Chapter 15 #2
Akhil’s head snapped back. A line of crimson blood sprayed from his lip as he stumbled backward into a puddle, his sneakers slipping slightly on the wet concrete.
"Akhil!" Shruti shrieked in terror, thrashing wildly against the thick ropes binding her to the chair.
The fifth mercenary grinned viciously, raising a heavy iron crowbar to slam it directly down onto Akhil’s head while he was off balance.
Akhil didn't hesitate. Even as blood trickled down his sharp chin, his dark eyes flared with an intense, blinding power.
As the crowbar swung down, Akhil reached down into his right boot, pulled out his concealed tactical blade, and drove the steel blade upward into the mercenary's shoulder joint, twisting the handle.
The man let out a high-pitched scream of agony, dropping the iron crowbar onto the floor. Akhil grabbed the man by his jacket lapels and drove a devastating right hook straight to his temple, sending the massive thug crashing unconscious into a pool of water.
Akhil stood over the fallen mercenaries, his breathing coming in deep, heavy rasps. His white dress shirt was torn, stained with rain and blood, his dark hair messy, and a cut bled over his left eyebrow. But he was still standing, an unbroken, invincible mountain.
Only one threat remained.
Standing thirty feet away, trembling in absolute, terrified shock, was Reyansh Khanna.
All six of his elite mercenaries were lying unconscious or broken across the concrete floor.
Reyansh’s face was deathly pale. His hands shook violently as he held up a small, silenced secondary pistol he had pulled from his jacket, aiming the dark barrel directly at Akhil's chest.
"S-Stay back!" Reyansh whimpered, backing away towards the rear water ledge. "Stay back, Raheja, or I swear to God I’ll put a bullet through your heart!"
Akhil slowly wiped the blood from his cut lip with the back of his hand. He didn't look at the gun. He took one slow, deliberate step towards Reyansh, his dark eyes locked onto his rival with a cold, murderous intent that made Reyansh’s knees buckle.
"You put your hands on her," Akhil spoke, his deep voice dropping to a gravelly, lethal whisper that echoed through the quiet warehouse. "You struck her cheek. You brought her to this dump."
"I'll shoot you!" Reyansh screamed, his finger tightening on the trigger. "I'll shoot, "
What Reyansh didn't realize was that during the chaos of the hand-to-hand fight, the sixth mercenary, who had been knocked into the wooden pallets earlier, had quietly regained consciousness.
Lying in the dark shadows near the central pillar, the wounded sixth mercenary slowly raised a small, concealed derringer pistol from his boot, aiming it directly at Akhil’s exposed back while Akhil was focused entirely on Reyansh.
Shruti, sitting tied to the chair twenty feet away, saw the shadow movement in her side vision.
She saw the glint of the small metal pistol barrel aiming straight at Akhil’s spine.
Akhil couldn't see him. Akhil was walking towards Reyansh, completely unaware of the lethal sniper behind him.
'No!' Shruti’s mind screamed in absolute terror. 'He is going to shoot him in the back!'
There was no time to yell a warning. There was no time to call his name. In two seconds, a bullet would tear through Akhil’s heart.
Shruti’s fearless, unstoppable spirit erupted into pure action.
Ignoring the brutal rope burns tearing into her skin, Shruti threw all the weight of her body to the left side of the heavy wooden chair.
With a fierce, desperate scream of sheer willpower, Shruti threw her body sideways, tipping the heavy chair completely off balance!
'CRASH!'
Shruti and the heavy wooden chair slammed violently onto the concrete floor, crashing directly into a tall, unstable stack of heavy iron scaffolding pipes standing beside her!
The massive iron pipes dislodged from their wooden frame, tumbling down in an avalanche of heavy steel!
'CLANG! CLANG! BANG!'
The heavy iron pipes crashed onto the concrete floor with a deafening, thunderous metallic boom, scattering right into the dark shadow where the sixth mercenary was taking aim.
One of the heavy iron pipes struck the mercenary’s arm with crushing force!
'BANG!'
The mercenary’s gun went off prematurely, the bullet flying harmlessly high into the corrugated roof iron, shattering a halogen lamp instead!
Akhil spun around instantly at the sound of the crash and the gunshot!
His dark eyes took in the scene in a fraction of a second, Shruti lying on the floor beside the tumbled iron pipes, having risked her own body to save his life from a blind shot.
A dark, terrifying rage erupted inside Akhil’s chest.
In a movement so fast it was a blur, Akhil covered the distance to the sixth mercenary, grabbed the heavy iron pipe off the floor, and slammed it directly into the man’s chest, knocking him completely unconscious for good.
Akhil turned back towards Reyansh.
Reyansh was paralyzed with sheer, unadulterated terror. He dropped his gun onto the wet floor, backing away until his heels hit the edge of the dark sea wall.
"Akhil... please!" Reyansh whimpered, raising his shaking hands in total surrender, tears of fear welling in his eyes. "Don't kill me! It was Victor Romano's idea! I'll give you everything! I'll retract the media leaks! I'll leave India, "
Akhil stepped up to him. He didn't say a word.
He drove a single, devastating right hook straight into Reyansh’s jaw, knocking the ruthless corporate villain flat onto his back, completely out cold.