Chapter 16 - Smoke and Steel
The foyer became a war zone within seconds.
Heavy oak paneling splintered under a hail of armor-piercing rounds. I dropped behind a marble pillar, returning fire with calculated, single-shot precision. Two mercenaries in the doorway dropped instantly, hitting the polished marble floor with lifeless thuds.
More poured through the shattered windows, their weapons flashing in the dim, smoke-filled interior.
"You're cornered, Hale!" a harsh voice shouted from behind the cover of the main staircase. "Drop your weapon and step out! The boss wants you alive—for now!"
"Tell Don Morosco he can come and get me himself!" I yelled back, pulling the pin on a fragmentation grenade and tossing it across the foyer toward the staircase landing.
BOOM.
The explosion blew the wrought-iron banister into a thousand twisted metal shards, sending wood and shrapnel raining down over the lobby. Screams echoed through the smoke as the mercenaries scrambled for cover.
I vaulted over the marble coffee table, sweeping my submachine gun across the room, neutralizing three more targets before my magazine clicked empty.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway above. Marcus appeared at the top of the balcony, bleeding from a grazing wound to his forehead, holding a wounded mercenary by the collar before tossing him over the edge.
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"Boss! They've breached the west wing perimeter! They're trying to access the sub-vault ventilation shafts!" Marcus shouted over the ringing in our ears.
"Not while I'm breathing," I muttered, slamming a fresh magazine into my weapon.
