Chapter 6 - Blood on the Venetian Silk
The force of the explosion rattled the heavy oak doors and sent dust cascading from the decorative plaster ceiling. The two guards at the door immediately raised their weapons, taking defensive positions on either side of the entryway.
"They're in the lower courtyard!" Leo shouted over his radio. "Squad Two, fall back to the grand foyer! Do not let them reach the stairwell!"
Inside the sickroom, total chaos threatened to break out. Dr. Shaw sprinted into the room, her hair disheveled, clutching her tablet like a shield. "Liam! We need to evacuate you to the safe room downstairs!"
"No," Liam commanded, his voice slicing through the noise like an iron blade. "The safe room is compromised if they hold the courtyard. We stay here."
"You can't fight in this condition!" Grace shouted, stepping back toward his bed as another burst of automatic gunfire echoed from the floor below. "You have an external steel fixator drilled into your femur! If you stress that leg, you'll sever your femoral artery!"
Liam ignored her completely. He swung his uninjured left leg over the edge of the mattress, ripping the IV line out of the back of his hand with a sharp, casual flick of his wrist. Blood welled up on his skin, but he didn't even wince. He grabbed the edge of the mahogany nightstand, attempting to push his massive frame up onto his feet.
His face turned deathly pale, a ragged gasp of agonizing pain tearing from his throat as the steel pins in his right leg took his weight. He began to buckle forward toward the hard floor.
Grace reacted on pure instinct.
She lunged forward, throwing her shoulder beneath his broad armpit, catching his massive, muscular weight before he crashed onto the carpet. The sheer impact nearly drove Grace to her knees, but she locked her legs, her fingers digging firmly into the fabric of his black hospital trousers.
"Sit down, you idiot!" Grace yelled directly into his ear, her voice raw with fierce determination. "You die on my shift, and I don't get paid!"
Liam looked down at her, his face inches from hers. Sweat dripped from his chin onto her blue scrubs. Despite the excruciating pain tearing through his body, a dark, genuine laugh rumbled in his chest.
"You've got guts, Nurse," Liam gritted out, allowing her to ease his weight back onto the edge of the bed.
"And you have zero self-preservation," Grace snapped, grabbing a roll of sterile gauze from her tray and wrapping it tightly around his bleeding hand where the IV had been pulled.
Suddenly, the heavy velvet drapes across the window gave a sharp, violent violent tug.
The iron rings at the top of the curtain rod screeched against the metal fixture as something—or someone—gained leverage from the exterior balcony outside the second-story glass.
Leo turned his sidearm toward the window, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Boss... they're on the terrace."
"Don't shoot the glass, Leo!" Liam roared, his icy eyes wide with sudden, absolute panic. "If the reinforced glass shatters, the atmospheric pressure seal in the sub-floor breaks!"
Grace stared at Liam in utter horror. "A pressure seal? What is under this floor?!"
May you like
Before Liam could answer, a dark figure slammed violently against the outside of the window. Through the tiny gap in the drapes, Grace caught a glimpse of a tactical helmet and a black visor.
The intruder raised a heavy steel sledgehammer, swinging it directly at the center of the reinforced glass pane.
