Chapter 6 - Fire in the Sub-Level
"Down! Everybody down!" Daniel roared, physically tackling Emily behind a massive steel server rack just as a hail of suppression fire chewed up the concrete floor where they had been standing.
Glass shattered. Sparks flew as bullets ricocheted off computer housings. The deafening roar of automatic weapons filled the subterranean vault.
"Marcus! Status on the defenses!" Daniel yelled over the gunfire, pulling a compact Glock from a magnetic holster beneath his arm and checking the clip.
"Automated turrets are offline! They jammed our local network!" Marcus fired three rapid shots back toward the breach, dropping the lead mercenary in his tracks. "We’re cut off, boss! The entire extraction route to the surface is compromised!"
Emily pressed her back against the cold steel of the server rack, her hands clamped tightly over her ears. Her breath came in ragged, terrified gasps. The memory of her parents' funeral—the flashing lights, the rain, the crushing weight of loss—rushed back to her with suffocating intensity.
Don't cry, she told herself fiercely, biting her lip until she tasted copper. Be invisible. Be strong like Nai Nai.
Daniel glanced down at her, seeing the stark terror in her eyes. Despite the mortal danger surrounding them, a fierce protectiveness surged through his veins—a feeling he hadn't experienced since the day he lost his own family to a rigged corporate takeover that left him orphaned at twelve.
"Emily, listen to me," Daniel said, his voice cutting through the gunfire with absolute authority. He grabbed her small hands, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "We are going to get out of here. Do you trust me?"
Emily nodded slowly, her lower lip trembling. "Yes."
"Good." Daniel handed her a small, lightweight carbon-fiber gas mask. "Put this on. When I say run, you run straight down the maintenance tunnel behind this rack. Don't look back, don't stop, and don't make a sound. Do you understand?"
"What about you?" she asked, her voice muffled by the mask.
"I'll be right behind you," Daniel lied smoothly, offering a reassuring smile that didn't reach his eyes.
With a roar, Daniel popped up from behind the server rack, unleashing a volley of suppressive fire that forced the advancing mercenaries to take cover.
"Now, Emily! Go!"
May you like
Emily scrambled on her hands and knees into the narrow, dark maintenance tunnel, her small backpack scraping against the concrete walls. As she crawled into the shadows, she heard Daniel shouting orders, followed by the deafening boom of a breaching charge and the chaos of hand-to-hand combat.
She kept moving, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird, driven by a single, desperate prayer: Let him live. Please let him live.
