Chapter 32
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The lead armored transport rolled heavily onto the wooden bridge, its massive tires churning up mud and gravel. The second and third vehicles followed closely in a tight, aggressive convoy. Through her thermal optics, Elena could see dozens of heavily armed mercenaries packed inside the trucks, hunting for her family.
She waited until the second vehicle was dead center on the bridge, maximizing the structural stress.
"For Arthur," Elena whispered softly.
She pressed the detonator.
The night exploded in a blinding, apocalyptic flash of orange and crimson fire. The deafening roar of the C4 charges tore through the serene forest, violently shattering the wooden bridge into thousands of burning splinters. The central transport vehicle was thrown violently into the air by the concussive force, crashing down into the rocky ravine below. The lead vehicle slammed on its brakes, skidding sideways into the mud, while the rear vehicle crashed into the burning debris.
Chaos instantly erupted among the surviving Obsidian operatives. Mercenaries scrambled out of the smoking vehicles, shouting conflicting orders and firing blindly into the dark tree line.
Elena didn't give them a second to recover. From her elevated vantage point behind the granite boulder, she unleashed a merciless, perfectly controlled barrage of suppressing fire. Her suppressed submachine gun chattered rapidly, dropping three operatives before they even knew where the attack was coming from.
"Sniper on the ridge! Suppressive fire!" a mercenary commander screamed, pointing toward Elena’s position.
The tree line around Elena was instantly shredded by a relentless hail of high-caliber bullets. Pinecones and bark exploded like shrapnel. Elena ducked low, pressing her back against the cold stone, breathing evenly. She had successfully drawn the entire attention of Thorne's ground force, buying Chloe and Jax the critical time they needed to escape.
But the victory was short-lived. A deafening, mechanical roar echoed from the sky above.
The violent downdraft of a military-grade attack helicopter parted the trees, its powerful spotlight cutting through the rain and locking directly onto the granite boulder where Elena was hiding.
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"Target acquired," a metallic voice boomed over the helicopter's external loudspeakers.
The heavy, rotating barrels of the chopper's mounted chain gun began to spin. Elena had nowhere to run. She pulled a flashbang grenade from her belt, preparing to make a desperate, final stand against the overwhelming firepower, fully accepting that she might not walk out of this forest alive.
