Chapter 4 - The Gunfire
Thick concrete dust rained down from the shattered ceiling.
The bank's emergency alarms began shrieking violently in the dark.
"Karin found us," Mr. Cross growled, immediately drawing a heavy pistol from his shoulder holster.
He grabbed my arm and shoved me hard behind a massive steel support pillar.
Four heavily armed mercenaries wearing tactical gear stormed into the vault room.
They opened fire without a single word of warning.
Bullets sparked wildly against the metal boxes, completely destroying the pristine room.
I covered my ears and squeezed my eyes shut, terrified out of my mind.
Mr. Cross returned fire with lethal, terrifying precision.
He dropped two of the advancing attackers before his weapon clicked empty.
"Run for the service elevator!" he shouted over the deafening noise.
I sprinted blindly across the room, clutching my father's documents like a lifeline.
One of the remaining mercenaries aimed his assault rifle directly at my back.
Mr. Cross threw his entire body in front of me just as the gun fired.
The bullet struck him cleanly in the upper shoulder, spinning him around.
He grunted in intense pain but managed to pull a secondary weapon and shoot the attacker.
We stumbled into the service elevator, and he slammed his bloody hand onto the emergency close button.
The metal doors shut just as more bullets dented the steel frame from the outside.
We rode the elevator up to the private parking garage in heavy silence.
Mr. Cross leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as dark blood soaked his crisp white shirt.
"You took a bullet for me," I said, genuinely shocked by his sacrifice.
"I made a promise to protect you at all costs," he wheezed.
"A promise to who?" I demanded.
Suddenly, the burner phone in the pocket of the dead mercenary on the floor began to ring loudly.
I cautiously reached down and pulled the phone from the man's tactical vest.
The caller ID lit up the dark, enclosed elevator space.
I stared at the name on the screen and felt the floor drop out from beneath me.
My heart completely stopped beating.
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The person calling the assassin who had just tried to kill me was listed as Eleanor Vance.
That was my mother.
