Chapter 14 - Blood In The Black Water
The tunnels began to widen, the concrete walls transitioning into ancient, moss-covered brick. The cartel operative paused, raising a clenched fist. Behind him, a secondary mercenary—the rearguard—stepped out from an intersecting drainage pipe. The second man carried a heavy, pump-action shotgun, his eyes wide and nervous as he scanned the darkness they had just traversed.
"We are too slow," the rearguard hissed in Spanish, his voice echoing wetly off the bricks. "The federal strike teams are already swarming the estate. We need to kill the girl and take the secondary exit."
The massive operative holding Claire's chain shook his head. "The girl is the shield. The commander has the ledgers. El Jefe wants the drive, or he wants the federal dog's head in a box. Without the girl, we have no trade."
Claire listened, her heart hammering against her ribs. She was entirely surrounded by heavily armed killers, deep beneath the earth, completely cut off from the world above. The rearguard racked his shotgun, a loud, metallic clack that made Claire flinch.
"I'll hold the intersection," the rearguard muttered, stepping back into the shadows. "Get her to the boat."
The operative yanked the chain, forcing Claire to stumble forward into the widening darkness.
The rearguard leaned against the damp brick wall, raising his shotgun toward the corridor they had just walked down. He pulled a cheap cigarette from his tactical vest, placing it between his lips to calm his nerves. He reached for a lighter.
A hand emerged from the pitch-black water beside him.
It happened with such violent, silent speed that the mercenary didn't even have time to scream. Marcus Reed surged from the flooded drainage trench like a nightmare made flesh. His left hand clamped over the mercenary's mouth, pinning the unlit cigarette against his lips. His right hand plunged a six-inch, matte-black combat knife directly upward, slipping flawlessly beneath the edge of the tactical vest and piercing the man's heart.
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The mercenary convulsed wildly, his eyes bulging in absolute terror as his life was extinguished in a fraction of a second. Marcus held the thrashing body tightly against his own, absorbing the kinetic energy until the man went entirely limp.
Marcus lowered the dead weight silently into the water. He didn't check the pulse. He simply pulled his blade free, wiped the blood on the dead man's vest, and melted back into the shadows, his green-glowing optics fixed on the path ahead.
