Chapter 37 - The Plunge into Darkness
Total darkness slammed down on the lobby like a physical weight. The hum of the air conditioning died instantly. The only sound was the sharp, metallic click of the mercenaries switching to night-vision optics.
I dove behind the massive marble reception desk a fraction of a second before suppressed automatic fire chewed through the spot where I had just been standing, sending shards of stone and plaster raining down on my head.
Down in the sub-level, Marissa had executed the hard reset flawlessly. The main power was cut, and the backup generators were severed. But we were still trapped in a building with heavily armed killers.
"Find him!" Sterling’s voice echoed in the darkness, frantic and enraged. "Check the sub-levels! He’s trying to crash the terminal!"
I pressed my back against the marble desk, controlling my breathing, listening to the heavy boots of the mercenaries advancing across the floor. They had night vision; I had nothing but my memory of the lobby layout.
Suddenly, the emergency fire alarms triggered, filling the lobby with a deafening, piercing wail and flashing strobe lights that completely blinded the mercenaries' night-vision goggles.
Miller, I thought with a grim smile. The security chief had manually tripped the fire suppression system from the breaker room.
As the strobe lights flashed in blinding intervals, I saw one of the mercenaries stumble backward, tearing his goggles off. I didn't hesitate. I vaulted over the desk, grabbing the heavy brass base of a lobby stanchion, and swung it hard into the back of his knees. He went down hard, his rifle clattering across the floor.
Before the second mercenary could zero in on my position, a heavy wooden cane swung out from the shadows near the elevator bank, striking the man squarely in the throat.
Raymond Pierce stepped out of the darkness, breathing heavily, gripping his cane like a baseball bat. "I told you I was retiring, Adrian," Raymond gasped over the blaring alarms. "I didn't say I was dead."
"Where is Sterling?" I yelled, scanning the strobe-lit room.
The front doors were wide open. The ghost had fled the moment the lights went out, abandoning his men to save his own skin.
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"He’s heading for the sub-level!" Raymond shouted, pointing toward the emergency stairwell door, which was slowly swinging shut. "He knows the system is crashing. He’s going to try and manually force the failsafe before the servers completely wipe!"
"Stay here and secure these two," I told Raymond, grabbing the dropped rifle from the unconscious mercenary. "I’m going after him."
