Chapter 68
The subterranean firefight was utterly merciless and deafening. Stray bullets chewed through reinforced concrete pillars and shattered overhead industrial pipes, raining sparks and steam down upon the combatants. The Consortium's security forces were overwhelming in pure numbers, but they were systematically and brutally dismantled by the flawless tactical coordination of the Alpha team and the cold, unyielding lethality of Dante Russo. Utilizing a dense smoke grenade to blind the corridor, Dante pushed through the crossfire, snapping limbs and using his combat blade to carve a bloody path directly to the core of the facility. Blood stained the gray floors, yet Dante’s pale gray eyes never wavered from his objective.
Kicking open the final, heavy steel blast door, Dante stormed into a freezing, sterile isolation cell. Strapped to a heavy metal chair in the center of the room was a frail, severely emaciated woman. Her chestnut hair, once vibrant and deeply beautiful, was now graying and brittle. Her sunken cheeks bore the dark, terrible bruises of endless, agonizing interrogations. It was Elena. The woman who had staged her own bloody death to escape the mafia’s cruelty had tragically become its most profound victim.
Hearing the violent commotion, Elena slowly lifted her heavy head. Her exhausted, hollow eyes widened in utter disbelief as she recognized Dante’s rugged, familiar face. "Dante..." she rasped, her voice broken and completely raw. "You shouldn't have come... It's a trap."
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Dante rushed forward, holstering his weapon and using his blade to slice through the thick nylon restraints binding her wrists. "I promised Maya and Sophia I would bring you home. We are leaving right now."
But Elena shook her head violently, hot tears spilling down her hollow, bruised face. She clung to his sleeve, using the very last reserves of her strength. "No! They wired a biometric dead-man's explosive directly to my heart. If I leave this island, the bomb detonates, destroying the central servers. I let them capture me ten years ago... I endured this living hell so I could access their mainframe. I uploaded a virus that will erase trillions of their assets globally, but it only triggers when the servers blow. I will destroy them from the inside. I will finally redeem my cowardice."
