Chapter 13 - Trial by Fire
The shockwave from the chemical flash knocked the two lead Blackwood guards backward into the rain, their tactical vests catching fire as they screamed and rolled onto the asphalt.
Liam shrieked, stumbling back into the courtyard, protected only by the umbrella-bearing bodyguard who shoved him behind the armored door of the nearest SUV.
Inside the warehouse, the fire consumed the solvent-soaked benches with explosive speed, filling the upper ceiling with thick, black, toxic smoke. Jack didn't retreat. Moving like a wraith through the inferno, he used the curtain of fire as visual concealment.
Through the roaring flames, he saw the remaining two contractors advancing through the gap with smoke respirators, carbines firing controlled bursts into the shadows.
Jack dropped flat onto the concrete floor where the air was coolest. A volley of 5.56mm rounds chewed through the plaster above his head, showering him with debris. Waiting for the pause in their fire as the first shooter reached for a fresh magazine, Jack rolled to the left, came up on one knee, and fired two precise rounds into the unarmored throat of the first contractor.
The man collapsed instantly into the flames.
The second guard pivoted toward the muzzle flash, but Jack was already moving. Jack closed the distance, grabbed the contractor's barrel, shoving it toward the ceiling as a burst of automatic fire shredded the metal rafters, and drove his combat knife directly upward under the man’s Kevlar vest, piercing the femoral artery in the inner thigh.
The guard folded with a choked scream. Jack stripped the smoke respirator from the fallen man’s face, strapped it over his own nose and mouth, and grabbed the contractor’s customized HK416 carbine.
Through the dense, swirling smoke of the collapsing warehouse, Jack looked toward the burning doorway.
Liam was standing behind the armored SUV, frantically screaming into his radio, his face illuminated by the raging fire. "Bring the rest of the team! He's inside! Burn the whole block down if you have to!"
Jack walked calmly out of the burning building, stepping right through the wall of flame like a demon emerging from the abyss. His uniform was singed, his face blackened with soot behind the clear visor of the respirator, the HK416 raised and leveled dead at the windshield of Liam’s vehicle.
Liam’s eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated terror as he caught sight of the figure walking through the fire.
"Shoot him!" Liam shrieked at his bodyguard. "Shoot him now!"
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The bodyguard drew his sidearm, but Jack’s carbine barked twice. The bodyguard collapsed backward against the hood, lifeless before he hit the wet pavement.
Liam stood alone, his expensive leather shoes soaked in muddy water, his back pressed against the rear door of the SUV, staring into the barrel of Jack’s weapon.
