Chapter 6 - Into the Fire
Elias crashed into a metal cafeteria table and felt two of his ribs crack upon impact.
Flames licked the walls of the third-floor recreation room as thick black smoke filled the air.
Marcus groaned and pushed a heavy piece of fallen concrete off his massive legs.
"Are you still breathing, Grandpa?" Marcus coughed as he stumbled over to help Elias stand.
Elias checked his pocket and felt the hard plastic of the portable drive safely secured.
"I have the evidence but Julian is trying to burn the prison down to cover his tracks," Elias rasped.
They could hear the chaotic screams of general population inmates trapped in their cells as the fire spread.
"We have to manually override the cell doors from the security substation," Marcus yelled as he pointed down the hall.
They sprinted through the burning corridor while dodging falling debris and collapsing support beams.
Two of Julian's mercenaries stepped out of the smoke and raised their weapons to block the path.
Marcus grabbed a heavy fire extinguisher from the wall and hurled it directly at the guards.
Elias raised his rifle and shot the metal cylinder in mid-air.
The extinguisher exploded in a massive cloud of white chemical foam and blinded the mercenaries instantly.
Marcus charged through the foam and knocked both men out with a brutal double clothesline.
They reached the security substation and Elias immediately smashed the glass on the control panel.
He rewired the primary circuit and slammed his hand onto the emergency release button.
A loud mechanical clank echoed through the cell blocks as hundreds of heavy iron doors simultaneously slid open.
The trapped inmates poured out into the courtyard just as the fire reached their tier.
"You just saved a lot of bad men," Marcus said with a hint of genuine respect.
"Nobody deserves to burn in a cage," Elias replied as he reloaded his stolen rifle.
Suddenly the radio on a fallen mercenary's belt crackled to life with Julian's voice.
"Commander Thorne, I see you playing the hero on my backup monitors," Julian mocked.
"I am currently walking out the front gates to my private helicopter."
Elias snatched the radio and pressed the transmit button.
"You are not going anywhere, Julian," Elias promised with a voice as cold as ice.
"I have rigged the armory directly below the helipad with enough C4 to level the mountain," Julian laughed.
"If you try to stop me the timer hits zero and everyone in this facility dies."
Elias threw the radio down and looked at Marcus with grim determination.
"We have exactly five minutes to disarm a bomb and catch a ghost," Elias stated.
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Marcus grabbed a heavy riot shield from the wall and strapped it to his arm.
"Then let's go hunt," Marcus smiled wildly just as a massive explosion rocked the ceiling above them.
