Chapter 9 - The Last Stand
Nora jumped back from the steel table.
Her heart slammed against her ribs like a trapped bird.
The heavy vault door continued to grind open, the metal groaning loudly in the silent bunker.
Someone had bypassed the biometric security lock from the outside.
Roman ignored his massive injuries.
He slid off the table and grabbed an assault rifle from the nearest weapons rack.
He tossed a smaller, matte black pistol directly to Nora.
"Safety is already off," Roman said, his voice entirely devoid of panic.
"Aim for the center of mass and do not stop firing until the magazine is empty."
Nora gripped the cold metal of the gun.
She had never fired a weapon in her life before tonight.
Tommy rushed out of the security room, racking the slide of his shotgun.
"Cameras went dark five minutes ago, boss," Tommy grunted.
"They brought a hacker."
The heavy vault door finally locked completely open.
A thick cloud of white tear gas was immediately launched into the room.
"Masks!" Roman shouted, pulling a tactical respirator from a drawer and tossing it to Nora.
She fumbled with the straps, pulling the mask tightly over her face just as the burning smoke filled the bunker.
Ten heavily armed men wearing night-vision goggles poured through the doorway.
The bunker erupted into an absolute warzone.
Deafening gunfire echoed off the concrete walls, shaking the floor beneath their feet.
Roman moved with lethal precision, dropping three men in the first few seconds.
Tommy fired his shotgun relentlessly, holding the chokepoint at the entrance.
Nora crouched behind a reinforced steel cabinet, terrified.
A mercenary flanked Roman, aiming a rifle directly at his blind spot.
Nora did not hesitate this time.
She raised the pistol, closed her eyes for a fraction of a second, and pulled the trigger.
The recoil violently jerked her wrists backward.
The mercenary screamed and collapsed, dropping his weapon.
"Move to the escape tunnel!" Roman commanded, grabbing Nora by the tactical vest he had thrown over her uniform.
They retreated toward the back of the bunker.
Tommy covered their exit, taking a grazing bullet to his thigh without even flinching.
Roman slammed his hand against a hidden panel in the wall.
A secondary steel door slid open, revealing a dark, narrow passageway.
They piled into the tunnel.
Roman hit the emergency destruct button on the wall keypad.
A massive series of incendiary charges detonated inside the bunker.
The explosion completely collapsed the entrance, burying the remaining mercenaries under tons of rubble.
They were sealed inside the escape tunnel.
The silence that followed was entirely deafening.
Nora pulled her mask off, coughing violently.
They walked in silence for twenty minutes, climbing a steep incline.
They finally reached a heavy iron grate that opened up into a private, high-security parking garage.
A pristine black armored sedan was waiting for them.
"This is one of my ghost properties," Roman explained, leaning heavily against the car.
"No one knows it exists."
"Not even the Chicago syndicate."
Tommy opened the back door, and Roman practically collapsed into the leather seat.
Nora climbed in next to him, her hands still shaking from the adrenaline.
The driver started the engine immediately.
They sped out of the garage and onto the quiet, rain-slicked streets of the city.
Nora looked back out the rear window.
May you like
There were no headlights following them.
They had finally lost their pursuers.
