“We don’t have thirty.”
“Done.” Havoc ripped the drive from the port. He shoved it into a tactical pouch. “Download complete. We need to move. Now.”
“Service elevator. Go.”
I turned and ran.
Chaos met us instantly.
At the far end of the corridor, near the elevators, tactical lights blinded us. Shouts erupted. “Contact! Contact front!”
Suppressed gunfire coughed through the air. Pfft-pfft-pfft.
Rounds chewed into the expensive wood paneling inches from my face, sending splinters flying like shrapnel.
I didn’t think. I didn’t decide. The machine took over.
My body dropped into a crouch, presenting a smaller target. The weapon in my hand stabilized, the tremor vanishing the moment the recoil started.
Double tap. Adjust. Double tap.
Two guards at the end of the hall dropped. One crumpled silently; the other spun, his weapon clattering across the marble floor.
“Move!”
We sprinted. Not toward the main elevators, but back toward the service access we’d come from. The alarm was deafening now, a pulsing red light washing the corridor in the color of blood.
My legs pumped, driving me forward. More guards poured from the stairwell door ahead. Three of them. Armored. Visored.
They were between us and the exit.
I didn’t slow down. I accelerated.
The lead guard raised his rifle. I was faster. I slid on the slick carpet, coming in low under his barrel. My boot connected with his knee. Snap. He screamed.
I rose in a fluid motion, using his falling body as a shield. My hand grabbed the barrel of his rifle, twisting it out of his grip. I slammed the butt of my MP5 into his helmet and shoved him into the second guard.
The third guard hesitated. That was his mistake.
I shot him. Two rounds to the chest plate, one to the throat.
He went down.
“Clear!”
Hellhound and Havoc rushed past me, their weapons scanning the angles.
I looked down at the men I had broken. It had taken less than five seconds. I hadn’t felt fear. I hadn’t felt hesitation.
I know how to do this. I’m helpless with a door lock, but I’m a god at this.
The file in my jacket felt heavy, a lead weight.
Clare.
If she saw me now, would she see the man she claimed to love? Or would she see the monster Dresner built?
Don’t think about it. Survive first. Apologize later.
