Chapter 349: Hide From the Assassins, Fuck the Doctor
Rick didn’t hesitate. He launched himself through the thick, grey smoke.
The final Corporate Oversight assassin had his suppressed submachine gun aimed squarely at Rachel. She was pressed flat against the wall, her hands covering her head, screaming in sheer terror. The assassin’s finger pulled the trigger.
Rick tackled him right around the waist. The gun went off, the bullets chewing up the pristine white plaster just inches from Rachel’s face.
The two men crashed onto the hard tile floor. The assassin was heavily armoured, but Rick had raw, brute strength on his side. The assassin tried to bring the barrel of his weapon down towards Rick’s chest. Rick batted the gun away with his left hand, pinning the man’s wrist to the floor.
With his right hand, Rick delivered a brutal, bone-crushing punch straight to the assassin’s face. The man’s dark balaclava tore, and blood sprayed from his broken nose. The assassin grunted, trying to knee Rick in the groin, but Rick was faster.
Rick grabbed the man’s chin with one hand and the back of his helmet with the other. He didn’t say a word. He just twisted violently.
CRACK.
The sickening sound of snapping bone echoed in the medical room. The assassin’s body went completely limp, his head twisted at an unnatural, horrifying angle. Rick let go, and the dead man’s head hit the floor with a dull thud.
Rick stood up. He brushed a streak of blood off his cheek. He reached down and scooped up his own MP7 from the floor.
"Help me," a weak, pathetic voice groaned from the corner.
Rick turned. Marnus Warner was lying in a growing pool of his own dark blood. The bullet had caught him right in the gut. He was clutching his stomach, his face pale and slick with cold sweat. His expensive suit was ruined.
"Aunt Victoria," Marnus gasped, spitting up blood. "Help me up. We have to get out of here."
Victoria stood completely still. Her chest heaved heavily under her torn leather top. She looked at her dying nephew, then looked up at Rick.
"Save him," Victoria demanded, though her voice lacked its usual commanding edge.
Rick let out a low, cold laugh. He walked over and stood right above Marnus. He looked down at the bleeding billionaire heir with absolute disgust.
"My contract was to save the old man on the bed," Rick stated flatly. He pointed his gun at the heavy wooden doors that were blown off their hinges. "Marnus wasn’t part of the deal. He’s extra."
"He’s my nephew, you bastard," Victoria spat. "Don’t play games right now. The whole floor is swarming with mercenaries. We need to leave."
"I agree," Rick said. "But I don’t work for free. You want me to carry this bleeding dead weight through a warzone? It’s going to cost you. Twenty million dollars. Liquid funds. Right now."
Marnus coughed violently, blood splattering onto his chin. "You... you extortionist piece of shit..."
Victoria froze. Her ice-blue eyes darted between Rick’s cold, serious face and Marnus’s pathetic, bleeding form. She was a ruthless crime boss. She ran the numbers in her head. Twenty million was a massive sum, even for the Warners. And Marnus... Marnus had been nothing but a massive failure lately. He lost the tower. He lost the Precursor Core. He couldn’t even defend himself against a single assassin.
Rick saw the hesitation in her eyes. He smirked.
"Your silence speaks volumes, Victoria," Rick said.
"Aunt Victoria, please!" Marnus begged, real tears mixing with the blood on his face. "Pay him! I’ll pay you back! Please!"
"Time’s up," Rick said.
He didn’t wait for Victoria to make a final choice. He grabbed Victoria by her bare arm and then grabbed Rachel by the elbow.
"Let’s go, ladies. We move light. Dead weight stays here."
"No! Wait!" Marnus screamed, reaching a bloody hand out towards them.
Victoria didn’t fight Rick. She let him pull her away from her dying nephew. She didn’t look back. Rick led the two women out of the shattered double doors and into the chaotic hospital hallway. They left Marnus Warner to bleed out on the cold tile floor.
The hospital corridors were a warzone. Fire alarms blared loudly, flashing red emergency lights strobing through the thick smoke. The sprinkler system had engaged, raining cold water down on them.
"Stay behind me and keep quiet," Rick ordered.
Rachel was hyperventilating. Her tight emerald-green dress was soaked from the sprinklers, clinging to her heavy curves. She was absolutely terrified of the violence, but as she watched Rick move with lethal confidence, a strange, dark heat began to build between her legs.
They crept down a back service hallway. Rick held a fist up, signalling the women to stop.
Heavy combat boots stomped around the corner. Two Corporate Oversight mercenaries in full tactical gear were sweeping the floor, assault rifles raised.
Rick turned to Rachel. "Doc. Give me a syringe from your pocket. A thick one."
Rachel’s hands shook violently. She reached into her damp lab coat and pulled out a large, empty medical syringe with a thick, stainless-steel needle. She handed it to Rick.
"Stay here," Rick whispered.
He slipped into the shadows behind a medical cart. The two mercenaries walked past, their flashlights cutting through the smoke.
Rick moved silently. He stepped up behind the first mercenary. He wrapped his thick, muscular arm around the man’s throat in a vice-like chokehold. Rick didn’t try to knock him out. He squeezed with pure, brutal force.
Crunch.
The man’s windpipe shattered under Rick’s forearm. The mercenary dropped his rifle, his hands clawing uselessly at his own throat as he choked on his own blood. Rick let the dying man slide quietly to the floor.
The second mercenary heard the scuffle. He spun around, raising his rifle.
Rick didn’t hesitate. He lunged forward and drove the thick medical syringe directly into the second mercenary’s right eyeball.
The glass of the syringe shattered. The needle pierced deep into the man’s brain. The mercenary let out a blood-curdling scream, dropping his gun and grabbing his ruined face. Blood and clear fluid sprayed across Rick’s knuckles. Rick shoved the man backward, letting him collapse dead against the wall.
Rick stood up. He was covered in blood, water, and soot. He looked like a demon.
Rachel watched from the shadows. She was panting heavily. Her chest heaved up and down, putting her massive cleavage on full display. The brutal, unapologetic lethality Rick just displayed flipped a switch deep inside her brain. He was a monster, but he was protecting her.
[Ding!]
[Target Information: Rachel Williams]
[Carnal Calibrator: 92/100 (Terrified/Intensely Aroused)]
[Feelings: Her professional boundaries are shattering. The smell of blood and your primal violence are acting as a massive aphrodisiac.]