“Please… let me try.”

"Julian!" the Director barked, a sick smile spreading across his weathered face as he looked at his rogue protégé. "Look at you. Broken and bleeding for a woman who isn't even your mother. The Syndicate raised you to be a god, and you chose to die a dog."

Julian didn't say a word. He moved with blinding speed, sliding across the icy tarmac and firing his sidearm. He dropped the second guard instantly, but the Director was faster.

The silver revolver roared, and a heavy bullet tore through Julian's leg, dropping him to his knees in the red-stained snow.

Danielle screamed, rushing forward, but the Director casually leveled his weapon at her head. "Stay exactly where you are, Danielle. My business is with the traitor."

The Director walked slowly toward Julian, pressing the hot barrel of the revolver against the young man's forehead. "Any last words, Wraith?"

"Yeah," Julian spat, coughing up blood. "Look behind you."

The heavy steel doors of the helipad stairwell burst completely off their hinges as Richard Whitaker stepped out into the storm. He looked deranged, his expensive suit torn and covered in concrete dust from the bunker's collapse. He held an assault rifle, completely ignoring the Director and staring obsessively at the baby strapped to Danielle's chest.

"Liam," Richard whispered, his eyes wide with a terrifying, manic gleam. "My absolute masterpiece."

"The child belongs to the Syndicate now, Richard," the Director warned, shifting his aim toward the billionaire. "You failed to deliver. Your contract is null and void."

"I am a god!" Richard roared, raising his rifle.

In that split second of chaotic distraction, Julian lunged upward. He grabbed the Director's wrist, snapping it with a sickening crunch. The revolver fired wildly into the air as the two men locked in a brutal, hand-to-hand death struggle on the icy ground.

Richard ignored them entirely. He marched toward Danielle, his weapon aimed directly at her chest. "Give him to me, Danielle. He is the cure. He is my legacy."

Danielle backed up until her heels hit the absolute edge of the helipad. The wind howled around her, threatening to pull her into the void. She looked into the eyes of the man she once loved, realizing there was no humanity left in him. He was nothing but a monster fueled by vanity and greed.