Chapter 5 - The Edge of the Abyss
Marcus felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. With pure instinct honed over a decade of combat, he spun around, shielding Leo’s small body with his own torso just as a high-caliber round tore through the wall. The bullet ripped through Marcus’s shoulder, spinning him off his feet.
Leo shrieked as Marcus crashed into the antique credenza. Blood immediately soaked the operative’s sleeve.
""Run, Leo! The passage—hit the red switch!"" Marcus choked out, struggling to raise his weapon with his left hand.
Standing framed in the shattered doorway was a fourth intruder, holding a customized sniper carbine. The man wore no mask. His face was weathered, mapped with hideous chemical burns along the jawline. His eyes were milky grey and devoid of humanity.
It was Gabriel Thorne.
""A pity Dante didn't stay to watch his house burn,"" Thorne rasped, stepping over the corpses of his own fallen mercenaries. He looked down at Leo, who stood frozen in front of the hidden passage bookshelf, terrified but refusing to run. ""You have your father’s stubborn eyes, little boy. Too bad they won’t see him again.""
Thorne reached out to grab Leo’s collar, but a deafening blast tore through the floorboards beneath his feet.
A high-explosive breaching charge detonated from the lower ceiling, blowing Thorne off balance. Wood splinters and plaster rained down in a blinding cloud. Through the smoke strode Dante Vance, his dark eyes ablaze with murderous intent. He hadn't waited for the elevator; he had blown his own home apart from the floor below to reach his son.
Dante fired two rounds into Thorne’s chest armor, driving the larger man back into the hallway.
""Get my son into the vault!"" Dante roared to Marcus without looking back.
Thorne recovered, slamming Dante against the corridor wall with terrifying ferocity. The two aging titans crashed into the balustrade, trading brutal blows born of twenty years of hatred. Dante blocked a knife strike with his forearm, feeling the steel slice through his wool sleeve, and countered with an elbow to Thorne’s throat.
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Thorne staggered back, spitting blood, but his lips curled into a sickening smile.
""You're too late, Dante,"" Thorne wheezed, tapping a detonation timer on his wrist gauntlet. ""The entire lower wing is wired with C4. In sixty seconds, this monument to your pride becomes your family tomb.""
