Page 83 of Bound By Valor

“This is Cipher, back at rally,” Kabir panted.

I waited for Zarek to chime in. I paused near the stairs and waited for what felt like hours.

“This is Ghost. Four mikes to detonation. Heading to rally,” Zarek finally said.

I felt the familiar large presence on my back, “We need to move, Doc.”

Logan’s voice was ragged. I could hear the terror in his voice. I realized if we didn’t make it back to the tunnel, we’d be as good as a burnt chicken wing in an oven.

As we ran back down the stairs, more mercenaries had taken charge of the locations inside the warehouse. Team 1 was gone and ready with their position, and I realized that Jerome’s team didn’t have a clue about the demolition.

“Icarus extracted, Titan at rally,” Dylan sighed.

I figured it was time to ping the team.

“Gunner rescued. Heading to rally,” I said.

“Doc, what’s your position, I’ll come to you,” Zarek’s worried voice sounded.

“Hold your position, Ghost. We’re almost there.”

With a heavy sigh, both Logan and I jutted out of the stairwell into the ground floor skirmish. Once we were in the visual range of the guards, we were showered with bullets from all directions.

We ducked and rolled to avoid them. I heard Logan returning fire with my gun. I did the same and hit three guards aiming our way.

With our backs touching each other, we tactfully walked towards the manhole. As we rounded the corner of the aisle, I spotted two mercenaries firing into the hole and one lying flat on the ground. I fired, taking them down, but not before Logan jerked against my back, momentarily colliding with me.

“I’m fine, keep moving,” he grunted, his voice pained. More guards streamed through the other end of the aisle and I returned fire, keeping them away.

As timings go, it was horrible, when my clip emptied and I had to pause for three seconds.

Three seconds and the whole atmosphere changed.

Three seconds and suddenly, we were no longer closing in on the rally point.

Three seconds then bled into the longest minute of my life.

I was sure I heard the shot, because in that moment, I couldn’t hear much else, I reckoned. A ripple of pain shot through my arm. With a slightly blurred vision, I continued switching magazines and finally had myself armed.

It was all happening so damn fast. The merc in front of me shot one more time, hitting my bulletproof vest straight in the middle and I swore all the air rushed out of my lungs. Logan’s back collided with mine again, but this time it was me who jerked.

“I’m black on ammo,” Logan panted.

Fuck.

I shook my head and gained control of my rifle, firing back at the bastard who shot at me twice.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Logan fighting hand-to-hand with two mercs.

“Go, go,go,” he shouted.

If it wasn’t already chaos, bullets started flying through the aisle. A few mercenaries were firing blind from behind the boxes towards us. Hearing movement, I kicked the box hard, sending it crashing into someone in the next aisle. I fired quickly, aiming to incapacitate. I turned around and shot at the oneof the mercs Logan was fighting with. I constantly watched my back as I walked closer to the manhole.

“Gunner, fall back,” I yelled.

He didn’t respond and kept grappling. I couldn’t get a good shot of the merc and risked hurting Logan. The merc was suddenly behind Logan, his arm quickly snaking Logan’s neck. Merc’s head was right above Logan’s and I froze. I had a clear shot but it was way too familiar.

Just a bottle on his head.

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