Chapter 7 - Hunted in My Own Shadows
Marcus moved before I could react.
He didn't try to negotiate anymore.
He grabbed a tactical assault shotgun from the wall mount inside the vault.
He climbed onto my antique mahogany desk.
He smashed the heavy butt of the weapon into the ventilation grate above his
head.
The iron screws sheared off with a sharp metallic snap.
He pulled himself up into the shaft with frantic strength.
He was heading straight for the auxiliary bunker.
Where Sophie was hiding.
“Dammit!” I snarled.
I bolted across the dining room, sliding through the service door.
“Rossi! Cover the perimeter!” I shouted over my shoulder.
“Don't let anyone leave the grounds alive!”
“On it, boss!” Rossi barked back.
I sprinted down the narrow stone stairs leading toward the sub-levels.
My lungs burned with cold air.
Marcus was desperate.
A cornered rat with nothing left to lose is more dangerous than an army.
If he reached Sophie, he would use her as a human shield.
Or worse.
He would slaughter her just to hurt me one last time.
The narrow tunnel was pitch black.
I flicked on the weapon light mounted beneath my Glock.
A stark white beam cut through the subterranean mist.
The sound of scrambling boots echoed through the metal ductwork above my head.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
Marcus was moving fast.
He knew these maintenance routes almost as well as I did.
I reached the reinforced door of the auxiliary bunker.
The electronic keypad was dark.
He had cut the primary power feed from the inside when he breached the shaft.
“Sophie!” I yelled, slamming my fist against the steel plate.
“Get away from the ceiling vent!”
A sharp gunshot echoed from inside the room.
BANG!
The sound of shattering glass and a piercing female scream ripped through the
heavy door.
“Get off me!” Sophie’s voice shrieked.
Adrenaline surged through my blood like pure lightning.
I didn't have time to enter the secondary manual override code.
I stepped back two paces.
I aimed my automatic shotgun directly at the electronic lock mechanism.
I pulled the trigger three times.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Heavy lead slugs shredded the magnetic housing.
Sparks rained down over my shoulders.
I kicked the heavy door with everything I had.
The steel hinges groaned, snapped, and the door swung open with a violent crash.
Inside, the blue monitors flickered erratically.
Marcus was on the floor, pinning Sophie against the corner server rack.
His left hand was wrapped around her dark hair.
His right hand held the tactical shotgun pressed beneath her chin.
Sophie was fighting back with savage fury.
Her fingernails had gouged deep red tracks across Marcus’s face.
Blood ran down his cheek into his beard.
“Back off, Ethan!” Marcus screamed, his voice wild and unhinged.
He pulled Sophie up, using her slender frame as a shield.
“One step and I paint this entire wall with her brain!”
Sophie’s eyes locked onto mine.
She was terrified, her chest heaving, tears cutting clean lines through the dust
on her face.
Yet she didn't beg.
She held the subcompact pistol I had given her earlier.
She hadn't dropped it.
Marcus’s thick arm was pinned around her shoulders, blocking her from raising
the weapon.
“Drop the gun, Ethan!” Marcus yelled, pressing the shotgun deeper into her
throat.
“Throw it on the floor! Now!”
I slowly lowered my weapon.
My eyes never left Marcus’s face.
“You’re finished, Marcus,” I said softly.
“The captains know the truth. Caroline is already on her way to federal
custody.”
“Your mercenaries outside are being hunted down like stray dogs.”
“There is nowhere in this world you can run.”
Marcus let out a ragged, hysterical laugh.
“I don't need to run anywhere!” he roared.
“I have the bearer bonds in the vault safe! Fifty million untraceable dollars!”
“You’re going to open the garage tunnel for me, Ethan.”
“You’re going to let me walk out of here with the girl.”
“And if I see one security light flicker, I put a slug through her spine.”
I looked at Sophie.
Her knuckles were white around the tiny pistol.
Her breathing slowed down.
She caught my eye.
A subtle, nearly imperceptible shift in her gaze.
She looked down toward Marcus’s right foot.
He was standing on the slick, oil-stained steel floorplate directly above the
secondary drainage shaft.
A loose panel that I had marked for repairs two weeks ago.
I gave her the slightest nod.
Just a millimeter dip of my chin.
“You’re right, Marcus,” I said, taking half a step backward.
“Take the bonds. Take the car. Just let her go.”
Marcus smirked, savoring what he thought was my total surrender.
“I knew you were weak, Ethan,” Marcus sneered.
“You always cared too much about the help—”
Before he could finish the sentence, Sophie drove the sharp heel of her work
shoe directly onto Marcus’s instep.
At the exact same moment, she bit down savage and hard on the meat of his
forearm.
Marcus roared in agony, his grip instinctively loosening.
May you like
Sophie dropped to her knees, twisting out from beneath his arm.
“Now, Mr. Vale!” she screamed.
