Chapter 14 - The Queen's Gambit
The heavy wooden door slowly creaked open. The red laser beam of the mercenary's rifle sliced through the dark room, illuminating the empty parallel bars and the scattered therapy toys.
The towering man in black tactical gear stepped inside, his heavy boots crunching softly on the medical mat. He scanned the room, assuming the terrified woman and child were cowering in a closet. He never expected the prey to be waiting in the offensive position.
Hannah held her breath, pressing her back flat against the wall right beside the doorframe. As the mercenary took his third step into the room, entirely focused on the far corners, Hannah made her move.
She didn't scream. She didn't hesitate. She swung the heavy metal wrench with every ounce of strength in her body, smashing it directly into the main valve of the pressurized oxygen tank on the cart.
The valve snapped clean off.
A deafening, violent hiss erupted as highly pressurized, freezing oxygen blasted directly into the mercenary's face. The sheer force of the escaping gas blinded him, knocking him completely off balance. He stumbled backward, dropping his assault rifle as he clawed frantically at his tactical mask, disoriented and panicking.
Hannah lunged forward, moving with the speed and precision of a woman fighting for her family's survival. She grabbed the heavy metal parallel bar base and slammed it directly into the back of the mercenary's knees.
The massive man collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud. Before he could reach for the sidearm holstered at his thigh, Hannah drove her knee into his chest, snatched his discarded assault rifle from the floor, and pressed the cold steel barrel directly against the center of his ballistic mask.
"Move a single muscle, and I will end you right here," Hannah hissed, her voice vibrating with a terrifying, absolute authority that perfectly mirrored her husband's lethal tone.
The mercenary froze, his hands slowly rising in surrender. He looked up at the beautiful, soft-spoken pediatric therapist, entirely shocked by the sheer, unyielding violence in her eyes.
Suddenly, the heavy reinforced glass windows of the clinic shattered inward.
A massive, imposing shadow dropped from the roof onto the clinic floor. It was Luca Moretti.
Luca stormed into the therapy room, a heavy suppressed pistol in his hand, his eyes wild with blinding, terrifying panic. He had raced across the city, expecting to find his wife harmed. Instead, he found the Queen of the Underworld pinning a highly trained tactical mercenary to the floor with his own weapon.
Luca stopped dead in his tracks, his chest heaving, his gray eyes widening in absolute awe and profound pride.
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Hannah didn't look away from the mercenary. "I secured the perimeter, Luca," she said coldly. "Now, we are going to find out exactly who sent him."
👉 Hannah has captured a living member of the mysterious syndicate, but what horrific truth will the mercenary reveal under Luca’s interrogation?
