Chapter 7 - The Confrontation in the ICU
Daniel lunged across the short gap separating them, driving his shoulder squarely into Noah’s midsection.
Both men slammed violently into the glass wall of the ICU suite, sending a row of medical monitors crashing to the slate floor. The gun in Noah’s hand went off with a muffled pop, the bullet shattering a plastic IV pole behind them, sending saline solution splashing into the rising water on the floor.
Noah snarled, swinging his heavy brass-weighted briefcase into the side of Daniel’s head.
The blow caught Daniel across the temple, dazing him, sending a thick line of blood trailing down his cheek. Daniel stumbled back, his vision swimming with white light, but he forced his legs to hold their ground. He grabbed Noah’s wrist with both hands, slamming it repeatedly against the sharp steel edge of the hospital bed frame.
Snap.
Noah let out a shrill scream of pain as his wrist fractured. The silenced pistol slipped from his numb fingers, clattering across the wet floor, sliding directly beneath Elena’s bed.
"You arrogant bastard!" Noah screamed, wiping blood and water from his eyes, lunging forward with his left fist.
He caught Daniel in the jaw, sending him crashing back onto the visitor’s table. The glass shattered under Daniel’s weight, cutting through his dress shirt.
Noah scrambled toward the bed, diving onto the floor to reach for the fallen gun. His fingers brushed against the cold metal beneath the frame.
"Stop moving!" a weak, raspy voice commanded over the blaring fire alarm.
Noah froze.
He looked up from the floor.
Elena was lying on her side, her face pale, her body trembling violently with the physical strain. In her hands—held with an unshakeable, double-handed tactical grip—was the heavy steel fire extinguisher that had been mounted beside her bed.
Before Noah could draw the pistol, Elena swung the broad iron cylinder with everything she had left in her broken body.
The bottom of the heavy extinguisher slammed directly into the side of Noah’s jaw.
The impact was immediate and brutal. Noah’s eyes rolled back into his head, his teeth clicking together loudly, and he collapsed limp onto the soaked floor, completely unconscious.
The fire alarm continued to scream. Emergency strobes flashed crimson against the wet glass walls.
Elena dropped the heavy extinguisher, sinking back onto her pillows, gasping desperately for air, her heart monitor spiking into dangerous territory.
Daniel scrambled up from the broken table, wiping the blood from his eyes. He rushed to the side of the bed, grabbing her hands.
"Elena! Stay with me!" he yelled over the alarm.
She looked at him through the flashing red light, a faint, genuine smile breaking through her exhaustion. "Nice... trick... with the sprinklers."
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"I hacked the building automation system from my phone before he locked the door," Daniel panted, a dark, breathless laugh escaping his lips.
The double doors of the ICU burst open. A squad of armed Chicago Police officers and Sentinel private security guards swarmed into the flooded room, weapons drawn, taking in the chaotic scene of shattered glass, water, an unconscious traitor, and the billionaire holding the hand of his maid.
