Chapter 4 - The Desperate Stand
The three masked men raised their automatic weapons and immediately scanned the smoky room.
Vance did not hesitate for a single fraction of a second before opening fire on the intruders.
His first two shots hit the lead gunman squarely in the chest, dropping him instantly to the floor.
The other two men wildly returned fire, completely shattering the medical monitors around my bed.
I screamed and threw my own body entirely over the bassinet to shield my three crying babies from the deadly crossfire.
Vance dove behind a heavy medical supply cabinet, using it as a temporary shield against the brutal barrage of bullets.
"Get into the bathroom, Maya!" Vance roared over the deafening noise of the chaotic shootout.
I grabbed the wheels of the bassinet and frantically pushed it toward the small bathroom door.
Bullets ripped through the mattress I had just been lying on, sending white feathers flying everywhere like snow.
I shoved the babies into the tiled bathroom and violently slammed the door shut behind me.
I quickly locked the flimsy mechanism and backed away, my heart hammering desperately against my ribs.
Outside, the brutal firefight continued as Vance bravely held off the remaining syndicate assassins.
I knelt on the cold tile floor, completely terrified that I was about to lose everything I loved.
Suddenly, I heard a strange, metallic scraping noise coming directly from the ceiling above the bathtub.
I looked up and watched in absolute horror as the large ventilation grate was slowly pushed aside.
A woman dressed in a bloody hospital uniform dropped silently down into the small bathroom.
She pulled a wicked, gleaming surgical scalpel from her pocket and smiled a deeply unsettling smile.
"Did you really think we only sent men through the front door?" she whispered cruelly.
I grabbed the heavy metal IV pole that had been left in the corner of the bathroom.
The fake nurse lunged aggressively toward the bassinet, her eyes entirely fixated on my newborn son.
I swung the heavy pole with every single ounce of my remaining strength, striking her hard across the face.
She stumbled backward, spitting blood onto the pristine white tiles, but quickly recovered her balance.
She slashed wildly with the sharp scalpel, slicing a shallow, burning cut directly across my forearm.
I ignored the searing pain and violently shoved the heavy IV pole straight into her chest.
The woman collapsed backward into the empty bathtub, dropping the scalpel with a loud clatter.
I immediately grabbed the sharp weapon and pointed it directly at her throat to ensure she stayed down.
The heavy gunfire outside the bathroom finally ceased, leaving behind a terrifying, ringing silence.
The bathroom door slowly crept open, and I instinctively raised the bloody scalpel to defend my children.
Vance stood in the doorway, bleeding heavily from a wound on his left shoulder, but completely victorious.
He looked down at the unconscious woman in the bathtub and let out a heavy, exhausted sigh.
He reached into the woman's pocket and pulled out a buzzing, highly encrypted burner phone.
He read the glowing text message on the screen, and all the color instantly drained from his face.
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"The text is from your husband's personal cell phone number, Maya," he stated in absolute disbelief.
The chilling message simply read: "Kill the mother, and bring the boy directly to the basement."
