Chapter 4 - The Agony of the Will
Tommy held the pistol steady with both hands, his knuckles turning white.
"Don't move, or I swear I'll pull it!" the nine-year-old boy shouted, tears of pure adrenaline streaming down his dirt-streaked face.
Luca used the edge of the mahogany desk to haul himself back into his wheelchair, his legs burning like molten lead.
Every nerve fiber from his hips to his toes felt as though it had been set on fire.
Elena rushed to Dr. Adler's unconscious body, frantically searching his leather medical satchel.
She pulled out a sealed glass vial labeled with a red bio-hazard tag: Pyridostigmine Reversal Complex.
"Luca, look!" Elena cried, holding up the vial and a sterile syringe.
"This is the antidote to the neuro-blocker!"
"Adler kept it in his bag in case he accidentally poisoned himself!"
Luca extended his muscular forearm without hesitation.
"Inject it directly into my thigh, Elena," Luca ordered, gritting his teeth.
"Do it now."
Elena plunged the needle into Luca's quadricep muscle and pushed the plunger down.
A wave of unfathomable pain washed over Luca's body, so violent that his vision blurred into static.
His back arched against the leather backrest as his muscles seized into agonizing cramps.
For twelve years, his nervous system had been artificially silenced.
Now, the chemical dam had broken, and millions of nerve impulses rushed down his spinal cord all at once.
Luca gasped for air, cold sweat pouring down his forehead as he fought through the sensory overload.
He looked down at his left foot.
The leather toe of his dress shoe twitched.
Then, slowly, deliberately, Luca pulled his left foot back two inches against the footrest.
Dominic stared from the floor, his arrogant eyes widening in complete, superstitious terror.
"That's impossible," Dominic stammered, backing away on his elbows.
"Adler said the motor pathways were completely dead after five years!"
Luca looked at his traitorous brother with eyes like polished obsidian.
"Dead things don't try, Dominic," Luca quoted Maya's words in a chilling whisper.
Tommy kept the gun trained on Dominic while Elena grabbed the keys to Luca's specialized transport van.
Before they could reach the study door, the mansion’s emergency power cut out completely.
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Red emergency strobe lights bathed the corridor in bloody shadows as the piercing wail of a security klaxon erupted.
Through the security monitors, Luca saw four armored tactical vans pulling into the driveway, carrying twenty mercenaries wearing black combat masks.
