Page 82 of Bound By Valor

‘I can’t lose you.’

Logan.

I had to get him out before the demolitionhappens.

I cleared my throat of the lump that was inevitable and rasped, “This is Doc. Permission to rescue Gunner.”

There was no response.

I repeated my message, “This is Doc. I’m in pursuit to rescue Gunner, over.”

Silence. A moment later a loud static noise sounded in my earpiece and I flinched.Fuck. Our comms are down.

I looked frantically at my surroundings. I was sure what I had to do, rescue Logan. But I knew I didn’t have explicit permission.

Fuck it.

I climbed down from the five shelves and landed on the ground with a faint thud. I gave a last look at the manhole and willed it to stay undiscovered. With my rifle in tow, I strode towards the stairs.

When the aisle ended, I surveyed my path to the stairs and saw two guards surveying their surroundings. I knelt and tactfully shot the first guard, unfortunately alerting the other one. He stiffened. When I learnt he hadn’t narrowed my position, I aimed at his collarbone and fired.

Two down.

I sprinted to the stairs and started my cautious climb. Once on the upper level, I noticed there were no guards watching the entry point. A few guards were incapacitated and had their wrists tied.

Thank you, Logan and Dylan.

I walked past them and headed east towards Logan. The lobby had a path going straight from the third door. Where Logan was. A guard walked out from the path, with his back towards me, and I aimedfor his chest.

Another down.

I ran towards the guard and stopped at the corner awaiting any other mercs that could be manning Logan’s door.

I peeked around the corner and saw no one.

The room where Logan was supposedly held had a modern lock on it. I searched the fallen guard and retrieved a key card from his front pocket.

Praying that this was the card, I swiped it. As the door made sounds and unlocked, I kept an eye out for the corridors.

The door finally opened and I saw an unarmed man dressed in Blackthorn clothing, with a tag ‘Gunner’. I couldn’t see his face.

Being wary of the situation, I carefully stepped closer, my rifle still aimed at him. As he raised his hands in defeat, I saw his mask move slightly.

“It’s me, Leo,” his voice was severely muffled and I couldn’t confirm whether it really was Logan.

I tucked my rifle and raised my left hand to his forehead while my right hand clutched my rifle.

His hand mimicked mine and when it reached my forehead, we both did the same thing. We flicked each other’s forehead over the helmet.

That’s my Logan.

I hugged him and armed him with my M18, walking towards the stairs.

“—omms are back up,” Amelia’s relieved voice said.

“This is Shadow, back at rally point,” Delara said.

“This is Ranger, back at rally point,” Sebastian added.

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