Chapter 4 - The Raid on St. Jude’s
Rain poured from the pitch-black sky over the desolate pine forests of northern Wisconsin.
At 2:00 AM, the searchlights of three unmarked black Sikorsky helicopters swept over the iron gates and high stone walls of St. Jude’s Sanatorium. The facility sat isolated on a rocky bluff, its dreary brick facade lit only by flickering security lights.
Inside the lead helicopter, Lucas wore a heavy dark coat over his unbuttoned wedding shirt. Beside him sat Captain Miller, the head of a elite private tactical security team, along with two federal marshals holding federal search warrants issued by a supreme court judge who had owed Lucas his career.
"We have three minutes before their internal security realizes our transponders aren't local law enforcement," Captain Miller said over the headset noise. "The building is equipped with commercial-grade magnetic locks and a backup diesel generator."
"If anyone stands in the way of me getting to my wife," Lucas said, his voice flat and dead over the comms, "shoot the hinges off the doors."
BOOM!
The heavy iron gates of the asylum were breached as a tactical armored vehicle slammed through the locks, leading the convoy up the gravel driveway. Tactical officers poured out of the vehicles, deploying flashbangs at the front entrance that shattered the quiet forest air with deafening thunder.
Lucas stepped off the helicopter skid the moment it touched down on the wet lawn, sprinting through the shattered glass of the front entrance before the smoke had even cleared.
"Clear!" tactical officers screamed, securing the lobby guards on the floor.
Lucas ignored the shouting, pushing past the security desk toward the basement stairwell marked HIGH-SECURITY RESTRAINT UNIT.
He tore down the cold, concrete steps two at a time, his polished leather dress shoes splashing through puddles of water leaking from overhead pipes. The basement smelled faintly of bleach, damp concrete, and ozone.
At the end of the long corridor lined with heavy steel doors, a man in a white lab coat was frantically typing a code into a electronic lock, trying to wipe a computer terminal mounted on the wall.
Lucas didn't wait. He grabbed the doctor by his collar, slammed him against the brick wall with terrifying force, and ripped the keycard lanyard off his neck.
"Which cell?" Lucas demanded, his hand gripping the doctor’s throat.
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"C-Cell 4..." the doctor choked out, his eyes wide with absolute terror. "Please... I was just following orders from the Montgomery Trust! They paid us twenty thousand a month to keep her sedated!"
Lucas threw the man onto the floor, swiped the keycard across the heavy steel door of Cell 4, and threw it open.
