Chapter 20 #2
Two men collapsed to the ground, their cries of pain cut short as bullets zipped overhead and debris from the shattered concrete flew around them.
Rhea’s soldiers continued to pour from the building, fueled by a desperation that told me the interior was just as crowded with hired guns.
Still, our numbers were on our side … for now.
My eyes fixated on the one-armed man stepping out of the building. Without hesitation, I raised my weapon and aimed at his chest. When the crosshairs steadied, I pulled the trigger. The shot sounded, and he collapsed, lifeless.
My heart pounded, each beat loud in my ears, threatening to burst from my chest. A dizzy spin threatened to take over, but I forced myself to focus and fight.
We advanced together, crouching low, darting behind cover as bullets tore through the air.
One by one, we picked off the enemies, cracking the compound’s defenses.
Before long, we fought our way across the open asphalt and reached the reinforced main entrance, leaving a tableau of scattered bodies in the parking lot behind us. .
The sharp staccato of approaching footsteps broke the tense silence, indicating that the fight was far from over.
“Take cover!” Thal hissed a jagged command as he hauled me against the reinforced side of the building.
His eyes met mine, a storm of protective rage and determination. He was holding steady, but the air was thick with adrenaline, almost enough to taste.
I glanced back to check our line. Aidon and Zeno were still on their feet, weapons raised, but we were pinned down.
Movement above caught my eye. I looked up, my breath hitching as I saw a woman perched on the edge of the roof, an assault rifle braced against her shoulder.
I recognized those eyes instantly. I’d seen them across the high-stakes poker table and again when she walked through the hail of gunfire at the charity event, as if she were invincible.
It was Cass.
The realization hit me like a physical blow. What the hell was she doing here? More importantly, how was the woman Zeno treated like a dead saint standing on a roof in the middle of a war zone?
I raised my weapon, the crosshairs locking onto her, but I didn't fire. The facility doors burst open again, and more of Rhea’s men spilled out. Bullets chewed up the pavement around us.
I watched in horror as one of Aidon’s men was struck in the head, and he hit the ground with a sickening finality.
His fellow soldiers couldn’t pause to mourn. They dragged his body out of the line of fire, a grim, silent respect for the fallen, while I held my position.
The chaos intensified. One of the syndicate’s men fixated on Zeno, creeping through the shadows behind him, a blade glinting in the neon light.
Thal and I noticed it at the same time. We darted from the cover of the pillar, trying to close the gap before the attacker reached Zeno’s back, but we were too slow.
A single, muffled shot rang out from above.
The attacker’s head snapped back, and he collapsed into a heavy, lifeless heap. Thal and I skidded to a halt, staring up at the roof, stunned.
Zeno spun around, his weapon raised to kill, but the moment his eyes fell on the woman on the roof, the world seemed to stop. The color drained from his face until he looked like a ghost. He wasn’t seeing a sniper but a ghost he wasn't prepared for.
“Cassandra,” he whispered, the name heavy with confession.
She had saved his life. She stayed on the ledge just long enough to meet his gaze, a cold, flickering connection that sent a shiver down my spine, then disappeared into the night.
There was no time to demand answers or chase after her. Our attention was forced back to the relentless stream of enemies spilling from the building. Thal and I took turns, working in a brutal, synchronized rhythm, pausing only to reload while the other covered our backs.
The minutes blurred into an agonizing stretch of heat and cordite until the relentless tide of guards finally receded. When the last of them fell, a heavy, ringing silence settled over the parking lot, broken only by the distant, aching groans of the wounded.
We had broken through the defenses. But as I looked at Zeno, who was still staring at the empty roof where Cass had been—I realized the true battle was only starting. “We should go in now,” Thal said.
Aidon and Zeno rushed to our sides, followed by our guards, still standing.
Luckily, we’d only lost two of them in the initial chaos, two of Aidon’s men, even though that was two too many.
Their fellow soldiers dragged their bodies out of the line of fire, a grim, silent respect for the fallen.
Seeing the anguish etched on Aidon’s face as he watched them being taken away heightened my anger.
This fight was far from over. Rhea and her syndicate had caused chaos for years, spreading pain and destruction wherever they went. It was long past time to take her down. Too many lives had been broken, too many families ripped apart by her command.
She had to be stopped.
To do that, we had to go in where she least expected.
Zeno nodded to half of his men, commanding them to flank around to the back of the property.
Their orders had already been given: if Rhea tried to make an escape out the rear, she wouldn’t get far.
Meanwhile, another group of Aidon’s men moved to patrol the outbuildings on the other side.
Rhea was now surrounded.
Following the loud gunfire outside, it was clear she knew we were there.
“Ready?” Thal asked, gesturing toward the door.
Aidon, Zeno, and I nodded as Thal stuck his head inside. Seeing that the coast was clear, we followed him in, guns drawn and ready to fire if needed.
“Hold,” I whispered, snapping my hand up to signal a stop.
Thal and Zeno froze instantly. They were looking for shooters.
I was looking for the floor. I pointed to a nearly invisible wire stretched across the threshold of the dark room.
“Zeno’s fourth-year specialty. Pressure-sensitive thermite.
If we’d stepped in there, the hallway would have been a furnace in three seconds. ”
Thal looked at the wire, then at me, a new heat in his eyes, not lust but pure, unadulterated respect.
I didn’t wait for permission. I stepped over the wire with the clinical precision of a ghost passing through a wall.
For the first time, the King of Olympus and the Ice King of Atlantis were following my lead. I felt the weight of their stares on my back, not as a prize to be won, but as the only person in this hallway who knew how to keep them from turning to cinders.
We all stiffened as if our bodies' instincts were warning us of danger. Mine screamed at full volume. I had to summon all my willpower to ignore it and press on, my gaze flicking between doors, my fingers trembling with fear, ready to fire at the slightest movement.
At the end of the hallway, darkness loomed. A large room that extended into a visible black hole, making it impossible to see what was inside from here.
Or who.
My heart raced as we moved down the hallway, with only the echo of our footsteps filling the silence. Tiny beads of sweat dripped down my back, mirroring the shiver of fear racing down my spine.
We’re okay.
We’ve got this.
You aren’t alone…
The words echoed in my mind as I watched Thal’s back. He stormed down the hallway like a man on a mission, if there ever was one. His eyes were steel, his face grim and stoic. His shoulders, tense and squared.
He glanced over his shoulder to check on me.
His eyes conveyed so much that words weren't needed.
I wished he could understand the message in mine as well.
Over the past few weeks, we'd become very close, and both of us are concerned for each other. We trusted each other’s abilities because, if we didn't, we wouldn’t be here now, but we were aware that anything could happen.
The hallway opened into the main hangar, a dark, cold expanse where stacks of crates lined the walls. Aidon walked over to one of them and revealed an arsenal of automatic rifles.
He opened another crate, and it was full of silencers.
“Looks like we hit the motherlode,” Thal said.
“We knew we would,” Zeno muttered. “My intelligence is never wrong.”
His arrogance was impossible to miss, yet it wasn’t unexpected.
Zeno had always carried himself with an unshakable self-righteousness, constantly boasting about his superior resources and never shying away from bragging rights.
The stark contrast between his cocky demeanor and Thal’s quiet humility was glaring.
Aidon’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and read the message.
“We won’t be alone for long. My source says the rest of Rhea’s men are closing in fast."
Almost on cue, the distant sound of footsteps echoed through the dimly lit warehouse. Instinctively, we dispersed, slipping behind crates and pillars, tense and alert, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
Within seconds, a group of six men burst through a doorway at the warehouse’s south end. Guns in hand, eyes wild and scanning the darkness, they searched for us. We stayed hidden, motionless, and silent. Aidon nodded to Thal.
When one of the men approached the pillar where Thal was hiding, Aidon waited until the enemy’s back was turned, then appeared behind him. A quick, accurate shot ended the threat, a bullet sinking into the back of his head.
And just like that, the quiet tension erupted into chaos once more.
Rhea’s men charged at Aidon, but Thal and Zeno took cover and started picking them off one by one from their hiding spots. Each shot, however, gave away their positions, sending sparks of danger as they ricocheted off the walls and the concrete floor.
I responded by firing from my side of the room, aiming at the shadows to distract them, creating a chaotic maze of unpredictable bullets streaking through the air.