THE MAN WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD

The heavy steel doors at the far end of the underground facility blew off their hinges with a concussive blast that shook the floor.

Through the thick gray smoke strode Elena Russo.

She wasn’t wearing the elegant business attire I was used to seeing. She wore dark tactical gear, carrying a short-barreled rifle, looking every inch the ruthless mob boss’s daughter.

Pouring into the room behind her were at least fifty heavily armed men of the Chicago syndicate.

Margaret’s face went chalk white. “You brought an army to a hospital?”

“This isn’t a hospital,” Elena said coldly, marching up to Margaret. “This is a slaughterhouse. And you’re out of business.”

Gunfire erupted in the corridors outside the main chamber as Gabriel’s syndicate clashed with the facility’s private security. The noise was deafening, but inside the main room, Elena’s men quickly secured the perimeter.

“Dad,” Elena said, nodding to Gabriel. “The perimeter is locked down. We have ten minutes before local authorities realize this isn’t just a fire alarm.”

Gabriel turned to me. “Do you have the files?”

I pulled a silver flash drive out of the terminal. “I have everything. Names, dates, bank transfers. It’s enough to put them all away for life.”

Margaret sneered. “You think a flash drive matters? These people control the judges. They control the media. You leak that, and they will bury it, and then they will bury you.”

I looked at the drive in my hand.

Margaret was right. A data leak wouldn’t be enough. The system was too corrupt.

I looked at the twenty occupied oxygen chambers. The politicians and billionaires sleeping peacefully while they stole the lives of others.

“You’re right, Margaret,” I said softly. “A flash drive isn’t enough.”

I walked over to the main atmospheric control panel.

“Katherine?” Gabriel asked, seeing the look in my eyes.

“If we leave these machines intact, they’ll just rebuild,” I said. “They’ll find another doctor. They’ll kidnap more children like Leo. They’ll kill more good men like David.”

I typed a sequence into the master override.

A robotic voice echoed: Warning. Hyperbaric purge initiated. Chamber pressure dropping to lethal atmospheric levels in sixty seconds.

Margaret screamed, lunging at me. “No! You’ll kill them all!”

Gabriel grabbed her by the hair, throwing her to the ground.

“I’m not killing them,” I said coldly. “I’m just waking them up. Without their stolen treatments, their natural sicknesses will return immediately. They’ll have to face the mortality they tried to buy their way out of.”

“We need to go. Now,” Elena shouted over the blaring sirens.

We ran for the massive freight elevator at the back of the room. Gabriel’s men provided cover fire, pushing back the facility guards who were now panicking as the machines began to vent aggressively.

We piled into the elevator, Elena hitting the surface button.

As the doors began to close, Margaret crawled toward us, sobbing.

I looked at her without an ounce of pity.

“Tell the board that Katherine Miller says hello,” I said.