The doctors, who had been scrambling to erase files, froze at the sight of Samuel’s gun aimed directly at them.
With a cold glare, Samuel fixed his eyes on the doctors and said, “Hands up! Try anything, and you’ll regret it.”
Reluctantly, the doctors complied, slowly lifting their hands in surrender.
Meanwhile, the doctor who had been frantically erasing the data glanced at the progress bar on the screen. Eighty percent complete. A subtle exhale escaped him, quiet and restrained.
What mattered most was that the data would soon be gone. Their own lives held little weight now, knowing they had all been exposed to the T Organization’s poison. Given the choice between slow agony and immediate death, he would gladly choose the latter.
He hadn’t expected that the one pulling the strings wasn’t Samuel but Katelyn. With a swift motion, Katelyn took full control of the still-active computer. As long as it remained powered on, Katelyn could manipulate it at will.
Just when the data deletion neared completion, at 99%, the screen froze abruptly. A surge of panic shot through the doctor’s chest.
Why had everything stopped? Was the system malfunctioning? If so, was there any chance of deleting the data successfully? His mind raced with endless questions.
Meanwhile, Katelyn had already secured a copy of the data. She even retrieved the deleted files from the recycle bin, leaving nothing behind. Katelyn glanced at the documents, a wave of relief washing over her. “At last, I’ve got everything.”
It had been a near miss—the data had almost been lost. Had she delayed even a second longer, it would have been gone forever.
As the doctor watched, the previously frozen screen flickered back to life, and the deleted files reappeared on the desktop. The doctor’s eyes widened in disbelief, his nerves on edge. Confusion clouded his mind. Why had this happened? The data had been deleted—so why was it back? Had their struggle been for nothing?
Every journey starts at g?lnσν?s﹒о
A wave of dread washed over the doctor.
Katelyn’s voice was firm as she commanded Samuel. “Take out every doctor here and leave everything untouched.”
None of these doctors, with their dirty deeds, could be allowed to live. The risk of exposure of her faked death was too great; if word spread, she would be compromised, and even Vincent might find himself caught in the mess. Katelyn had no desire to deal with such threats.
With a respectful nod, Samuel responded, “Understood, Miss Bailey!” His hand tightened around the gun, his finger poised on the trigger.
In a final act of desperation, a doctor dropped to his knees before Samuel, pleading for mercy. “Please, spare us. We’re innocent.”
The rest of the doctors quickly joined in. “It’s true. None of this was our choice. We were dragged here against our will. If we refused to obey, they would’ve killed us.”
A few of the more faint-hearted ones could hardly stay on their feet. Their legs shook as they pleaded. “We’ll cooperate. Just don’t kill us.” Survival was the only thing on their minds. None of them had imagined they’d still be staring death in the face at this stage.
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