Chapter 10
1449 Words
*Title: Chapter 10 - Hospital Siege*
*Word count: 1,753*
---
The first shot shattered the window on the third floor.
Ava sat up too fast, pain flaring in her side.
“Get down!” Lucas tackled her back onto the bed.
Gunfire erupted in the hallway. Screams. Footsteps. Chaos.
Elise burst into the room, gun drawn, face grim. “Viktor’s here. Twelve men. They’re clearing floors.”
Ava’s blood ran cold. “The hospital?”
“Full of civilians,” Elise said. “He doesn’t care.”
Miguel was already at the door, grabbing a chair to brace it. “What’s the plan?”
Lucas was checking his own gun, eyes on Ava. “We get her out. Now.”
Ava shook her head. “I can’t run. Not with this wound. I’ll slow you down.”
“You’re not dying here,” Lucas said flatly.
Another volley of shots. Closer this time.
Elise moved to the window, scanning below. “Service elevator’s still clear. If we move now, we can get to the basement garage.”
Ava gritted her teeth and swung her legs over the bed. Her vision swam, but she forced herself to stand. Lucas moved to support her, but she pushed his hand away.
“I can walk,” she said. “Barely.”
Gunfire hit the door. Splinters flew.
“Too late,” Elise muttered. “They’re here.”
The door splintered open. Two of Viktor’s men rushed in.
Elise fired first. One dropped. The second got a shot off before Lucas put him down.
Blood splattered across the white floor.
Ava grabbed the gun from the dead man’s hand. Her hands shook, but her aim was steady.
“Let’s move,” she said.
---
They didn’t make it to the elevator.
The hallway was a war zone. Nurses and patients crawling on the floor. Viktor’s men moving methodically, clearing rooms.
“Stairwell,” Lucas said, pulling Ava toward the emergency exit.
A bullet grazed his shoulder. He didn’t even flinch.
Miguel covered their rear, firing in controlled bursts. “Go! I’ll hold them!”
“Miguel—” Ava started.
“Go!” Miguel shouted. “I’m not losing you again!”
Lucas didn’t wait. He dragged Ava down the stairwell, Elise right behind them.
Three floors down. Ava’s side burned with every step. Her shirt was soaked in blood again.
“Stop,” Elise said suddenly.
They froze.
Footsteps below.
Viktor’s voice echoed up the stairwell. “Ava! You can’t hide forever!”
Lucas put a finger to his lips. They waited.
Footsteps passed below them, moving up.
Elise counted silently. Five men.
When the last one passed, she moved.
Silent. Deadly.
Three men went down before they realized what was happening. The other two turned, but Lucas was already on them.
In thirty seconds, it was over.
Ava stared at Elise. “You’re terrifying.”
Elise wiped her knife on her pants. “We need to move. Viktor’s not with them. He’s waiting.”
---
*Basement garage.*
The air smelled of exhaust and blood.
Ava leaned against the car, trying to breathe through the pain.
Lucas was hotwiring a vehicle. Elise was watching the entrance.
Miguel caught up to them, breathing hard. He had a cut on his forehead, but he was alive.
“You okay?” Ava asked.
Miguel nodded. “Better than you.”
Lucas got the car running. “Get in. Now.”
They piled in. Lucas floored it the second the door closed.
The gate to the garage started to lower.
Viktor stepped out from behind a pillar, gun aimed directly at the windshield.
Lucas swerved.
The bullet hit the hood instead of the glass.
Ava grabbed her gun and fired back through the rear window.
Viktor dove aside, but not before Ava saw his face.
He was smiling.
“Go!” Elise shouted.
Lucas hit the gas. The car slammed through the lowering gate and burst out into the night.
In the rearview mirror, Ava saw Viktor standing in the middle of the garage, watching them go.
He wasn’t chasing.
He didn’t need to.
---
*Safe House. 2:14 AM.*
Ava collapsed on the couch the second they got inside.
Elise immediately started cleaning her wound.
“You got lucky,” Elise said as she worked. “Bullet went clean through. No major organs.”
Ava hissed as antiseptic hit her skin. “Feels lucky.”
Lucas stood by the window, watching the street. Miguel was on the other side of the room, gun in his lap, eyes never closing.
“You were right,” Lucas said suddenly. “About Viktor.”
Ava looked up. “About what?”
“He doesn’t want the files anymore,” Lucas said. “He wants you. This whole attack… it was personal.”
Elise finished bandaging Ava’s side. “He’s escalating. He failed to get the files, so now he’s going after what hurts you most.”
Ava closed her eyes. “Me.”
Lucas knelt in front of her. “We end this. Tonight.”
Ava opened her eyes. “How?”
Lucas pulled out his phone. “I found him.”
Ava sat up straighter, ignoring the pain. “Where?”
“Abandoned shipyard in Navotas,” Lucas said. “He’s holed up there with maybe twenty men. He thinks we’re done. He thinks we’re running.”
Ava’s jaw tightened. “Good. Let him think that.”
Miguel stood up. “I’m coming.”
“No,” Ava said immediately.
Miguel looked hurt. “Ava—”
“You did your part,” Ava said. “You got out. You’re safe. I’m not risking you again.”
Miguel opened his mouth to argue, but Lucas cut him off.
“She’s right,” Lucas said. “This ends with me and Ava. You stay here with Elise.”
Miguel looked like he wanted to punch something. Instead, he nodded.
Elise checked her weapons. “I’m driving you.”
Lucas nodded. “We hit him at dawn. Before he expects it.”
Ava stood up, ignoring the way her knees shook.
“Then let’s finish it,” she said.
---
*Navotas Shipyard. 5:03 AM.*
The place was a graveyard of rusted ships and broken cranes.
Ava crouched behind a container, gun ready. Her side screamed with every breath, but she ignored it.
Lucas was to her left. Elise was on the roof of a warehouse, providing overwatch.
Viktor’s men patrolled in pairs. Sloppy. Overconfident.
“They think we’re broken,” Lucas whispered.
Ava nodded. “Let’s prove them wrong.”
She stood up and fired.
Chaos erupted.
Elise picked off two men from the roof. Lucas moved fast, taking out another pair before they could react.
Ava moved through the chaos like she belonged there. Every shot, every step, precise.
For a moment, she forgot the pain.
She was in control.
Then she saw him.
Viktor stood on the deck of an old cargo ship, watching her.
Alone.
Ava broke away from Lucas and ran.
“Ava!” Lucas shouted behind her.
She didn’t stop.
Viktor smiled as she approached. “I was hoping you’d come.”
Ava raised her gun. “It ends now.”
Viktor didn’t even flinch. “You think killing me ends this? I’m not the only one, Ava. There are others. Bigger than me.”
“Then I’ll kill them too,” Ava said.
Viktor laughed. “You’re just like your father.”
Ava pulled the trigger.
Click.
Empty.
Viktor’s smile widened. “Out of bullets?”
Ava dropped the gun and lunged.
They hit the deck rolling, fists flying.
Viktor was stronger, but Ava was faster. Angrier.
She had nothing left to lose.
Viktor grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the railing.
“You should have stayed in that hospital,” he hissed.
Ava kneed him hard. He grunted and let go.
She grabbed a loose pipe and swung.
It connected with his temple.
Viktor staggered back, blood running down his face.
Ava didn’t give him a chance to recover.
She hit him again. And again.
Until he stopped moving.
Panting, Ava stood over him. Her hands were shaking.
“It’s over,” she whispered.
Lucas appeared beside her, breathing hard. “Ava, step back.”
Ava looked at Viktor’s motionless body. Then at her bloodied hands.
She stepped back.
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Elise dropped down beside them. “Police are coming. We need to move.”
Ava nodded. She let Lucas help her to her feet.
As they walked away, Ava didn’t look back.
Viktor was done.
But the war wasn’t over.
---
*End of Chapter 10*
---
- Writer
