Chapter 10 - The Catwalk Collapse
The quarry exploded into a chaotic warzone. Marcus slammed the truck into reverse, spinning the wheels in the deep gravel and spraying a wall of stones into the advancing mercenaries.
Liam scrambled along the side of the shipping container, drawing fire away from the truck. Rounds hammered the corrugated metal, deafening him. He vaulted onto the lower rung of the rusted industrial conveyor ramp, scrambling upward toward the machinery deck.
""He's heading for the processing deck! Cut him off!"" Julian’s commander barked over the tactical radio.
Three mercenaries charged up the metal stairs behind Liam. Climbing with sheer adrenaline, Liam reached the midpoint platform, fifty feet above the quarry floor. He swung around a support girder, waiting for the first man to round the corner.
As the operative cleared the landing, Liam struck him in the throat with the heel of his palm, ripped the carbine from his hands, and used the falling body as a human shield against the following rounds. He squeezed the trigger in controlled bursts, neutralizing the remaining two pursuers on the stairwell.
Down below, Marcus’s truck smashed through the chain-link security gate, tires screaming onto the secondary access trail. But a mercenary with an anti-materiel rifle knelt atop a shipping container, lining up a shot on the truck’s driver-side cabin.
Liam saw the danger instantly. Without an angle for a clean shot, he unclipped a heavy steel pulley from the crane hoist beside him and hurled it downward with all his strength.
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The pulley struck the container roof with an ear-splitting clang, knocking the sniper off balance just as his shot discharged. The bullet missed Marcus by inches, shattering the side mirror.
Suddenly, the rusted catwalk beneath Liam groaned under the sudden structural shift. The ancient rivets sheared with a high-pitched shriek, and the entire metal platform collapsed beneath his feet, dropping Liam into the quarry void.
