Chapter 17 - The shadow strikes
Julian lay pinned under Damian's heavy boot, blood leaking from the corner of his split lip, but his eyes were filled with maniacal triumph.
"Too late, Damian," Julian gurgled around the cold steel of the gun barrel. "The signal... was already sent."
Above them, the thick reinforced ceiling groaned. A series of synchronized explosions ripped through the upper levels of the estate, sending heavy dust raining down from the ventilation ducts. The lights in the bunker flickered violently and died, plunging the entire room into pitch-black darkness, leaving only the dull emergency glow of the elevator shafts.
"Damian!" Mara cried out in the darkness.
"Stay down!" Damian barked.
He didn't hesitate. With a brutal pull of the trigger, Julian went limp under his boot. Damian spun around in the dark, his night-vision instincts honed by decades of urban warfare.
He heard the soft scuffle of combat boots dropping from the overhead maintenance shaft.
Two heavily armed operatives, dressed in black tactical gear and wearing thermal night-vision goggles, dropped into the room like silent spiders. Their submachine guns swung instantly toward Mara and Lila.
"Target acquired. Secure the child," a distorted voice barked through a radio.
Before the mercenary could shoulder his rifle, Damian was upon him. He grabbed the barrel of the first operative's weapon, twisting it with bone-shattering force, driving his ceramic blade straight into the soldier's throat.
The second operative pivoted, opening fire.
Sparks erupted off the concrete walls. Mara threw herself over Lila, crying out as a ricocheting bullet grazed her shoulder.
Damian’s roar was deafening. He lunged across the blood-slicked floor, tackling the second shooter into the wall. He gripped the operative’s helmet with both hands and snapped the neck with a sickening crunch.
The bunker went deathly quiet once more, save for the heavy, ragged sound of Damian’s breathing and Mara’s soft whimpers of pain.
Damian rushed to Mara’s side, his hands quickly checking her shoulder. "You're bleeding."
"I'm fine... check Lila," Mara choked out, gritting her teeth against the burning pain.
May you like
Damian turned. Lila was standing by the control panel, her small hands raised in the dim emergency light, pointing toward the open blast door.
Her hands moved with terrifying stillness: *He is here.*
