Chapter 4 - Steel and Rain
The heavy reinforced glass behind Walter shattered into a thousand jagged diamonds as two mercenary breach operatives repelled through the second-story window.
Adrian reacted before the first pair of combat boots even hit the floorboards. He lunged sideways, kicking the heavy oak conference table into the path of the first shooter just as a burst of suppressed automatic gunfire tore through the plaster walls. Splinters sprayed across the room, shredding the blueprints pinned to the display boards.
Adrian drew his customized sidearm in a fluid motion, putting two rounds into the chest plate of the lead mercenary before diving behind a steel server rack. The sound of gunshots inside the confined space was deafening, echoing against the concrete walls of the secure wing. The second gunman swept his weapon across the servers, sparks showering in blinding arcs as copper bullets pulverized the delicate electronics.
""You're too late, Adrian!"" Walter shouted, his voice muffled behind the armored glass of the server control booth. ""They have orders to burn the whole place to the ground! You should have died with your wife four years ago!""
Adrian didn't waste his breath answering. He reached down to his tactical belt, pulling an incendiary flash canister he kept for compound breaches. He pulled the pin with his thumb, counted half a beat, and tossed it around the corner of the server rack.
A blinding white flash illuminated the entire room, instantly followed by an ear-splitting concussive blast. The mercenary cried out, instinctively dropping his rifle to cover his burned eyes. Adrian closed the distance in two strides, tackling the man to the floor, disarming him with brutal, practiced efficiency, and ending the threat with a single, decisive strike.
Adrian rose, his knuckles bleeding, his black dress shirt torn at the shoulder where a stray bullet had grazed his skin. He turned his eyes toward the glass booth. Walter Mercer was staring at him in horror, frantically hammering an emergency access code into the wall terminal, trying to seal himself inside.
Before Walter could hit the final digit, Adrian slammed his broad shoulder against the heavy door, wedging his foot into the frame. He grabbed Walter by his silk lapels and dragged the older man across the polished floor until Walter's back collided violently with the shattered window frame, the cold midnight rain soaking them both in seconds.
""Where is the strike team headed right now?"" Adrian demanded, his voice dropping into a deadly, guttural growl that sounded barely human.
Walter coughed, spitting a fleck of blood onto his lip, but a defiant grin spread across his face. ""You think this room was the target? I've known you your whole life, Adrian. You're predictable. You rushed down here to play the hero... while five of my best men took the service stairs straight up to the third-floor nursery.""
The world seemed to stop spinning. Adrian's breath hitched in his throat.
""Maisie,"" Adrian whispered, the realization hitting him like a freight train.
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Walter laughed, a wet, rattling sound in the wind. ""The little white-haired brat dies tonight, Adrian. And then you have nothing left to live for.""
Without a word, Adrian struck Walter across the temple with the heavy butt of his sidearm, knocking him unconscious onto the rain-slick floor. He didn't waste a second to look back. Adrian turned and sprinted down the hallway, taking the marble stairs three at a time, his weapon drawn, his heart tearing apart inside his chest.
