at the brass key in his palm, reading the engraved serial number: Vault 414, Banco Central de Monterrey.
His father had died two years ago from what everyone believed was a sudden cerebral hemorrhage.
Before his death, his father had warned Sebastián to trust nobody in the family except Valeria.
Sebastián had dismissed it as the paranoia of a dying old man.
Now, that foolish arrogance had put his wife and unborn child in the jaws of a viper.
Sebastián slipped the brass key into his inner pocket and sprinted toward the nurse's station at the end of the wing.
Nurse Hernandez was standing behind the reception desk, frantically wiping tears from her reddened eyes.
"Nurse Hernandez, open that surgical suite right now," Sebastián demanded, his voice trembling with desperation.
"I can't, Mr. Alcázar," she wept, covering her face with her shaking hands.
"Dr. Morales threatened to revoke my medical license and report my brother to immigration if I interfered."
"They aren't taking her to surgery to save the baby, Sebastián."
Sebastián grabbed the nurse’s shoulders, forcing her to look directly into his eyes.
"What are they doing to her?"
"They are giving her an overdose of magnesium sulfate to induce respiratory failure," she whispered in absolute horror.
"They intend to extract the child alive, declare Valeria brain dead from delivery complications, and transfer her to the hospice in Saltillo."
A cold, lethal fury settled over Sebastián, wiping away every ounce of hesitation.
"Where is the emergency electrical breaker for this wing?" Sebastián asked in a whisper.
Nurse Hernandez pointed toward the utility closet beside the freight elevator.
Sebastián kicked the utility door open, grabbed a heavy iron fire ax from the wall mount, and struck the central transformer junction.
Blinding blue sparks exploded across the ceiling as the entire third floor was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Sirens wailed in the distance as the emergency backup batteries failed to engage.
Through the darkness, Sebastián kicked the electronic lock off the surgical suite door and stormed inside.
The operating room was illuminated only by a portable surgical lamp casting demonic shadows on the walls.
May you like
Dr. Morales was standing over Valeria with an uncapped syringe filled with a milky white compound.
Beside him, two men in gray tactical gear were holding a refrigerated transport bassinet.
