Chapter 9 - The Betrayal
Caroline kept the gun leveled perfectly at my head without trembling at all.
She held her other hand out and demanded the tiny memory card for the final time.
I looked at the terrified faces of Lily and Maya huddled together in the corner.
I knew that if I gave Caroline the drive she would simply pull the trigger.
She could not leave any witnesses alive to tell the syndicate who really stole the data.
I slowly reached into my front pocket pretending to retrieve the small plastic card.
Instead of pulling out the drive I violently twisted my entire body to the left.
The pistol fired rapidly sending a deafening gunshot ringing through the small room.
The bullet grazed my shoulder and shattered one of the glowing computer monitors behind me.
I grabbed Caroline's wrist with both hands and twisted it until she screamed in pain.
The gun dropped to the concrete floor and I kicked it far under the desk.
I shoved Caroline hard against the wall and pinned her by the throat.
She gasped for air and clawed desperately at my arms to break free.
Before I could secure her hands a massive explosion rocked the entire house.
The syndicate mercenaries had finally located the hidden steel door in the crawlspace.
They attached a breaching charge to the hinges and blew the door completely off the wall.
Thick gray smoke poured into the surveillance room blinding everyone instantly.
Three heavily armored men rushed through the smoke with their assault rifles raised.
I dove to the floor dragging Maya with me behind the heavy metal desk.
One of the mercenaries blindly grabbed Lily by her hair and dragged her into the crawlspace.
Lily screamed for me as she was pulled violently away into the darkness.
The lead mercenary shouted that they had the little girl and would kill her immediately.
He demanded that Agent Mercer throw the drive out into the open or the child dies.
I clutched the tiny piece of plastic in my sweaty palm and looked at Maya.
Maya was crying and begging me not to let the bad men take her sister away.
I realized that I had to embrace the monster I used to be to save my family.
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I stood up from behind the desk and walked slowly toward the swirling smoke.
I held my hands up high in the air and told them I was coming out.
