Chapter 16 - The Alpina Sanatorium
The black Mercedes van blasted through the snowy pines of the Swiss mountain pass, its snow chains biting hard into the ice.
Julian, dressed in tactical black under a heavy wool coat, gripped a modified SIG Sauer 9mm beneath his lapel. Beside him, Henderson checked the magazines of his assault rifle, while three Swiss mercenaries Julian had hired upon landing at a private airstrip sat in cold silence.
High above them on the jagged granite cliff stood the Alpina Sanatorium—a concrete-and-glass fortress masked as an exclusive wellness clinic for European aristocracy.
"Thermal imaging shows heavy personnel movement on the lower terrace," Henderson reported, monitoring a handheld scanner. "They're burning files in the courtyard. They know the perimeter has been breached."
"Is she still inside?" Julian asked, his voice shaking with a dangerous mixture of grief and pure, homicidal fury.
"Heat signatures in the sub-basement show one stable biometrics pod," Henderson replied. "Heart rate is elevated. She’s awake, Julian."
"Blow the gates," Julian ordered.
The Mercedes accelerated, smashing through the wrought-iron barrier at sixty miles an hour, spraying sparks and shattered metal across the snow. Gunfire immediately erupted from the upper balconies, rounds punching through the reinforced windshield with terrifying cracks.
Julian kicked his door open before the van had even come to a complete halt, sliding across the bloody ice and returning fire. A sniper on the guard tower tumbled through the wooden railing, crashing into the snow below.
Julian breached the heavy glass entrance, spraying the interior lobby with suppressive fire. Two security guards dropped to the polished marble floor.
The interior was spotless, painted in blinding clinical white, smelling of formaldehyde and ozone. Julian ignored the alarms blaring through the halls and sprinted straight for the elevator banks. He slammed the butt of his weapon into the control panel, overriding the safety protocols with an electronic bypass key, and selected Sub-Level 4.
The metal cage dropped like a stone into the bowels of the mountain.
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When the doors slid open, the sound of an infant crying pierced the sterile air.
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