Chapter 5 - The Price of Loyalty
The basement turned into a slaughterhouse of sound and fury.
Bullets chewed through drywall, shattering glass jars and sending medical instruments clattering across the wet floor. Alio rolled behind a heavy stainless steel prep counter, water soaking through his clothes as he pulled the trigger twice.
Thud. Thud.
Two muffled sighs told him Tommy’s suppressed weapon had found its marks.
"Tommy! Secure the door!" Alio yelled over the roar of the water and the shriek of the fire alarm.
"Got it! Main exit is blocked by the fire shutter!" Tommy shouted back, firing another burst toward the stairs. "We're trapped down here!"
Alio didn't answer. He scrambled across the slick floor toward the operating table. Through the flashing red strobes, he saw Marcus Vane scrambling backward toward the rear utility exit, holding a remote detonator in his hand, his face twisted in panic.
"You can't stop it, Valente!" Vane screamed over the alarm. "The Omega-Zero sequence is on a timer! The dog's heart stops in sixty seconds, and the data wipes automatically!"
Alio didn't chase Vane. He reached the operating table, ignoring the water pouring over his head, and looked down at Goliath. The mastiff’s eyes were half-closed now. The breathing had almost stopped.
With a roar of pure fury, Alio grabbed the glowing red bio-relay box wired into the dog's shoulder and yanked it with both hands.
Riiiiip.
Flesh and synthetic wire tore away in a bloody mess. Alio didn't care about the pain he was causing; he knew it was the only way. He grabbed a heavy surgical clamp from the tray, placed it directly over the main artery feeding the transmission node, and clamped down with all his might, severing the digital connection to Vane's remote server.
The monitor let out a long, agonizing, flat electronic shriek.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.
Goliath’s head slumped sideways. The chest stopped moving entirely.
"No," Alio whispered, dropping to his knees beside the table. He pressed both hands against the mastiff's massive, wet chest and began chest compressions, pushing down with rhythmic, desperate force. "No, you didn't crawl through a mile of snow just to die on my floor. Breathe, damn you."
From across the room, Tommy fired his last round into the utility exit, dropping Vane’s remaining guard before the man could reach the stairs. Vane himself had already slipped out into the alley, slamming the heavy iron bulkhead doors shut above.
"Alio! We gotta move! The whole place is flooding!" Tommy yelled, splashing through the knee-deep water.
"Give me a pulse meter!" Alio roared, his hands never stopping their relentless compressions.
Tommy dove across the room, grabbed a portable defibrillator unit from the wrecked crash cart, and slapped the pads onto Goliath's matted chest. "Charging! Stand back!"
"Do it!" Alio shouted, pressing his hands harder against the animal's ribs.
Tommy slammed the discharge button.
ZAP!
The massive dog’s body convulsed violently off the stainless steel table, its back arching as four hundred volts of electricity surged through its ruined muscle and bone.
For three seconds, nothing happened. The monitor remained a flat, unbroken line.
Tommy closed his eyes, lowering his head. "Alio... he's gone. We have to go."
Alio didn't stop. He leaned his face down against the mastiff’s cold ear, ignoring the blood and the freezing water, and whispered something in the dark—something he hadn't said out loud since the night his mother’s car burned on Lincoln Park.
"I'm here," Alio whispered. "You're safe now."
A single, deep, shuddering gasp broke from Goliath’s throat.
The mastiff’s eyes snapped wide open. The dark, exhausted irises locked onto Alio’s face with absolute, unshakeable recognition. A low, rumbling sound—half-sob, half-sigh—vibrated from deep within the dog's chest, echoing off the concrete walls like a promise.
The monitor flickered. A green blip spiked across the screen.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Alio let out a long, slow breath, his shoulders dropping as the immense weight of the last five years finally shifted off his chest. He reached up, his hand resting firmly on Goliath’s broad, scarred head.
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"Good boy," Alio murmured.
Tommy stared in stunned disbelief, then slowly wiped the water from his forehead and managed a grim, exhausted smile. "Well, boss... looks like you've got a new head of security."
