Chapter 6 - The Bleeding Floor
The metallic tang of cordite filled the suffocating darkness of the living room the second Derek hit the floor.
“Down!” Agent Vance roared, lunging sideways behind the heavy oak coffee table as a second silenced crack punched through the shattered front window, splintering the drywall inches above his head.
Officer Bell returned fire from the kitchen archway, emptying three rapid rounds into the void outside, the muzzle flashes casting strobing shadows against the walls.
I didn't flinch. I scrambled across the hardwood, ignoring the crunch of safety glass, and dropped to my knees beside Derek. He was gasping, blood bubbling rapidly from a clean entry wound high on his chest. His fingers clawed weakly at my tactical vest, his eyes wide, milky with shock.
“Derek,” I demanded, pressing my palm hard against the wound to stem the crimson flow. “Look at me. Who pulled the trigger?”
“T-they lied…” he choked out, coughing up a spray of dark blood that splattered across my chin. “They said… if I brought the drive back… Lily would be…”
His head fell back against the floorboards, his body going instantly slack. The erratic pulse beneath my fingers flickered once, twice, and then flatlined into dead, heavy stillness.
“Major Nolan! We need to move, now!” Vance shouted, dragging himself backward toward the hallway. “That sniper has high-ground elevation—probably the tree line across the cul-de-sac. We’re sitting ducks!”
“He’s dead,” I whispered, staring down at my husband’s glazed eyes. The man who had sold out my military unit, abandoned our starving daughter, and walked straight into an executioner's crosshairs.
“Hannah!” Bell yelled, lunging forward and grabbing my ballistic vest, yanking me bodily behind the partial cover of the kitchen island. “He’s gone. Staying here means joining him.”
A third shot ricocheted off the stainless-steel refrigerator door, screaming a high-pitched whine across the room. Vance pulled a heavy encrypted satellite phone from his jacket, his face pale under the emergency lights.
“Extraction team is thirty seconds out,” Vance said, punching a code into the keypad. “But the sniper is sweeping the perimeter. They aren't trying to rescue Derek—they’re sanitizing the site.”
“Sanitizing?” I grabbed my service weapon, my hands steady despite the adrenaline roaring in my ears. “They came for the thumb drive. And they know I have it.”
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Vance stared at me through the dim light, his jaw tight. “Which means we have a target on our backs until we reach a secure military zone. Get ready, Major. We’re breaking through the back door on my count.”
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