Chapter 16
Inside the operating room, Emma and Carla screamed as the heavy steel doors bowed inward violently. The shaped charges detonated prematurely due to the crossfire in the hallway, blowing the magnetic locks clean off the wall.
Smoke and shattered plaster filled the sterile room. Carla coughed violently, grabbing a heavy red fire extinguisher from the wall bracket and standing fiercely in front of Emma and the crying babies.
Through the billowing gray smoke, a figure stumbled into the room. It was Victor. His pristine tactical suit was torn, and blood seeped from a graze on his shoulder. He looked frantic, his cultured demeanor entirely stripped away by the Vanguard assault outside.
"Give me the boy!" Victor screamed, leveling his pistol directly at Emma’s head. "I am not leaving this hospital empty-handed!"
"Get away from them!" Carla yelled, hurling the heavy metal fire extinguisher directly at Victor’s chest.
Victor dodged the projectile, backhanding Carla across the face with the heavy barrel of his pistol. Carla cried out, collapsing onto the tiled floor, completely stunned.
"Carla!" Emma screamed.
"It's over, Emma," Victor sneered, stepping over Carla's body and reaching out with his free hand to grab the swaddled newborn from Emma's arms. "Your husband brought an army, but he's ten seconds too late. The boy comes with me."
Emma didn't back away. Pushing through the agonizing pain of her torn surgical incision, she lunged forward with explosive speed. The surgical scalpel she had taken from the tray flashed in the harsh overhead lights.
Victor gasped as the razor-sharp blade sank deep into the meat of his forearm, forcing him to drop his weapon with a howl of pain.
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"I told you," Emma snarled, twisting the blade, her eyes burning with a mother’s relentless fury. "You are not taking my son!"
Victor roared in anger, pulling his bleeding arm back and raising his heavy combat boot to kick Emma to the floor. But before his foot could connect, a shadow launched through the broken doorway, tackling Victor with the force of a freight train.
