Chapter 8 - Chaos in the Dark
Sparks showered down from the shattered conduit like artificial stars as gunfire erupted blindly across the metal-walled hangar, ricocheting off shipping containers and echoing like thunder. Moretti rolled behind a heavy steel forklift, returning fire with lethal precision, dropping one of the mercenaries before ducking behind another stack of crates. In the chaos, Elena screamed orders to Victor to secure the hostage and detonate the fallback charges, but the darkness favored the man who knew every inch of the industrial sector. Navigating purely by sound and memory, Moretti closed the distance between himself and the platform where the little girl was being held, his heart pounding against his ribs. A sudden flash of light revealed Victor dragging the child toward an open freight elevator at the back of the facility, escaping just as Moretti reached the platform's edge. Elena was nowhere to be found, having slipped away into the subterranean drainage tunnels beneath the docks while the gunfire raged.
