Chapter 10 - Trial by Fire
The gunfire erupted in an instant.
Marcus lunged forward, shoving my father’s motorized chair and me behind a reinforced concrete pillar as bullets chewed through the plaster and shattered medical monitors into clouds of sparkling dust.
"Elena, stay down!" Adrian roared.
To my shock, Adrian didn't take cover. Grabbing a fallen tactical rifle from an incapacitated guard, he stepped into the crossfire with astonishing precision. The months he had spent training his upper body and core during rehabilitation paid off in ruthless dividends. He fired three controlled bursts, neutralizing two of Kincaid's mercenaries who were attempting to flank our position.
"Marcus, flank left!" Adrian commanded, his voice booming over the gunfire like a seasoned battlefield general. "Cut off his access to the roof!"
Kincaid realized his guards were being systematically eliminated. Sweating profusely, he turned and sprinted toward the secure research archives down the north corridor, clutching a metallic hard-drive case to his chest.
"He's taking the prototype data!" I yelled to Adrian.
"Stay with your father!" Adrian shouted back, already sprinting after Kincaid.
"Adrian, no! Your spine—!"
I couldn't just sit there. I kissed my father's forehead. "Dad, stay behind this pillar. Marcus's team will protect you."
I grabbed a discarded shock-taser from the floor and sprinted after Adrian down the shattered corridor.
The chase ended inside the high-voltage generator room of the facility. Sparks rained down from damaged conduits. Kincaid was cornered against the emergency backup transformers, his pistol trembling in his hand.
Adrian stood twenty feet away, his chest heaving, his weapon lowered. He was breathing heavily, his back undoubtedly screaming with agony from the sudden violent exertion, but his posture never faltered.
"It's over, Kincaid," Adrian said, his voice deadly calm. "Drop the weapon."
"You don't understand, Adrian!" Kincaid shrieked, backing against the hum of the electric grid. "I didn't have a choice! They have my family! If I didn't rig the toxicology reports on your pilots, they would have slaughtered my children!"
"Who are *they*?" Adrian demanded, stepping forward one deliberate pace at a time. "Give me the name of the serpent."
"If I say his name, I'm a dead man!" Kincaid screamed. He suddenly raised his pistol, aiming directly at Adrian’s heart. "And so are you!"
Before Kincaid could pull the trigger, I lunged from the shadows behind the transformer and fired the taser directly into his shoulder.
Fifty thousand volts surged through Kincaid's body. He convulsed violently, dropping the gun with a clatter onto the metal grating before collapsing onto his knees, gasping for air.
Adrian rushed over, kicking the pistol away and immediately pulling me into his arms. He held me tight against his chest, his heart hammering against mine.
"You crazy, magnificent woman," he breathed into my hair, his arms trembling with a mix of exhaustion and overwhelming relief. "I told you to stay with your father."
"And I told you I wasn't going to leave you," I whispered back, burying my face in the crook of his neck.
Adrian released me slowly, turning his icy glare back onto the groaning doctor on the floor. He knelt down, grabbing Kincaid by the collar.
"Last chance, Robert," Adrian growled. "Who ordered the strike on my plane?"
Kincaid coughed, spitting a trace of blood onto the floor. Terrified of Adrian's wrath, he finally broke.
May you like
"Arthur... Arthur Sterling," Kincaid wheezed. "Julian's older brother... the former Undersecretary of Defense. He's operating out of the private airstrip in Maine... preparing to leave the country tonight."
***