New chapter is live.
Settle in, take your time, and let’s see what waits in the dark 🖤
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“They’re coming,” T-Lilith said softly.
“I see them.
They’re heading straight for us, and I don’t believe for a second we just happened to be standing on their retreat path.” Adrian thumbed the safety off.
“See?
Kelly sold us out completely.”
T-Lilith did not answer.
Her red eyes dimmed with disappointment.
“Don’t worry.
I won’t leave you.” Adrian touched her hair.
“We need to move.”
T-Lilith looked at him, silently pulled the AR-15 from her back, and held it at the ready.
They went downstairs.
Adrian frowned as he spoke.
“We can’t just run.
They’ll keep chasing us.”
T-Lilith said nothing, waiting for his decision.
“We’ll use the buildings around here and draw them into a fight.
If they’re following us, they’ll have to slow down.
The gangs will bite into them from behind.”
“Miss Kelly’s tracker is inside T-Lilith,” she said.
“T-Lilith can move alone and draw their attention.
Adrian can harass them.”
“No.” Adrian shook his head.
“I’m not letting you move alone.”
“It’s all right,” T-Lilith said.
“T-Lilith is very strong.
They can’t catch T-Lilith.”
Adrian wanted to argue, but the security team was almost on top of them.
He had no time to hesitate.
“Fine.” He hated every word of it, but he had to admit her suggestion was the best option they had.
“You draw their attention.
I hit them from the side.
But I have one condition.
Stay where I can cover you.
I’ll keep moving around your position.”
“It will be fine.” T-Lilith gave him a faint smile and pulled on the SEAL-style skull mask he had bought her.
“T-Lilith is very strong.”
“You actually look like a mercenary now.” Adrian smiled and patted her shoulder.
“Protect yourself.”
They split up.
Adrian climbed quickly to a vantage point with a clear field of view.
She noticed his line of sight and gave him a thumbs-up.
This really did feel a little like a Call of Duty mission.
Adrian settled behind his AR-15.
Unlike the convoy job, where he had mostly coasted along and hoped not to die, this time he was facing an entire armed squad.
He had to cover T-Lilith while removing as many enemies as possible.
He also had to watch the gangs pressing the security team’s rear.
He knew a few people among the locals well enough to talk to, but in Loplers that did not mean much.
Those acquaintances might happily kill the outsiders causing trouble in their territory and throw in the Mad Dog of Loplers as a bonus.
In Loplers, getting shot by someone you knew was part of the job.
That was life here.
“Damn it, they just keep coming.” A security member behind Naraza cursed while firing at the pursuing gangsters.
The gangsters ducked behind nearby buildings and tried to shoot the tail of the security team from cover.
“Where are they?” Naraza asked, scowling.
Norman checked the location data on his phone.
“Target stopped.
Fifty meters ahead in the district.
If we move around the blue building at twelve o’clock, we should see her.”
“Straight in.” Naraza raised his voice.
“Tranquilizer guns ready.
We may run into that damned mercenary.
If we do, I tear him apart myself.”
The security team threw two grenades behind them, then rushed toward the marked position.
They rounded the last blue building.
Norman looked up.
“Right ahead.
Alley corner.”
Adrian saw Norman through the scope and fired without hesitation.
Norman dropped, but Adrian knew the men were wearing body armor.
Unless the shots hit the head, two rounds would not kill.
The security members behind Norman were already trying to drag him into a blind spot.
The muscular Black man leading them snapped his muzzle toward Adrian’s direction.
“Up there on the roof.
Suppress him.
A Team, five with me, tranquilizers ready.
We’re recovering the asset.”
Adrian pulled back.
Bullets chewed across the roof where his head had been a second earlier.
Bent low behind rooftop clutter, he shifted position fast.
He could feel rounds slicing past his back, but panic would only get him killed.
He slid behind a different pile of debris and glanced down.
He could not let them get close to her.
Adrian gritted his teeth and was about to rise for another shot when T-Lilith leaned halfway out from cover with textbook form and opened fire.
The big man saw her muzzle and instinctively dropped into a slide.
The guard behind him took the burst through the head, blood splashing across the men behind him.
T-Lilith kicked the sliding man before he could recover.
He flew like a snapped kite and slammed into the wall.
The sudden reversal froze the rest of the squad.
In front of them, the masked, silver-haired young woman raised one hand, gave them a playful middle finger, and turned to run.
Adrian seized the moment and poured another burst into the security team.
The effect was excellent.
At least three men went down.
The instant the squad returned fire, Adrian rolled off the roof and landed cleanly below.
That exchange had given the gangs time to catch back up.
He needed a new position before the locals decided to clean him up along with everyone else.
Based on T-Lilith’s movement, she had run toward the street.
He needed a building with a line of fire in that direction.
The BSAA had not followed.
They had probably withdrawn.
If he helped the gangs finish this security team, the first wave would be over.
Chris watched from a side alley as the silver-haired young woman sent a large man flying across the alley like an empty can.
The man was finished.
Even if he lived, half his body was ruined.
Chris was almost certain she was the operation’s target.
Which raised the question: where was the mercenary from the file?
As he thought it, a man in body armor dropped from a low building two structures away.
The man had his back to Chris’s corner and was running fast toward the street.
“Found you.”
Chris took a deep breath, checked the surrounding area, and immediately moved after him.
By the time he reached the street, he saw Adrian climbing the side of a nearby building.
The silver-haired B.O.W.
had just lifted a red car and hurled it at the security squad.
“Absurd strength,” Chris muttered.
He climbed quietly onto the same building Adrian had taken.
On the roof, Adrian stood with his back to him, weapon pointed toward the security team below.
Chris moved in silently and pressed the muzzle of his gun against the back of Adrian’s head.
“Don’t move.
Hands up.”
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Want to keep going?
I hope this chapter gave you another reason to stay with the story.
There’s still plenty ahead, and things are only starting to unfold.