Chapter 10 - The Needle and the Truth
Mark hit the reinforced door again with everything he had, screaming his daughter's name.
The thick safety glass vibrated slightly, but the lock held completely firm.
Inside the room, Lily sobbed hysterically, flailing against the leather straps holding her down.
"Daddy! Help me! Daddy!" Lily cried, her small body shaking in terror.
The doctor held her head tightly with one gloved hand, pressing the sharp steel needle against her skin.
"Do it before they break through!" Evelyn yelled, her cold demeanor breaking into desperate fury.
Outside in the hallway, Jax shoved Mark out of the way and raised his heavy handgun.
Jax fired four heavy-caliber rounds straight into the center of the reinforced glass window.
Spiderweb cracks instantly shattered across the thick glass pane, weakening its structure.
Sarah ran up and delivered a powerful kick to the center of the cracked glass.
The entire glass panel collapsed inward, raining sharp heavy shards onto the floor of the room.
Jax immediately reached through the broken frame, unlocked the door handle from the inside, and kicked the door open.
Mark burst into the room like a madman, tackling the doctor to the ground before the needle could puncture Lily's skin.
The glass syringe flew out of the doctor's hand, shattering into pieces against the hard tile floor.
The clear chemical liquid spilled harmlessly across the concrete, evaporating rapidly into toxic fumes.
Jax grabbed Evelyn by her hair from behind and pinned her against the wall with his pistol pressed under her chin.
"Don't move a single muscle, you evil bitch," Jax growled, his hand trembling with decades of suppressed hatred.
Evelyn gasped for air, her eyes wide with shock, but her face quickly twisted back into a sneer.
"You're too late, Jax," Evelyn rasped out, choking against his heavy grip.
"The police are already surrounding this building!" she spat out, blood dripping from her lip.
"You are all going to spend the rest of your miserable lives in a federal prison!" she shouted.
Mark didn't listen to her words; he rushed to Lily's side and quickly unbuckled the leather straps from her wrists.
"I've got you, baby, I've got you," Mark cried, pulling Lily tightly into his chest.
Lily wrapped her tiny arms around Mark's neck, sobbing hysterically into his jacket.
"Daddy, she was going to make me forget Mommy!" Lily sobbed, her whole body shaking violently.
"She can't hurt you anymore, Lily, I promise you," Mark whispered, kissing her forehead over and over again.
Sarah knelt next to the doctor on the floor, securing his hands behind his back with plastic zip-ties.
"The place is secure for now," Sarah said, picking up her pistol and keeping watch on the door.
"We need to get out of here before the police backup arrives," Sarah added, looking at her watch anxiously.
Jax pressed the barrel of his gun harder into Evelyn's jaw, forcing her head backward.
"Where is Clara?" Jax demanded, his voice dropping into a terrifyingly quiet whisper.
"Tell me where my sister is, or I swear to God I will end you right here!" Jax threatened.
Evelyn let out a dry, mocking laugh that sent chills down Mark's spine.
"Clara?" Evelyn wheezed out, her cold eyes fixing straight on Mark.
"You really thought she was in a coma in some secret hospital ward?" Evelyn asked with a wicked grin.
"What did you do to my wife?!" Mark roared, standing up from Lily's side with his fists clenched tight.
"Clara isn't in a coma, Mark," Evelyn whispered, her smile growing wider and more twisted.
"Clara never made it to the hospital three days ago," Evelyn revealed, her voice dripping with venom.
"She has been locked in the sub-basement under this very building for the last seventy-two hours," Evelyn admitted freely.
Mark's breathing completely stopped as the realization hit his brain.
Clara wasn't dead, and she wasn't in a hospital; she was buried alive beneath their feet in this nightmare facility.
"And the air supply in that sub-basement vault runs out in exactly ten minutes," Evelyn added with a hysterical laugh.
Suddenly, heavy metallic explosions rattled from the lower levels of the building.
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Tear gas canisters began bouncing up the stairwell outside the fourth-floor corridor.
The police SWAT team had just breached the main entrance of the asylum.
