Oliver’s POV
The mont I slid into my car outside the hospital, my phone vibrated inside my jacket. Seeing the na of the lead arresting officer flash across the screen actually made smile—finally, finally, this nightmare might be ending.
"So? Is he behind bars?" I asked the second I answered.
The pause on the other end wiped the smile off my face.
"He’s not at ho," the officer replied. "We’re heading to his office now. We’re hoping he’s there—even if it’s Sunday."
I exhaled slowly, gripping the steering wheel. "Update the mont you find him. I’m heading to your station now. I’ll see you there."
I hung up and was just sliding my phone back into my pocket when it rang again.
Ria...
A chill crawled up my spine even before I answered.
"Yes? What is it?"
Her voice ca out in a frantic whisper. Too frantic.
[Sir—Irene is missing.]
My stomach dropped. "What the hell do you an by missing? I just left her room a few minutes ago. I’m still outside the hospital. Did you check the bathroom? The nurse station? She could’ve been taken for tests—"
"Heidi already checked," Ria interrupted. "Sir... the two officers assigned outside her door—they were shot."
"What?!" I exploded, already flinging the car door open. "I’m coming back. NOW."
I ended the call before she could say anything more and fired off a group ssage to my entire security team.
"ERGENCY. ALL AVAILABLE TEAM—TO THE HOSPITAL NOW."
Just as I stepped out of my car, sothing in the parking lot made stop cold.
A patrol car was parked near the exit ramp, engine humming. One officer leaned casually against the driver’s side door—too casually. Hands in pockets. Shoulders stiff. His head was turning every few seconds like he was waiting for a cue.
I narrowed my eyes.
I knew every officer in that precinct. I practically lived there, filing cases and hounding detectives.
I didn’t know this man.
Behind him were an ambulance and a black sedan. Identical tint. Sa idle rumble. And the n standing outside them looked just as tense, just as... expectant.
Sothing prickled at the back of my neck.
Then I saw it happen.
The "police officer" leaned toward the two drivers behind him. No words—just a subtle signal with his fingers. All three simultaneously pressed on their ears.
Comms...
A coordinated trigger.
Then, without hesitation, each one climbed into the driver’s seat of their respective vehicles.
They weren’t waiting for soone to arrive.
They were waiting for soone to leave.
Get away vehicles...
My pulse spiked.
I lifted my hand discreetly and signaled to the three bodyguards in the SUV parked just ahead of mine. They imdiately stood alert. I slipped in my earbuds and connected to our secure line.
"Everyone, listen up," I said, keeping my voice low as I angled myself behind a concrete pillar for cover. "Form a periter around that patrol car and the two vehicles behind it. Don’t engage yet—we observe first. I have a strong feeling they are connected to Irene’s disappearance."
"Copy," the n answered imdiately.
And then I saw it.
A stretcher is being wheeled out through the far service exit doors.
A woman lying on it, unmoving.
Covered up to her shoulders.
Two nurses flanking her. A pair of officers is clearing the way for them.
Except the hair on the back of my neck rose instantly, because their uniforms were just slightly off. Wrong shoes. Wrong posture. Wrong everything.
Then a doctor appeared, signing sothing at the door. I squinted my eyes to see the man.
My stomach twisted as my gaze turned back towards the stretcher. I finally saw the patient’s face!
She wasn’t missing.
She was being taken.
"Positions! It’s Irene! Secure the stretcher now, it’s her! Dante is the one in a doctor’s uniform!" I barked into the line. "They’re moving her now, MOVE! Don’t let them reach those vehicles!"
I sprinted across the parking lot as the "nurses" hurried the stretcher toward the ambulance. One of them briefly lifted a hand to the earpiece hidden under her hair.
Confirmation.
Orders received.
The fake patrol officer spotted barreling forward, and his eyes widened. His hand went straight to his holster.
I dove behind a parked car just as he drew his gun.
"Shots fired!" I roared into the comm line.
A deafening blast echoed through the lot as the officer opened fire.
Then all chaos broke loose.
"Aim for the tires!" I commanded over our comms.
Through the gunfire and shouting, I caught a glimpse of Irene’s face for a split second.
Eyes barely open.
Terrified.
And Dante—standing behind her stretcher, dressed like a surgeon, mask pulled down just enough for to see the smile he shot .
The kind of smile that promised death.
The kind of smile that said—
Too late, attorney.
Then he shouted, "MOVE!"
I imdiately aid for the tires of the ambulance.
Bullseye!!! I was able to shoot three of them.
The van jerked violently, tires screeching as rubber shredded across the pavent. It swerved hard, spinning out of control before slamming straight into the concrete hospital signage in the center of the landscaped roundabout. Glass shattered. tal crunched. Smoke billowed.
Shouts erupted everywhere.
My n advanced, firing precise shots that dropped two of Dante’s disguised officers. The mont they fell, I seized the opening and surged forward with the remaining mbers of my team.
"Cover !" I shouted.
We sprinted across the pathway. Bullets hit the ground near my feet, spraying chips of concrete. The fake nurse dove behind the wrecked van, firing wildly. Another man stord toward us with an assault rifle, but Ria shot him in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground.
I kept running.
I could see Irene, still strapped to the stretcher, being dragged out of the crumpled van by Dante himself.
Our eyes locked.
He raised his gun.
I barely had ti to breathe.
A searing pain exploded through my side.
The force knocked backward, heat spreading across my ribs. My ears rang, vision blurring as I staggered, trying to stay upright. My team shouted my na, but everything sounded underwater.
Dante fired again.
Another shot tore through my shoulder, spinning down onto the pavent. My palms scraped the ground, blood dripping between my fingers as I tried to push myself up, anything to keep moving, to stop him from taking her.
But my body refused.
Helpless, I watched as Dante grabbed the stretcher to drag Irene toward the sedan that had just screeched to the curb. She groaned—barely conscious, her head rolling to the side.
Then sothing unexpected happened.
Irene slipped.
The abrupt jolt from the impact must’ve loosened her restraints; she slid off the stretcher, hitting the ground with a soft but painful thud. Dante cursed, turning back to grab her—
But Irene’s hand shot out.
Slow.
Shaking.
But deliberate.
Her fingers curled around the gun lying beside one of Dante’s fallen n.
My breath hitched.
Through blurred vision, I saw her lift it with trembling arms—eyes half-open, unfocused, but determined.
A single gunshot cracked across the chaos.
Soone scread.
Soone fell.
But I couldn’t see who.
My vision finally gave out, darkness swallowing everything as the world tilted sideways and disappeared.
******
Thank you for the Golden Tickets!
Edna_R2679
Kristen2025
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