Chapter 5 - The Ultimatum Outside the Door"Room 714! Federal Marshals! Open the door immediately or we breach!"
The demand echoed down the corridor, sharp and amplified by a bullhorn.
Callum’s reaction was instantaneous. He drew his Sig Sauer from his holster, flicked the safety off with a sharp metallic snap, and positioned himself beside the doorframe, his body angled perfectly to cover the entryway.
"How many?" I whispered, my heart slamming against my ribs again.
"At least six in the corridor," Callum replied, his eyes fixed on the frosted-glass window of the door as shadows flickered across it. "They brought tactical breach gear. They're going to blow the hinges in twenty seconds."
"We can't fight our way out of a hospital, Callum!" I hissed, grabbing his sleeve. "Even if you shoot your way through this hallway, there are hundreds of patients sleeping on these floors. The moment gunfire breaks out, innocent people get caught in the crossfire. Is that what you want? A bloodbath in a children's ward three floors down?"
Callum’s jaw tightened. He knew I was right. A shootout at Harwick would turn the syndicate into public enemy number one on a national scale, bringing down the full weight of the federal government upon every single business, associate, and family member connected to his name.
"Then what do you suggest, Nurse Voss?" Callum asked bitterly, keeping his gun raised. "Surrender? They'll lock Leo in a black-site prison and throw away the key, and they'll charge me with domestic terrorism."
"No surrender," I said, a sudden, desperate clarity washing over my exhaustion. I stepped past him, standing directly in front of the locked door as heavy footsteps and shouting grew louder outside.
"Sarah, get away from the door—"
"Give me your phone," I demanded, holding my hand out.
Callum blinked, caught off guard by the command. Without thinking, he pulled his encrypted burner phone from his pocket and dropped it into my palm.
I unlocked it with a swipe—it didn't require a password—and dialed a direct internal extension.
"Dr. Althaus's private office," I muttered, tapping the speakerphone button as the line rang.
It picked up on the second ring. A frantic, breathless voice answered. "Althaus here! Who is this? The federal agents have me locked in my office—"
"Dr. Althaus, listen to me very carefully," I interrupted, my voice sharp, professional, and entirely in control. "This is Nurse Sarah Voss on the seventh floor. Patient Leo Thorne is currently stable, but he requires an immediate, emergency transfer to a private, off-site neurological facility due to unexpected post-operative complications."
There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line. "Transfer? Nurse Voss, the federal marshals have the entire perimeter—"
"The federal marshals are currently standing outside Room 714," I continued, raising my voice slightly so the men outside the door could hear every word through the wood. "And if they breach this room and disrupt a critical sterile procedure on a patient in septic shock, patient mortality liability falls squarely on the hospital administration and the arresting agency. Do you want a dead high-profile prisoner on your hands, Doctor, or do you want a legally authorized medical evacuation?"
Dr. Althaus swallowed hard. I could hear papers rustling frantically through the receiver. "What... what are you proposing?"
"I am proposing an immediate, authorized transfer under my direct medical supervision," I said smoothly. "Using the private underground ambulance bay elevator—the one reserved for organ transport. Which means the federal detail in this hallway needs to be redirected to the ground-floor loading dock on administrative orders from the chief of surgery immediately."
Outside the door, the shouting stopped.
The heavy thudding against the wooden frame paused.
I held my breath, staring at the frosted glass.
A moment later, a metallic voice crackled over the hallway's emergency intercom system: All tactical units in Sector 7, relocate to the ground-floor loading dock. I repeat, administrative order, relocate to ground level immediately.
Footsteps began scrambling down the hallway in a chaotic rush of boots and shouted commands.
The siege outside Room 714 was over.
I handed the phone back to Callum, my hands finally beginning to tremble now that the adrenaline was starting to fade.
May you like
Callum stared at me, his dark eyes wide with a mixture of shock and profound, unmasked respect. "You just bluffed an entire federal tactical unit using hospital bureaucracy."
"I used their own institutional fear of liability," I corrected, grabbing my lab coat from the chair. "Now help me get your brother onto this mobile gurney before Dr. Althaus realizes he didn't actually authorize anything."
