Chapter 9 - The Anatomy of a Duel
Up on the gantry, the metallic walkways vibrated with the heavy footsteps of the hidden sniper. Marin stalked through the absolute darkness, relying entirely on her tactical instincts and the faint ambient glow of distant harbor lights filtering through cracked overhead hatches.
Suddenly, a massive figure lunged from behind a stack of canvas tarps, wielding a combat knife in a vicious downward arc. It wasn't the sniper—it was an elite enforcer sent specifically to intercept anyone breaching the upper level. Marin blocked the incoming strike with her forearm guard, absorbing the crushing impact before spinning fluidly and driving her elbow upward into the attacker’s sternum. The enforcer gasped, stumbling backward against the unsecured railing.
Before he could recover, Marin swept his legs out from under him, sending him crashing over the edge of the gantry. He dropped ten feet onto a pile of coiled industrial cables below, knocked out cold.
From the shadows behind her, a cold, metallic click echoed directly against the back of her neck.
"End of the line, nurse," a raspy, unfamiliar voice hissed.
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Before the trigger could be pulled, a deafening roar from below shook the ship. Elias, having scaled the opposite ladder, fired a single, devastating round from his sidearm through the metal grating beneath the assailant’s feet. The floor buckled, and the gunman tumbled backward, neutralized by Elias’s unerring marksmanship. Elias holstered his smoking weapon, crossed the gantry in two long strides, and hauled Marin against his chest, his hands gripping her shoulders as he checked her over for injuries.
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