Page 105 of Two Chambered Heart

“Okay.” The deep pools of her eyes came alive with the waves of the ocean as her determination crystalized, as she threw her fear into the fury of her storm and decimated it with resolve, turning it into a shipwreck on her shores. He let go of her face, hoping he had enough fire to bring to her blaze, that he was enough to add to her raging current.

She nodded once, clenching her fists so the blades sprang out. She nodded again, and with the confidence of an animal both predator and prey, she walked down the drive, away from the Rover. Away from safety.

Her steps didn’t falter as she forged on to waiting hell.

There was lower security around the building, only four men guarding the back entrance. The men noticed them long after Kayden and Corey had already approached.

Flicking his cigarette to the ground, one of them lifted his gun up, taking aim.

Archie released the high-pitched frequency through their communication feeds, and the four of them shot hands to their ears, quickly pulling their earpieces out.

With that distraction, Kayden locked the silencer and let off four precise shots, taking each one out quickly. He was a force of instinct and training. There was almost nothing human left in him, just a fine-tuned weapon.

He didn’t even blink, holstering his pistol and taking the keycard from the front pocket of one body on the floor, scanning it to unlock the door.

“Security has lost communications, but they’ll know they’re under attack,” Archie advised through their still-functioning earpieces.

Before pulling the door open, he looked at Corey and holstered his automatic rifle as well. She copied him.

“Goggles on, you two. I’m cutting the lights.”

They both slid their night vision goggles on, and Kayden opened the door.

A darkened hallway awaited them. He could hear the echo and scuffle of several people moving further down the hallway, could see small strobes of light flashing around, refracting in the glare of his goggles.

They slid in and closed the door behind them, sending the hall into darkness, before his eyes adjusted to the greenish hue in the lenses.

In grainy flatness, Kayden could make out the six men skittering along the hall, grasping for the walls to guide them. Bringing up his second hand to stabilize the rifle, Kayden unleashed thirty rounds on the men, aiming high for their face then low for their legs, severing major arteries. As the men fell, the screaming began.

“You’ll need to check every room. I’m in the circuit board. All the doors have electronic locking mechanisms. I’m going to keep them locked until you get to them. Name each room as you move.”

Kayden and Archie checked each room off the first floor hallway, uninterrupted by more security. They found nothing in each, just storage rooms of boxes.

They ventured further into the massive building, finally nearing the end of the hall.

“Kayden, take the corner first,” Archie said into the earpiece.

With his rifle lifted, Kayden rounded the corner, his back to the wall. The barrage of bullets rang out loudly, and two bullets hit him in his vest. He absorbed the impact without flinching at their sharp bite, releasing his own shots at the two men down the hall, taking them out quickly.

Four more men came around a further corner and started shooting.

“Grenade, Corey,” Archie directed.

Corey sprung from behind the wall, tossing a grenade into the fray. It detonated, sending shrapnel and sediment into the air, the instant of brightness blinding both of them in their goggles momentarily and leaving a ringing in his ears.

Before the automatic gain control could level out their vision, one man pressed Kayden up against the wall. He was scrabbling to aim his gun, but Kayden had his arm angled out to the side, so the bullets shot wide, hitting the ceiling and the fluorescent lighting panel there, causing shuddering sparks to jump to the floor.

The other guards were down, and Corey was pacing the two scrapping men with her gun lifted. She looked like a pit viper circling her prey, but he could see she was panicking. It was too close contact for a gunshot. She didn’t have any experience with accuracy, and she knew that. It was why he’d given her automatic submachine guns for wide sweeps.

She wouldn’t risk shooting him. It’s why she hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. “Just like darts, Little Fox,” he called over the hum of the broken lighting.

She nodded once, exchanging the gun for knives and throwing two in quick succession, aiming right for the throat like they’d taught her. Her aim hit true, and the man's hands moved to his neck. Kayden used the distraction to push him off. He kicked his legs out from under him, and the guy went down hard.

Kayden bent down and pulled the knives out, wiping the blood off on his pant leg. Corey sprinted over to him. He kicked the guy in the head once for good measure, but he wasn’t going to waste a bullet on him.

His ravaged throat would kill him in a minute.

“Nice shot,” he whispered.

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