Chapter 16 - Blood and Smoke
Detective Vance worked the thin ceramic blade into the latch mechanism of the shipping container door.
With a quiet click, the internal locking rod gave way.
Vance kicked the heavy steel door open with the force of an enraged bull.
The door smashed violently into the first mercenary, knocking the man backward onto the concrete floor.
Vance threw his entire body weight into the second guard, wrestling the man's assault rifle away in a desperate flurry of blows.
"Run!" Vance roared at us.
I grabbed Olivia's hand and bolted out of the container, sprinting toward the yellow emergency exit fifty yards away.
Lauren was right behind us, running with astonishing athletic speed.
Gunshots suddenly shattered the morning air, echoing deafeningly off the hangar's corrugated metal walls.
David burst out of the glass-walled office, shouting orders and firing his silver revolver toward us.
A bullet sparked off the concrete inches from my heel.
Lauren suddenly surged ahead of Olivia and me, reaching the heavy emergency door first.
She slammed her body against the panic bar and shoved the door wide open into the cold morning air.
Instead of holding the door for us, Lauren grabbed the heavy iron security bar resting against the wall.
She slipped through the opening, turned around, and pulled the heavy steel door shut in our faces.
"Lauren, no!" Olivia screamed, pounding her fists against the reinforced glass window.
Through the glass, I saw Lauren drop the iron security bar across the external handles, locking us inside.
She looked at me through the glass, her eyes cold, ruthless, and entirely devoid of remorse.
"Every woman for herself, Marcus," Lauren mouthed silently before turning and sprinting toward the runway.
She had trapped us inside the kill zone to buy herself time to reach the plane.
Behind us, a volley of automatic gunfire ripped through the air.
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Detective Vance let out a agonized groan and collapsed to the floor near the container, clutching his chest.
David strode across the hangar floor, smoke drifting from the barrel of his smoking weapon.
