Chapter 17 - The Broken Silence
I didn't wait for the mercenary's boot to touch the car seat.
I lined up my sights from the catwalk eighty feet above and squeezed the trigger.
The mercenary collapsed instantly, his carbine clattering across the concrete floor.
Before the echo could fade, I shifted my aim and dropped the second contractor before he could raise his weapon.
"Sniper on the catwalk!" the lead mercenary bellowed, dragging Senator Sterling behind the engine block of the Escalade.
Automatic gunfire erupted from below, tearing through the metal grating beneath my boots.
Sparks and shrapnel flew in every direction, forcing me to roll behind a heavy steel support pillar.
The catwalk was disintegrating under the hail of lead.
I unpinned a flashbang grenade from my vest, waited two seconds, and bounced it off the opposite steel girder.
The blinding white flash and ear-splitting detonation disoriented the remaining two guards.
I swung down from the catwalk ladder, hitting the concrete floor in a low crouch.
I fired two double-taps through the smoke, neutralizing the threats with cold, mechanical precision.
Silence crashed back into the foundry, broken only by Clara's frightened wails and the hiss of a punctured radiator.
I sprinted toward Julianne, pulling a combat knife from my belt to slice through the heavy zip-ties on her wrists.
"Maya!" she sobbed, throwing her arms around my neck before lunging forward to gather Clara into her chest.
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"She's safe... she's safe..." Julianne whispered, kissing the baby's tear-stained cheeks.
"We have to move now," I urged, picking up a dropped carbine. "Sterling didn't stay behind that car."
