Chapter 14 - Ash and Absolution
The railyard transformed into a corridor of fire. Adrian rained suppressive fire from the high gantry, cutting down Victor's perimeter guards before they could deploy their rifles. Clara overturned the heavy steel cart, creating an impenetrable barricade to shield Sarah from ricocheting rounds.
Victor’s elite guards scrambled for cover, but Adrian dropped from the crane cables like a phantom, landing among them with devastating violence. He moved with cold, lethal precision, clearing every angle, refusing to yield an inch of ground toward the cart where Clara was crouched.
Victor, panicking as his security force dissolved in minutes, drew a nickel-plated revolver and sprinted toward Clara's barricade.
"If I burn, everything burns!" Victor screamed, leveling his gun over the steel cart.
Before his finger could squeeze the trigger, Clara lunged upward from the dirt, driving an iron track spike directly through Victor's foot into the wooden railroad tie beneath him. Victor howled in agony, dropping his weapon as he collapsed onto the rails.
Adrian emerged from the smoke, bleeding from two fresh wounds, his carbine lowered. He walked up to Victor, who lay pinned and helpless, spitting blood onto the gravel.
"Adrian... wait," Victor wheezed, his veneer of nobility completely shattered. "We can share the network... the power..."
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Adrian looked at Clara, who had pulled Sarah from the carrier and held her against her chest. Clara looked back at him and gave a slow, single nod.
"We owe them everything," Adrian said, and pulled the trigger.
