Chapter 29 - Into the Dragon’s Teeth
Julian came out of the smoke like an elemental force of destruction.
His rifle was empty; he discarded it without breaking stride, drawing his dual tactical sidearms. The two mercenaries barely brought their barrels up before Julian put two rounds through each of their visors with surgical precision. They hit the floor like sacks of stone.
Alistair Kane didn't flinch. With lightning reflexes honed over decades of black-ops warfare, he drew a gold-plated revolver and pressed the cold muzzle directly against the side of Maya's temple.
"Stop right there, Julian!" Kane roared, tearing off his porcelain mask, revealing a face deeply scarred by burn marks and age. His gray eyes burned with venomous madness. "One more step and I paint this concrete with her brains!"
Julian froze twenty paces away. His chest heaved with shallow, agonizing breaths, blood dripping from his knuckles onto the iron catwalk. The countdown on the silo wall showed **00:03:15**.
"Let her go, Alistair," Julian said, his eyes locked onto Kane. "Your fight is with me. The board is dead the moment I leave this room. You have the money. Take the helicopter on the launch pad and leave."
Kane threw his head back and laughed—a harsh, barking laugh that echoed in the cavernous silo. "You think this is about money, Julian?! You destroyed my life's work! You burned down twenty years of my syndicate because you fell in love with a weak, dying woman and wanted to play house! You made me a ghost! I don't want your money, Julian... I want to see you watch the only thing you love die, just like I watched my empire burn!"
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Maya looked across the gap at her father. She saw the blood on his face, the broken ribs holding his stance stiff, the utter desperation buried beneath his stone gaze.
She remembered the shard of metal in her hand.
