Chapter 3 - The Darkest Hour
Panic erupted instantly in the dark room.
The doctors began shouting and shoving each other in the pitch-black space.
"Nobody move!" Leo roared over the chaos.
Olivia dropped to the floor and crawled under the heavy mahogany bed.
She knew that standing in a dark room with terrified men was a death sentence.
The red emergency backup lights flickered to life in the ceiling.
They cast a bloody, dim glow over the master bedroom.
The backup generators were supposed to kick in immediately.
They did not.
The internal battery alarm on Vincent's ventilator began to scream.
"The life support is failing!" Doctor Gable yelled.
Olivia crawled out from under the bed.
She realized the ventilator would die in less than two minutes.
She ran to the emergency crash cart.
She grabbed the manual resuscitation bag.
She disconnected Vincent from the dead machine and attached the plastic bag to his breathing tube.
She began squeezing the bag with both hands, forcing oxygen into his compromised lungs.
"Squeeze every six seconds," Doctor Gable instructed from the shadows.
Olivia did not need his instruction.
She kept her eyes on Vincent's pale face, counting the seconds in her head.
Heavy footsteps pounded in the hallway outside the locked doors.
Automatic gunfire echoed through the massive estate.
The perimeter had been breached.
Leo moved to the window and peered through the bulletproof glass.
"We have heavily armed company," Leo muttered.
He turned back to the terrified medical team.
"Where is Doctor Brent?" Leo demanded.
The doctors looked around the dimly lit room.
The cardiologist was missing from the lineup against the wall.
Olivia felt a warm liquid dripping onto her shoulder.
She looked up.
Doctor Brent was pinned against the heavy velvet curtains.
A surgical scalpel was buried deep inside his throat.
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He was already dead.
The real assassin was still inside the locked room with them.
