Chapter 51 Silas #2
“Rear entry secure,” Charles reports. “Three hostiles down.”
We move deeper. Kitchen. Hallway. Every corner a potential death trap.
A hostile comes around the corner, rifle raised. Jace is faster, puts him down with a controlled burst. The body hits the floor, weapon clattering.
“Four down,” Jace says.
Gunfire erupts above us. Second floor hostiles firing through the floor, bullets punching through ceiling tiles, raining plaster and splinters.
I track the sound, return fire upward, emptying my magazine through the ceiling in a controlled pattern. Someone screams. The gunfire stops.
“Reloading,” I say, dropping the empty mag, slamming a fresh one home.
“Second floor, moving to engage,” Cal’s voice comes through. I can hear his footsteps on the stairs, his breathing controlled despite the adrenaline.
More gunfire. Sustained burst. Then silence.
“Two more down,” Cal reports. “Hallway secure.”
“Silas, Jace, status?” Charles asks.
“Moving toward Parker’s location,” Jace responds. We’re in the hallway now, approaching the room where I saw her through the window.
The door’s closed. Locked.
I don’t waste time. Boot to the door, right beside the handle. The frame splinters, the door swings inward.
Ryan is behind Parker, gun to her head. His eyes are wide, panicked. He wasn’t expecting us to breach this fast, this hard, to cut through his people like they were made of paper.
I use his surprise. The split second where his brain is processing the door exploding inward, the armed men pouring through.
I shoot him.
Center mass. One shot.
Ryan screams, the sound raw and agonized. His gun drops, his hand going to his chest where blood is already blooming across his tactical vest. He staggers backward, away from Parker, leaving her exposed.
Movement to the left. Blonde hair. Designer dress.
Aria.
She’s pulling a weapon from somewhere behind the laptop, her movements fast and practiced. Not the fumbling of someone who doesn’t know guns. The efficiency of someone who’s trained.
She levels the gun at Parker.
“Don’t,” she says, her voice cold.
A red dot appears on Parker’s chest. Laser sight. From outside. Through the window behind her.
Sniper.
Fuck.
“Lower your weapons,” Aria says, her gun steady on Parker. “All of you. Now. Or the sniper puts a bullet through her heart.”
I track the angle of the laser sight, trying to pinpoint the shooter’s position. Trees to the east. Maybe 200 meters out. Too far to rush. Too concealed to get a clean shot.
“Sniper, east tree line,” I report into the comm. “Can’t get position.”
“Can’t see him either,” Williams responds. “Too much cover.”
Jace is beside me, his weapon raised but not fired. He’s seeing what I’m seeing. Parker with a red dot on her chest. Aria with a gun trained on her. Ryan bleeding on the floor but still alive, still a threat if he gets his hands on a weapon.
“Lower your weapons,” Aria repeats. “Or she dies.”
I don’t lower my weapon. But I don’t shoot either. Because if I shoot Aria, the sniper shoots Parker. If I shoot at the window trying to hit the sniper, I might hit Parker instead.
We’re at a stalemate.
Parker’s eyes meet mine. She’s been working her wrists this whole time, I realize. The zip ties. She’s been twisting them, loosening them, using every second of distraction to free herself.
That’s my girl.
But she’s not free yet. And that red dot is still on her chest.
Charles and Cal enter behind us, weapons raised, taking in the situation instantly.
“Aria,” Charles says, his voice controlled. “Let’s talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Aria says. “Lower your weapons or Parker dies. Simple.”
“You shoot her, you lose your leverage,” Jace points out.
“I don’t have to shoot her,” Aria says. “My sniper does it for me. And then we see how long the rest of you last when this building is surrounded by my people.”
From the floor, Ryan is gasping, clutching his chest. The vest stopped the bullet from killing him but he’s hurt bad. Probably cracked ribs, maybe internal bleeding.
“Aria,” he gasps. “Help me.”
“Shut up, Ryan,” she snaps, not looking at him. Her eyes are on us, on the weapons we’re holding, on the calculation of whether we’ll actually fire.
Ryan’s hand is moving. Reaching for something. His gun. The one he dropped when I shot him.
I see it. Track it. Finger tightening on my trigger.
But Ryan’s faster than he should be. Pain and adrenaline making him reckless. He grabs the gun, swings it up toward me.
And fires.
The shot hits my leg. Left thigh. The impact knocks me sideways, my own shot going wide, punching through the wall behind Aria.
Pain explodes up my leg, white-hot and immediate. I go down hard, my knee hitting the floor, my weapon dropping from my hand.
“Silas!” Parker screams.
Another shot. Louder than Ryan’s. Different caliber.
Aria’s gun.
Ryan’s head snaps back, blood spraying across the floor. He drops, dead before he hits the ground.
“You fucking idiot,” Aria says, her gun smoking. “I needed him alive.”
Parker is screaming, pulling at her restraints with desperate strength. The zip ties are loosening but not fast enough.
I’m on the floor, blood pouring from my leg, my vision swimming. The bullet hit something important. Artery maybe. Definitely muscle. I can feel the hot pulse of blood, too much blood, pooling beneath me.
Jace is moving toward me but Aria swings her gun toward him.
“Don’t,” she warns. “Nobody moves or the sniper shoots Parker.”
The red dot is still on Parker’s chest. Still steady. Still ready.
“Silas,” Parker’s voice is wrecked, crying, terrified. “Silas, no, please.”
I try to respond but the pain is making it hard to think. Hard to focus on anything except the burning in my leg and the wetness spreading across the floor.
Parker’s still working the restraints. Her wrists are bloody now from the effort but she’s almost free. Almost.
Outside, the laser sight disappears.
Gunshot. Different direction. One of our people taking out the sniper.
“Sniper down,” Williams reports through the comm. “Clean shot.”
The moment the laser sight vanishes, Parker breaks free. The zip ties snap, her wrists coming apart, and she’s moving before Aria can react.
She drops from the chair, hitting the floor, crawling toward me with desperate speed.
“Silas,” she’s saying, over and over. “Silas, stay with me. Stay with me.”
Her hands are on my leg, pressing down on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. The pressure makes me want to scream but I lock it down, force it back.
“I’m okay,” I manage, though we both know it’s a lie.
“You’re not okay, you’re bleeding everywhere,” Parker says, her voice breaking. Her hands are shaking, covered in my blood, pressing harder. “Someone help him!”
“Nobody moves,” Aria says, and I realize she’s moved back to the laptop. Her gun is still trained on us but her other hand is on the keyboard. “Nobody fucking moves or I trigger the kill switch.”
Parker grabs my .45 from where I dropped it. Raises it with blood-slick hands, aims at Aria.
“Parker, no,” Cal says. “If you shoot her, she might hit the kill switch by reflex. Her hand’s on the keyboard.”
“I don’t care,” Parker says, her voice raw. Her hands are shaking but her aim is steady. “She can blow up the whole organization. I don’t care. She doesn’t get to do this.”
“What about your kids?” Aria asks, her finger hovering over the touchpad.
“If I take this finger off without typing the right command, everything goes. The Carter organization ceases to exist. All the money. All the protection. All the security that keeps Noah and Liam safe. You want to explain to them why mommy destroyed everything?”
Parker’s hands tighten on the gun. “You’re using my children as leverage?”
“I’m using reality as leverage,” Aria says. “You shoot me, I destroy everything. Your boys lose the protection of the Carter name. They become targets. Every enemy your family ever made will come for them. Can you live with that?”
Jace is moving slowly, trying to flank. Cal is at his tablet, fingers flying. Charles has his weapon up but he’s not shooting, waiting for an opening.
And I’m bleeding out on the floor while Parker kneels beside me, one hand pressing on my wound, the other holding a gun on the woman who’s threatening everything we love.
“Parker,” I say, my voice rough. “Listen to me.”
“Don’t you dare,” she says, not looking at me. “Don’t you dare tell me to let her go. Don’t you dare tell me it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” I agree. Blood loss is making me cold. Making everything feel distant. “But the boys. They need you. They need the family.”
“They need you too,” Parker says, and tears are streaming down her face now. “They need all of us. I’m not losing you. I’m not.”
“Cal,” Charles says quietly. “Tell me you’re close.”
“Two minutes,” Cal responds. “Maybe less. I’m uploading a counter-virus through the local network. If I can corrupt her protocol before she triggers the kill switch.”
“You don’t have two minutes,” Aria says. She’s figured out what Cal’s doing. “I can see your intrusion attempt. It’s not going to work.”
Her finger moves closer to the touchpad.
“Final offer,” Aria says. “You all leave. Silas stays. I keep the systems I’ve cloned, I walk away with him, and nobody triggers anything. Or we all die here. Choose.”
The words hit like a second bullet.
“What?” Parker’s voice is hollow.
“Silas stays with me,” Aria repeats, her finger still hovering over the touchpad. “You all leave. Get out of this building, get back to your lives, keep your organization. But Silas is mine. That’s the trade.”
“Fuck you,” Parker says, her voice shaking with rage. “Fuck you, you don’t get to do this.”
“I do, actually,” Aria says. “Because I have all the leverage. I have the kill switch. I have the systems. I have the choice between destroying everything you’ve built or walking away with the one thing I actually want.”
“Silas is not a thing,” Jace says, his voice dangerous.