Chapter 75
Vincent didn't bother with a silent entry. He placed a shaped C4 charge directly onto the ventilation grate beneath them.
"Breaching," Vincent commanded.
The explosion was deafening, a concussive roar that shattered the ceiling of the server hub.
The Ghost Legion poured through the breach, dropping twenty feet onto the tops of the massive server racks. They didn't hesitate. They opened fire mid-air, a devastating, synchronized hail of suppressed armor-piercing rounds raining down upon the stunned Praetorian guards.
The element of surprise was absolute. Six guards dropped instantly before they could even raise their weapons.
"Ambush! Above!" Silas screamed, his aristocratic composure shattering as the ceiling rained concrete and death. "Return fire!"
The server hub erupted into a chaotic, blinding firefight. Bullets sparked violently against the heavy steel casings of the mainframes, showering the room in coolant fluid and shattered glass.
Cole dropped from the server rack, executing a flawless combat roll across the polished floor. He came up firing, dropping two advancing guards with surgical precision.
Vincent moved like a force of nature. He didn't seek cover; he became the storm. He advanced relentlessly toward the central platform, his heavy assault rifle chewing through the enemy line, drawing their fire to protect his men.
"Hold the perimeter! Do not let them reach the console!" Silas ordered desperately, taking cover behind the heavy control terminal.
"Sarah, I need the lockdown overridden!" Cole yelled over the deafening roar of the guns, sliding behind a damaged server rack.
"I'm locked out, Cole!" Sarah’s voice panicked over the comms. "The quantum encryption is dynamic. If I try a brute-force hack, it accelerates the protocol! You have to manually sever the hardlines beneath the console!"
Cole looked at the elevated glass platform. The space between his cover and the console was a designated kill zone, covered by the remaining ten Praetorian guards.
"Vincent, I need a path to the console!" Cole roared.
"You have it," Vincent replied coldly.
Vincent didn't reload his rifle. He holstered it smoothly, drawing his heavy ceramic combat knife. He stepped fully into the kill zone.
"Boss, no!" Donovan yelled.
But Vincent was moving with terrifying, explosive speed. He was a localized hurricane of kinetic violence. He ducked beneath a volley of automatic fire, engaging the guards in brutal, close-quarters combat. He drove his blade through throat gaps, shattered knees with devastating kicks, and used the mercenaries' own staggering bodies as human shields against their comrades.
He was carving a path of blood and broken bone directly toward the platform.
Cole didn't waste the distraction. He sprinted across the open floor, diving under the heavy glass platform just as the final guards turned their weapons toward Vincent.
Beneath the platform, Cole found the massive, glowing fiber-optic cables connecting the console to the global satellite uplink.
"I have the hardlines," Cole grunted, pulling his own combat knife.
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"Five minutes to launch, Cole!" Sarah warned frantically. "Cut them now!"
Cole raised his knife, preparing to sever the cables, when a heavy, metal boot slammed brutally into his ribs.
