Chapter 2 - The Safe House
Arthur did not take Lily to the public hospital. In a town where Richard’s family paid the salaries of the city council, a public hospital was a trap.
Instead, he drove thirty miles outside the city limits, navigating the dark, winding backroads of the hill country until he reached a seemingly abandoned warehouse. He pressed a button hidden beneath his steering column, and the rusted corrugated metal doors slid open, revealing a pristine, sterile medical bay hidden behind the decaying facade.
Two medics in unmarked black tactical scrubs were already waiting.
"Colonel," the lead medic said, bowing his head slightly as Arthur carried Lily out of the truck. "We have the trauma team prepped. We'll secure her physical state immediately."
"Dad, don't leave me," Lily cried as they gently laid her onto the gurney. Her eye was swollen shut now, a dark, ugly purple that stood out sharply against her pale skin.
"I’m not going anywhere, Lilybug," Arthur said, holding her hand until the sedatives the medic administered began to take effect. "You're safe here. Nobody can get to you in this place. I promise."
As the double doors of the medical suite closed, Arthur turned to the tactical terminal in the corner of the room. A holographic display flickered to life, projecting the face of Director Vance, Arthur's former commanding officer and a man who held the keys to the nation's most classified operational budgets.
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"Arthur," Vance said, his face lined with the gravity of the situation. "We haven't heard from you since the treaty in Berlin. We assumed you were content playing the retired logistics coordinator."
"I was," Arthur said, his voice dropping into a register that made the standing medics look down at the floor. "Until a second-generation real estate parasite decided to use my daughter as a punching bag because he thought his local police chief made him king of the world."
