--:Keifer's POV:--
The silence in the woods was broken by a single, high-pitched tone. Kaizar held up his phone, the screen glowing like a demonic eye in the dark.
"I'm a busy man, Keifer. I don't like to wait" Kaizar said, his voice dripping with malice. He pressed a button and put the call on speaker. "You have exactly sixty seconds to save Jay-jay. After that, she belongs to the afterlife."
The audio was grainy, but the sound made my soul leave my body. It was the steady beep... beep... beep... of my Jay-jay's heart monitor.
"She's still asleep,"a cold voice said over the phone. "I took care of the nurse. We're right next to her bed. Just give the order, Boss."
My blood turned to ice. My hand, still holding the silver drive, began to shake—not out of fear, but out of a murderous rage that felt like it was going to split my chest open.
"Wait!" I screamed, my voice cracking. I held the silver pen drive high so the snipers could see it. "I have it! Don't touch her! If you touch her, I swear I will spend every second of my life making sure you suffer!"
"The clock is ticking, Keifer " Kaizar drawled, looking at his watch with a terrifying nonchalance. "Every ten seconds you hesitate, my man over there turns a dial on her ventilator. I wonder how long her brain can go without oxygen before she becomes just... a memory?"
Angelo's face was twisted in a mask of pure, helpless fury. His hands were curled into white-knuckled fists, but he was pinned by the red dots of the snipers. We were the strongest guys in the district, and we were being brought to our knees by a cell phone signal.
--:Aries POV (At hospital):--
I was pinned behind a supply cart in the hallway, the smell of floor wax and blood filling my nose. Two of Kaizar's man had come out of the staircase with silenced pistols. I had managed to knock one down with a heavy medical tray, but the other was already inside Jay-jay's room.
I looked through the small glass portal in the door. The man was standing over her, his gloved hand hovering over the power switch of her life support. He wasn't even looking at her; he was staring at his phone, waiting for the command to kill.
"Josh! Where are the security overrides?!" I hissed into my radio, my voice barely a whisper.
"The system is jammed from the outside!" Josh's voice came back, sounding frantic. "Aries, if he pulls that plug, the backup generator won't kick in—they've looped the circuit! We have to stop him manually!"
I looked at the gun. The one I got from the Kaizar's man who is already down. I had one shot through the glass. If I missed and hit the oxygen tank, the whole room would go up. If I hit her...
--:Keifer's POV:--
"Ten seconds" Kaizar announced.
Over the speakerphone, I heard a sickening mechanical click. The rhythm of the heart monitor slowed down. Beep... beep....
"STOP IT! TAKE IT!" I lunged forward to throw the drive, but David grabbed my arm, his grip like a vice.
"Keifer, look at the ridge" David whispered urgently, his eyes darting toward the treeline.
I glanced up, my vision blurring with tears of rage. In the distance, beyond Kaizar's men, I saw a single, blue flickering light. It wasn't a flashlight. It was the signal from Angelo's backup team. Angelo hadn't just brought us; he had signaled a secondary squad to flank the ridge from the blind side.
"Twenty seconds" Kaizar said. He looked at me with a sickening grin. "She's looking a bit blue, Keifer. Should I tell him to stop, or are you still attached to that silver toy?"
I looked at Angelo. He gave me a microscopic nod, his eyes signaling Wait for the flare.
I looked back at Kaizar, a terrifying, cold smile spreading across my face. It was the smile of a King who had nothing left to lose. I held the pen drive over a large, jagged rock at my feet.
"You want the data, Kaizar? Here's the deal," I said, my voice dropping to a whisper that carried through the clearing like a death sentence. "Tell your man to step away from the bed, or I smash this into a thousand pieces right now. If she dies, this secret dies with her. You'll have her life, but you'll lose your empire. Is that a trade you're willing to make?"
Kaizar's smile vanished. For the first time tonight, he looked nervous. "You're bluffing. You love her too much to let her go."
"I love her enough to make sure her death actually means something," I growled, raising the rock. "Thirty seconds left, Kaizar. What's it going to be? Your life's work, or a girl you don't even care about?"
The speakerphone crackled. "Boss? The girl's heart rate is dropping. She's fighting for air. Should I finish it?"
"DO IT!" Kaizar screamed, losing his composure.
BOOM.
A white flare erupted in the sky behind Kaizar, blinding the snipers.
"NOW!" I roared.