Chapter 24 - Blood on the Tracks
The first laser sight cut through the gloom like a bloody spear, sweeping across the brick wall just inches from Maxwell’s face. He didn't hesitate. Squeezing the trigger, he let out a three-round burst that shattered the silence of the catacombs.
A grunt of pain echoed down the tunnel, followed immediately by a deafening return volley. Sparks showered over Maxwell as high-velocity rounds chewed into the brickwork, forcing him to duck behind a heavy iron water pipe.
"Max, don't play the hero!" Arthur barked from down the tunnel. "Fall back!"
"Move!" Maxwell roared, firing blindly around the pipe to keep the operatives pinned down.
Martha pushed Arthur’s wheelchair as fast as the motorized treads would allow, sprinting down the corridor toward the heavy steel blast doors of the server room. The air was thick with the smell of cordite and pulverized brick.
Two mercenaries, clad in night-vision goggles, flanked Maxwell’s position, moving with terrifying speed along the walls. One of them vaulted over a pile of rubble, leveling his weapon at Maxwell’s exposed flank.
Before the mercenary could pull the trigger, a single, deafening crack rang out from down the hall.
The mercenary’s head snapped backward, his helmet shattering as Martha’s bullet found its mark dead center. He crumpled limply onto the tracks. Martha stood fifty yards away, her pistol smoking, her stance perfect.
Maxwell used the distraction to roll across the tracks, firing two rounds into the chest of the second advancing operative, dropping him into the shallow water of the drainage ditch.
"That's two down!" Maxwell yelled, sprinting back toward Martha and his father as the remaining operatives laid down a heavy barrage of suppressing fire.
"They're using armor-piercing rounds," Arthur warned as Maxwell caught up to them, the three of them ducking behind a thick concrete bulkhead just outside the server room doors. "The walls won't hold them forever."
Maxwell looked at the monofilament tripwire they had bypassed. The remaining mercenaries were advancing cautiously, their laser sights sweeping the darkness.
"Martha, now!" Maxwell shouted.
Martha stepped out from behind the bulkhead, raised her pistol, and fired at the C4 charge rigged to the ceiling above the tripwire.
The explosion was deafening in the confined space. A massive shockwave threw Maxwell and Martha off their feet as the ceiling of the tunnel gave way. Tons of earth, brick, and twisted metal collapsed downward in a suffocating cloud of dust, completely sealing the corridor and burying the remaining tripwire in a mountain of impassable rubble.
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Silence descended on the tunnel once more, save for the ringing in their ears and the trickling of water through the fresh debris.
"That bought us time," Maxwell coughed, helping Martha to her feet. "But Victor won't stop. He'll find another way around. Let's get that data."
