Chapter 9 - The Ambush
Elias stared in absolute shock at the empty wooden chair where my son had supposedly been sitting.
The holographic decoy had been flawlessly projected from a small, sophisticated drone hidden in the ceiling rafters.
Sarah had secretly deployed the technology during our initial breach, knowing Elias would rely entirely on his hostage leverage.
I used the crucial moment of utter confusion to draw a hidden combat knife from my ankle holster.
I lunged violently forward, driving the blade deeply into the shoulder of the mercenary standing closest to me.
He screamed in agony, dropping his heavy assault rifle to the concrete floor.
Sarah dove into a perfect combat roll, snatching the discarded weapon and immediately unleashing a hail of suppressive fire.
Elias scrambled frantically behind a massive concrete support pillar, abandoning the glowing server on the ground.
The basement erupted into a deafening, chaotic warzone of flying lead and shattering concrete.
I sprinted through the heavy crossfire, grabbing the server and tossing it securely into a nearby floor drain.
"You are absolutely insane!" Elias roared over the gunfire, realizing his fifty-million-dollar prize was completely gone.
"I am a father protecting his family," I shouted back, returning fire with a stolen pistol.
We systematically dismantled Elias's elite mercenary team, utilizing our superior, synchronized tactical training.
Sarah moved with a breathtaking, lethal grace I had never witnessed during our ten years of peaceful marriage.
Within three brutal minutes, the entire basement was littered with the groaning bodies of Elias's defeated men.
Elias was cornered behind the pillar, bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to his thigh, entirely out of ammunition.
I walked slowly toward him, aiming my weapon directly at his terrified, sweating face.
"Where is the real Leo?" I demanded, my voice dangerously calm and devoid of all mercy.
Elias laughed bitterly, spitting blood onto the dusty concrete floor.
"He is safely locked in the trunk of a car parked at the old airfield, waiting for my extraction team," Elias confessed.
I did not waste another second, striking him violently across the jaw with the butt of my pistol.
He collapsed completely unconscious to the floor, his reign of terror officially and permanently ended.
Sarah and I sprinted out of the ruined house, driving like absolute maniacs toward the deserted industrial airfield.
We arrived just as a heavy cargo plane began taxiing down the cracked, overgrown runway.
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A black sedan was parked near the hangar, completely abandoned by the fleeing extraction crew.
I rushed to the trunk of the car, my heart pounding violently against my ribs.
