Truth had been right to punch her.
I was just finishing what she started.
I stepped over Dr. Beaumont’s body and moved into the hallway. A nurse was coming around the corner, clipboard in hand, and she froze when she saw me.
“Mr. Landry? What—”
I shot her twice. Center mass. She dropped without another word.
The clinic was small—only six exam rooms, a waiting area, and the administrative offices in the back. I moved through it methodically, room by room, my footsteps echoing in the sterile hallways.
A medical assistant in the supply closet. Shot.
Two more nurses at the front desk. Shot.
The receptionist who’d checked Truth in for her appointment. Shot.
I didn’t hesitate. Didn’t think. Didn’t feel.
This was a message.
You touch what’s mine, you pay the price.
By the time I reached the back offices, the clinic was silent except for the ringing in my ears from the gunfire. I found the office manager hiding under her desk, her hands pressed over her mouth to muffle her sobs.
I crouched and looked at her.
“Please,” she whispered. “Please, I have kids!”
“You should’ve thought about that before you let Winston Landry turn this place into his personal laboratory.”
I pulled the trigger.
The silence that followed was absolute.
I stood in the middle of the clinic, surrounded by bodies, and felt nothing. No remorse. No guilt. No second thoughts.
Just cold, focused clarity.
I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I’d memorized years ago.
“Yeah?” The voice on the other end was gruff, professional.
“New Beginnings Fertility Center on St. Charles. I need a full clean. Bodies, evidence, everything.”
“How many?”
“Six.”
There was a pause. “That’s a big job.”
“I don’t care what it costs. I need it done in the next two hours. Clinic needs to look like nothing happened.”
“We’ll handle it. You still there?”
“I’m leaving now after I do one more walk-through.”
“Good. We’ll be there in twenty.”