Page 80 of Bound By Valor

Sebastian and Zarek were the first to disappear into the light. Then Kabir and Delara followed them. This was team 1. They were supposed to clear the internal space and hide demolition charges throughout the warehouse.

Logan climbed up shortly after, followed by Dylan. Team 2. They were going to head upstairs and extract Jerome Tyson, preferably alive.

Then there was me and Amelia, manning the rally point, aka the manhole. Amelia settled down with her tablet in her hand. She reached for something in one of the pockets of her pants and slapped it on the wall. The small square glowed a faint yellow giving us a visible range of at least ten meters across.

Amelia’s drones were ready for takeoff. She had them concealed in her backpack. It took her a few seconds to assemble and then she was ready to support the team. She handed them to me to place the small drones on the ground level through the manhole. The body of the drones was as big as my palm and each had four small propellers.

I climbed the ladder and out of curiosity poked my head out to see what entailed above the darkness. There was a long aisle packed with boxes, going high up to almost twenty feet. The manhole was right in the middle of this aisle. I placed the drones on the ground, and proceeded to put the manhole coverback in place as planned.

“This is Falcon. Hawk and Eagle are now active,” Amelia said, “Team 2, confirm assistance.”

“Confirming assistance for the second floor,” Dylan uttered.

I propped my rifle up, keeping myself on alert and ready. I realized I could be needed at any moment.

“Eagle inbound,” Amelia tapped and slid her fingers on the screen, “I’ve got heat signatures spanning the whole lobby of the second floor. Approximately ten to fifteen, Titan.”

“Copy,” Dylan responded.

Then I heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire.Shit. My chest tightened. We were hoping to stay covert for longer. What if this was Zarek in a firefight?

“This is Ghost. Demolition charges to the south wall, complete. Team 1, report,” Zarek’s voice came through.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Zarek was fine.For now.

“This is Cipher, held up, north wall charges half-way through,” Kabir said. His voice had a little strain in it and I saw Amelia stare blankly toward the wall in front of her. It was only for a second and then she focused back on her tablet.

“This is Ranger. West wall complete,” Sebastian’s rough voice came through.

“This is Shadow. East wall half-way through,”Delara.

Minutes ticked by. More gunfire sounded.

Suddenly there was a faint thud. It came from the manhole. Was the rally point compromised?

“This is Doc. Is anyone at the rally point?”

‘Negative’scame through rapidly and I shared a lookwith Amelia. She promptly adjusted one of her drones’ location.

“There are two mercs right above us.”

Shit.

Before I could think of what to do, the cover started sliding.

“Stay back, Falcon,” I whispered to Amelia and nodded at the wall light. She turned it off and we were shrouded in darkness.

A rifle barrel poked inside the half open manhole and bullets peppered the ground.

I ignored the drumming of my heart in my throat and shook my head.

Now is not the time to panic, Leora.

I could no longer see Amelia’s silhouette but I saw her rifle’s barrel prodding out of the edge of the light from the manhole, aiming directly at anyone who dared enter the tunnel.

I swiftly jumped and grabbed the barrel of the rifle poking in and let it drop to the ground. The cover opened fully and another set of bullets came. I dodged the rain of bullets and returned fire, followed by a strangled grunt.

Good, it hit someone.

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