Chapter 6 - Point of Impact
Lucas assessed the tactical field in three seconds. Four guards. Open line of sight. Poor cover. High risk to Clara.
""Stay here,"" Lucas ordered quietly. ""If I don't come back, the emergency exit ladder is twenty yards behind us. Climb it, seal the hatch, and get to the federal marshals.""
""You can't take all four of them alone,"" Clara hissed, grasping his arm.
Lucas looked down at her, his dark eyes devoid of fear, replaced entirely by cold, lethal discipline. ""I survived Kandahar. They won't survive me.""
He broke cover, moving not with frantic speed, but with precise, devastating economy. He fired three consecutive shots, neutralizing the guard monitoring the satellite array before the man could shout a warning.
Gunfire erupted, the deafening roar of automatic weapons echoing wildly off the curved subway tiles. Lucas sprinted laterally, vaulting over a concrete maintenance bench as rounds chewed the masonry into dust. He returned fire through the gap, dropping a second contractor who attempted to flank him.
Eleanor shrieked, slamming the laptop shut and scrambling toward the open door of the idling rail car. ""Kill him! Kill him now!""
The two remaining guards formed a tight firing line, advancing behind ballistic shields. Lucas pinned them down with his remaining ammunition, the slide locking back on an empty chamber.
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Lucas discarded the empty sidearm and drew his combat trench knife from his boot. As the first shield-bearer rounded the corner, Lucas closed the distance, grabbing the edge of the shield, wrenching it violently downward, and driving his shoulder into the guard's throat.
The impact sent both men crashing to the platform. But as Lucas neutralized the operator, the fourth guard leveled a shotgun directly at his chest.
