Chapter 17 - The Final Stand
The Director's voice screeched over the PA system, full of frantic panic. "Eliminate the girl! Take the old man down!"
Three hidden snipers perched on the upper gantry of the warehouse swung their rifles toward us. But before they could squeeze their triggers, the heavy roar of a tactical sniper's suppression rifle echoed from the upper ridge—our federal overwatch taking out all three hostile positions in one synchronized volley.
The man in the suit raised his sidearm, aiming directly at Lily’s chest.
I didn't hesitate. I raised my carbine, squeezed the trigger, and delivered a single, flawless subsonic round that shattered the man's wrist, sending his pistol clattering harmlessly onto the gravel.
Before he could scream, two federal operators swarmed him, slamming him face-first into the dirt and slapping heavy steel cuffs around his wrists.
I sprinted across the clearing, dropping my rifle as I reached Lily. With shaking hands, I cut the zip-ties binding her wrists and pulled her tightly into my arms.
"I've got you, sweetheart," I choked out, burying my face in her hair. "I've got you. You're safe."
May you like
"I knew you'd come, Dad," she sobbed softly into my shoulder, clinging to me as the blinding lights of the federal transport vehicles illuminated the entire rail yard.
Around us, the remaining syndicate mercenaries were rounded up, disarmed, and loaded into armored federal vans. The shadow empire that had controlled governments and pulled the strings of corruption for decades was finally being dismantled piece by piece, cell by cell.
