Chapter 48 - The Limestone Escape
"Now, Erica! Now!" Liam yelled, firing a rapid three-round burst down the corridor to pin the approaching extraction team.
With a soft, automated click, the red indicator lights on the wall-mounted mines shifted to a steady, harmless green. The proximity triggers had been disarmed just as the lead tactical operator rounded the corner.
"Go!" Erica shouted, scrambling over the deactivated explosives.
Jason didn't wait. He grabbed Erica by the collar and dragged her around the corner into the darkened maintenance shaft, with Liam covering their rear as he backed away, laying down a wall of suppressive fire that kept the pursuing mercenaries pinned behind the intersection.
They plunged into total darkness, relying solely on the tactile memory of the rough limestone walls and the faint glow of the emergency chemical light sticks Liam tossed behind them. The air grew damp and cold as the subterranean tunnel sloped sharply downward toward the roaring surf of the English Channel.
"Watch the drop!" Liam called out, his voice echoing in the confined space as the tunnel abruptly terminated at a rusted iron gantry hanging twenty feet above the churning grey sea.
Below them, bobbing wildly against the limestone rocks in the heavy swell, was their RHIB. But they weren't alone. Another inflatable boat, manned by two armed operatives in dark wet suits, had already pulled up alongside their craft and was in the process of cutting its mooring lines.
"They're taking our ride," Jason said, his jaw tightening into a hard line. He unclipped a flash-bang grenade from his belt, pulled the pin with his teeth, and hurled it in a smooth arc down toward the water platform.
The grenade hit the lower gantry with a sharp metallic clatter.
The two operatives below spun around, their eyes widening in horror just as the device detonated in a blinding flash of white magnesium light and a concussive roar that rattled the teeth in Jason’s skull.
Dropping down from the gantry, Jason hit the wet metal deck of the lower platform with a hard roll, bringing his carbine up just as the dazed operatives stumbled backward into the freezing water.
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"Get in the boat! Now!" Jason shouted back up to Liam and Erica.
Liam hauled Erica down from the gantry, dropping her safely into the bow of the RHIB before sliding down the wet iron ladder himself and immediately slamming his hands onto the outboard throttles.
