Page 81 of Bound By Valor

“Doc, is the rally point compromised?” Zarek asked as I was still returning fire.

“We have two mercs,” I fired more without using too much ammo, “Converged. Falcon, are there more coming?”

“Negative,” Amelia said.

Phew.

The gunfire ceased for a few seconds and I slowly and silently walked towards the manhole. As soon as I saw a pair of legs, I fired again and the merc fell tothe ground. I waited for a beat and climbed up slowly. I pushed the gun barrel out and fired in both directions, hearing groans and gurgling sounds in response.

I finally climbed up fully to see the aftermath. Two men were sprawled near the hole, one of them unconscious. Whipping out the zip ties from my pocket, I tied their hands behind their backs. I dragged them away from the manhole so as to not give the location away.

I stayed on the ground level of the warehouse, leaving Amelia in the tunnel, staring at the now covered up manhole.

Then I climbed up five rows of the shelves to stay out of sight. Cooped up between two large brown boxes, I blanketed myself using a brown empty bag I had snagged from the lowest row.

“This is Doc. I’m on the ground, covering the manhole,” I whispered low enough.

“Doc, get back down to the tunnel,” Zarek’s frustration was evident.

“We were almost outed and killed. I’m not taking chances.”

“Dammit, Doc. Get back down, this is an—”

Zarek’sorderwas interrupted by a loud roar followed by a massive sequence of gunfire. I heard it came from the second floor where Dylan and Logan were supposed to be.

“Gunner, Titan, come in?” I asked.

Silence.

“Gunner, Titan, sitrep,” Zarek urged.

Silence followed for another few seconds. But those seconds seemed so damn long. My mind went back to the last time I had a conversation with eitherLogan or Dylan. A lump formed in my throat at the thought of either of them hurt.

“This is Titan. Gunner is trapped in one of the rooms,” Dylan strangled message left goosebumps through my entire body, “Icarus is on the move.”

“Titan, proceed extraction without me,” Logan said. He didn’t sound too bad.

“On it, Gunner,” Dylan responded.

“I can’t locate Gunner,” Amelia said calmly but a hint of terror broke through.

“I’m in the third room from the stairs, towards east. It looks like a metal cage in here,” Logan growled.

“Gunner, hold your position. Oscar Mike for rescue,” Zarek said panting and then, “Fuck! I’m taking fire. There’s mercs converging on the south wall.”

My heart sank.

“Mercs converging on the east wall. There’s two loaded cars,” Delara added.

“We have incoming on the north wall. Two SUVs,” Kabir said.

No. No. No.

“Fuck. I think they have us surrounded. I have ten more mercs on the west wall,” Sebastian said, “Ghost, Shadow and Cipher, hold position and cover. Do not let them inside. I repeat, do not let them inside.”

A string of ‘Copy’ssounded.

I held my breath for a few seconds and let out a heavy sigh. My heart was pounding in my ears and I couldn’t think of anyone but Logan.

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