Chapter 67 - Fire in the Harbor
The interior of the port warehouse was a labyrinth of towering steel shipping containers, stacked three high and draped in heavy canvas tarps. Overhead, amber sodium lights cast long, skeletal shadows across the concrete floor.
Evelyn moved silently behind Arthur, her carbine raised and shouldered with the practiced ease of an elite marksman. Every sense was dialed to its absolute maximum—the distant crash of waves against the concrete pier, the low hum of refrigeration units powering the medical containers, and the heavy, rhythmic boots of perimeter guards patrolling the outer catwalks.
"Clear," whispered one of the tactical operators up ahead, signaling the base of the central stack.
Arthur stepped forward, inspecting the heavy digital locks sealing container sector four. "This is it, Madam Chair. The global pediatric regeneration serums are inside, completely intact."
Before Evelyn could issue the order to hook up the extraction winch, a sudden, blinding flash of white floodlights erupted overhead, bathing the entire warehouse interior in harsh, glaring illumination.
“Attention intruders!” a harsh, amplified voice blared through the overhead intercom speakers. “You are trespassing on private sovereign property of Aegis Maritime Corp. Drop your weapons immediately or be fired upon!”
"Ambush!" Arthur hissed, immediately shoving Evelyn behind the reinforced steel corner of a shipping container as a hail of automatic gunfire shattered the overhead skylights, sending a cascading shower of safety glass raining down onto the concrete floor.
Sparks flew wildly as bullets ricocheted off the metal containers, filling the air with the acrid stench of cordite and burning steel.
Evelyn didn't flinch. Her heart hammered against her ribs, but her mind was remarkably, terrifyingly clear. She peeked around the edge of the container, spotting three armed mercenaries advancing down the catwalk with assault rifles raised.
"They're trying to pin us down," Evelyn called out over the deafening roar of gunfire.
"Suppressing fire!" Arthur roared, returning a blistering volley of tactical rounds upward that forced the mercenaries to scramble back behind the steel railing.
"We don't have time for a prolonged firefight!" Evelyn declared, pulling a tactical breaching charge from her tactical vest. "Cover me!"
Before Arthur could object, Evelyn surged out from behind the container, sprinting across the open floor with incredible speed and hurling the magnetic breaching charge directly onto the reinforced steel lock of the primary container door.
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She dove behind a concrete pillar just as the charge detonated with a thunderous BOOM, blowing the heavy steel doors off their hinges in a brilliant flash of fire and smoke.
"Move, move, move!" Arthur shouted, his team laying down a devastating wall of covering fire while Evelyn secured the internal manifest, her eyes scanning the chaos with the cold, absolute focus of an unconquered titan.
