Chapter 3 - The Broken Exit
The lead guard took a step toward Marcus with a pair of steel handcuffs.
Chloe screamed, hiding her face inside the chest of her brown teddy bear.
Marcus did not wait for the guard to make the first move.
He drove his shoulder into the lead guard's chest, slamming him hard against the bathroom door.
The second guard lunged forward, but Marcus grabbed his tactical vest and threw him over the medical cart.
Trays of surgical instruments clattered across the linoleum floor with deafening noise.
Suddenly, the heavy double doors were kicked open from the hallway.
Dominic, a towering former military operative, burst into the room with two private security guards.
Dominic disarmed the remaining hospital guards in less than ten seconds.
"The perimeter is secure for now, boss, but local police cruisers just pulled into the ambulance bay," Dominic said rapidly.
"Someone called in an active domestic abduction."
Marcus wrapped Chloe tightly in a thick wool blanket, lifting her gently into his arms.
Chloe clung to his neck, her tiny arms shivering with terror.
"Hold onto Barnaby, sweetheart," Marcus whispered into her hair.
"Daddy is taking you home."
Eleanor stood against the wall, watching them with calm, calculating eyes.
She did not scream, and she did not try to physically stop them.
Marcus carried Chloe down the emergency stairwell, bypassing the main elevators.
They pushed through the heavy steel fire doors into the rain-drenched ambulance bay.
Marcus's armored black SUV was waiting with the engine running and headlights cutting through the fog.
Before Dominic could open the rear passenger door, a silver luxury town car slid across the wet asphalt and blocked their vehicle.
The tinted window rolled down slowly.
Marcus expected to see the police chief or another private security team.
Instead, Marcus's personal family attorney, Julian Foster, stepped out into the pouring rain.
Julian was holding a thick red leather folder stamped with the seal of the Massachusetts Superior Court.
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"Put the child down, Marcus," Julian said with a chilling lack of emotion.
"As of ten minutes ago, your parental rights have been legally terminated."
