Chapter 15: No Sanctuary
Chapter 15: No Sanctuary
"No," I whispered, panic clawing at my throat.
I dumped Vance in the passenger seat of a Syndicate armored transport vehicle parked in the warehouse, hot-wired the ignition, and blew through the closed corrugated steel doors of the warehouse at sixty miles an hour.
The drive back to the bunker was a blur of adrenaline, terror, and blinding rage. The rain had turned into a torrential downpour, slicking the roads. I pushed the heavy armored vehicle to its absolute limit, the engine screaming as I drifted through empty intersections, blowing red lights.
"Sarah, you have to slow down," Vance groaned from the passenger seat, clutching his bleeding ribs.
"If they touch her, Vance. If they even look at her..." I didn't finish the sentence. My knuckles were white on the steering wheel. I was no longer a soldier executing a mission. I was a mother defending her cub, and I was going to burn the world down to keep her safe.
We careened into the alleyway behind the auto repair shop. The steel blast doors of the subterranean garage had been blown wide open by C4 explosives. Black smoke billowed into the rainy night sky.
I threw the vehicle into park before it even stopped moving, grabbing my HK416.
I descended the concrete ramp into the bunker, stepping over the smoldering debris. The heavy reinforced door to the living quarters was currently being cut open with a thermal torch by two Syndicate operatives. Standing behind them, holding a suppressed pistol, was Thorne.
"Stop right there, Sarah!" Thorne yelled, spinning around and aiming his weapon at the door where Lily was trapped. "Drop the rifle, or the girl dies right now."
I froze. The thermal torch sparked and hissed, melting through the final locking mechanism of the safe room. I could hear Lily screaming inside.
Thorne smiled, stepping closer to the door. "I told you. You can't outrun your past. You should have stayed invisible. You should have let Caldwell burn your little neighborhood to the ground. Now, you lose everything."
I looked at Thorne, standing ten feet away. I looked at the two men with the torch. I looked at the heavy steel ceiling of the bunker, lined with exposed, high-voltage electrical conduits that powered the subterranean lighting grid.
I didn't drop my rifle. I raised it.
But I didn't aim at Thorne. I aimed at the ceiling above him.
"I am invisible," I said coldly.
I pulled the trigger, holding down the burst. The armor-piercing rounds shredded the heavy electrical conduits directly above Thorne's head.
Sparks rained down like a waterfall of fire. A massive, live electrical cable snapped, whipping down and striking the puddle of water that had accumulated on the floor near the breached entrance—the exact puddle Thorne and his men were standing in.
The current hit them instantly.
The two operatives convulsed, the thermal torch dropping from their hands. Thorne shrieked in agony as thousands of volts surged through his body, his tactical gear providing no insulation against the raw power of the bunker's main generator line. The lights in the bunker flickered and blew out entirely, plunging the room into darkness, lit only by the blue, blinding flashes of electricity arcing across their bodies.
When the generator finally shorted out and the sparks died, the room was silent. The heavy scent of ozone and burnt flesh filled the air.
I activated my weapon light, sweeping the area. All three men were dead on the floor.
I rushed to the heavy door, throwing the deadbolts open, and tore into the room. Lily was huddled in the corner, crying hysterically. I dropped to my knees, throwing my weapons aside, and pulled her into my arms, crushing her against my chest.
"Mommy's here. I've got you. I've got you, Sunshine," I sobbed, the adrenaline finally breaking, leaving behind nothing but overwhelming relief.
Lily clung to me, burying her face in my neck.
Agent Vance limped into the room, leaning heavily against the doorframe, his gun drawn. He looked at Thorne’s blackened body, then at me holding my daughter.
"Is it over, Sarah?" Vance asked, his voice rough.
May you like
I looked up at him, my eyes hard and resolute. The Syndicate was dismantled. Thorne was dead. The ghosts of my past had finally been laid to rest in the ashes of the bunker.
"Yes," I said softly, stroking Lily’s hair as the first rays of dawn began to peek through the ventilation grates of the bunker. "The war is over. We're going home."
