Chapter 28 - The Ambush
"Hold the line, Elias!" I shouted, pulling my own compact pistol from its holster. I had trained rigorously over the past two years, refusing to ever be a helpless victim again.
Gunfire erupted in the corridor. The deafening, staccato cracks of assault rifles shattered the sterile silence of the sub-basement. Elias returned fire with expert, controlled bursts of non-lethal rubber baton rounds, driving the advancing security contractors back behind the concrete pillars.
"Data extraction complete!" David yelled, ripping the heavy flash drive from the terminal and shoving it into his backpack. "I have the ghost ledgers! We need to go, now!"
"Elias, fall back!" I ordered over the radio.
Elias tossed a thick smoke grenade down the hallway. A massive cloud of dense, white smoke instantly filled the corridor, completely blinding the advancing guards.
We sprinted back toward the subterranean service tunnels, our boots pounding against the concrete floor. Bullets sparked dangerously against the walls behind us, chipping away chunks of stone. I kept myself positioned firmly between David and the gunfire, providing cover as we navigated the labyrinthine basement.
We burst through the rusted iron service gate, slamming it shut and locking it with a heavy padlock just as the guards reached the other side. They pounded furiously against the metal bars, shouting obscenities, but we were already disappearing into the dark, echoing depths of the subway tunnels.
We didn't stop running until we emerged three blocks away, blending seamlessly into the chaotic, rain-soaked crowds of the late-night city streets.
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We climbed into the back of a waiting armored SUV driven by one of Elias’s trusted men.
"We got it," I breathed heavily, leaning back against the leather seat, the adrenaline slowly beginning to crash. I looked at the encrypted flash drive in David’s hands. "We have the blade that is going to cut Julian’s throat."
