Chapter 3 - The Ghost Protocol
By 4:15 AM, the pediatric wing of Lenox Hill Hospital resembled a slaughterhouse. Gabriel walked out of Room 412 into a hallway painted in crimson. Two hitmen clad in tactical gear lay dead on the linoleum, their weapons stripped by Vincent.
A heavy team of Moretti enforcers—Gabriel's personal backup—finally flooded the floor, their boots echoing like thunder. At the front was Marco, Gabriel's most ruthless captain.
"Boss, the perimeter downstairs is secure," Marco said, bowing his head in shame. "They had a mole in the hospital security staff who turned off the cameras and bypassed our lookouts."
"Find the mole. Keep him alive until I can personally skin him," Gabriel ordered. He turned back toward the room. "We’re moving Daniel. Execute the Ghost Protocol. We go to the upstate compound."
The Unexpected CargoTwo medics under Moretti payroll wheeled a specialized transport gurney into the room to transfer Daniel, who had slipped back into a stable but deep unconsciousness.
As they lifted the boy, Gabriel looked at Elena. She was sitting on the edge of a plastic chair, a paramedic attempting to band age her forehead. She looked tiny among the sea of heavily armed, dark-suited men, but her posture remained fiercely rigid.
"Pack her up too," Gabriel told Marco.
Elena pushed the paramedic’s hand away, standing up unsteadily. "No. I'm not going anywhere with you people. I have a shift to finish. I have a life."
Gabriel stepped into her personal space. The scent of copper, rain, and expensive cologne radiated off him. "Miss Cruz, you broke a mop handle across the face of a hitman working for the Valetti syndicate. If I leave you here, you won't survive to see the sunrise. You are the only witness who saw their faces. In their eyes, you're a dead woman."
Elena looked at the blood on her uniform, then at the unconscious boy on the gurney. The realization of her situation finally crashed down on her. Her shoulders sagged.
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"My daughter," she whispered, her voice cracking for the first time. "She’s at home with my sister."
Gabriel looked at Vincent. "Get them. Bring them to the compound. If a single hair on their heads is touched, I’ll burn this entire borough to the ground."
