Chapter 7 - Steel and Smoke
Mateo slammed his foot on the brake, sending the armored SUV into a controlled skid across the mud-slicked pavement. Damian threw his arm across Elena and the child, pinning them firmly against the back seat as bullet rounds peppered the vehicle’s reinforced plating like hail on a tin roof.
""Stay down!"" Damian shouted, kicking his door open into the downpour.
He leaned out, returning fire in controlled three-round bursts. The headlights of the pursuing sedans illuminated a dozen heavily armed men advancing through the tree line. Sophia’s vehicle pulled alongside them, passenger door flying open as she unleashed a barrage of suppressing fire with a submachine gun.
""We can't turn around!"" Mateo yelled, struggling to maneuver the vehicle as rounds shattered the front radiator. Steam hissed into the freezing night air. ""The engine block is taking hits!""
""Elena, move to Sophia's car!"" Damian ordered, grabbing an extra ammunition vest from the floorboard.
Elena didn't hesitate. Shielding the sleeping infant with her entire body, she darted low between the two vehicles through the crossfire. A bullet clipped the dirt inches from her boot, sending wet clay across her legs, but she dove into the rear seat of Sophia’s car without dropping the baby.
Damian fell back toward the open passenger side, his rifle smoking. ""Mateo, out! Now!""
Mateo leaped from the driver's seat just as a rocket-propelled grenade struck the hood of their SUV. The explosion illuminated the dark gorge in blinding orange fire, the shockwave tossing Damian against the guardrail.
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Through the ringing in his ears, Damian saw a towering man in a black tactical overcoat step out from behind the blocking truck. It was Viktor Kozlov—the head of the Bratva’s enforcement wing.
Viktor raised a megaphone, his accented voice booming over the crackle of the flames: ""Hand over the boy, Vance! Or we leave all four of you at the bottom of the gorge!""
