CHAPTER 4 — THE BULLET THAT CHANGED THE RULES
CHAPTER 4 — THE BULLET THAT CHANGED THE RULES
Beth never saw the red laser.
It flickered across the hospital window for less than a second.
Dominic did.
Years of surviving assassination attempts had trained his eyes to recognize danger before his mind caught up.
He moved instantly.
"DOWN!"
He slammed Beth sideways.
The window exploded.
CRACK!
The rifle shot shattered the glass exactly where Beth's head had been.
Patients screamed.
Doctors hit the floor.
A second bullet tore through the hallway, smashing fluorescent lights into showers of sparks.
Chaos erupted.
"SNIPER!"
Hospital security scattered.
Detective Collins grabbed his radio.
"Lock every entrance!"
Dominic was already pulling Beth behind a concrete support column.
"You hurt?"
Beth shook her head, unable to speak.
Her ears rang.
Glass covered her coat.
A jagged shard had sliced her cheek.
Warm blood trickled down her face.
She barely noticed.
"I..."
Her voice cracked.
"He was aiming at me."
Dominic didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Three blocks away...
The sniper calmly disassembled his rifle.
One missed shot.
Unacceptable.
He removed the memory card from a tiny camera attached to the scope.
Beth's face.
Dominic protecting her.
Interesting.
He smiled.
"The boss will enjoy this."
He disappeared before police helicopters reached the area.
Inside the hospital...
The building entered full lockdown.
SWAT teams flooded the streets.
Reporters gathered outside.
Television helicopters circled overhead.
Every news channel carried the same headline.
ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AT NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL.
No names were released.
But rumors spread faster than facts.
Beth sat in an empty treatment room while another nurse stitched the cut on her cheek.
Her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
"I almost died."
The nurse nodded silently.
Beth stared at the floor.
"I'm just a nurse."
From the doorway Dominic spoke quietly.
"No."
She looked up.
"They tried to kill a witness."
"They tried to kill the woman who kept my mother alive."
"They're two very different things."
Beth laughed bitterly.
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"It wasn't meant to."
An hour later...
Dominic received a secure phone call.
He answered without greeting.
A distorted voice spoke.
"You look tired."
Dominic's expression never changed.
"You missed."
A chuckle echoed.
"This wasn't the real attack."
"What do you want?"
"Justice."
"You poisoned an old woman."
"I sent you a message."
Silence.
Then the voice became colder.
"You took everything from my family twelve years ago."
"I've waited long enough."
The call ended.
Dominic slowly lowered the phone.
Only one person had ever spoken to him that way.
Only one bloodline still carried that hatred.
He whispered a name he had hoped never to hear again.
"Falcone..."
Meanwhile...
Doctors finally completed emergency surgery on Eleanor Moretti.
Against every expectation...
She survived.
As the anesthesia began wearing off, she opened her eyes.
Dominic hurried to her bedside.
She struggled to breathe.
Her voice was barely audible.
"They..."
"They're back..."
"I know."
She grabbed his wrist with surprising strength.
"No..."
"You don't."
Her frightened eyes shifted toward the hallway.
Toward where Beth waited outside.
"They weren't trying..."
"...to kill me."
Dominic froze.
"What?"
His mother forced out one final sentence before exhaustion overtook her again.
"They wanted..."
"...the nurse."
Dominic stood perfectly still.
Nothing about that made sense.
Beth had never met his mother before tonight.
She was an overworked ER nurse living in a small apartment.
Why would an organization that had vanished for over a decade risk exposing itself...
...just to murder her?
As Dominic stared through the hospital window toward the flashing police lights below...
For the very first time in years...
He realized he wasn't hunting the enemy anymore.
May you like
The enemy had already chosen its target.
And that target was Beth Gallagher.
