Chapter 36 - Shards of the Past
The collision was brutal.
Jonathan slammed his shoulder directly into the mercenary closest to the doctor. The impact knocked the man flat onto the slick pavement, sending his rifle skittering into the darkness.
"Lin! Disarm it now!" Arthur screamed somewhere in the gloom, panic finally cracking through his aristocratic voice. "Kill the girl, you idiot! Trigger the remote!"
"I can't!" the doctor shrieked back. "The localized electromagnetic pulse from the generator cutoff scrambled the terminal’s connection! It’s in fail-safe mode!"
Jonathan caught Dr. Lin by the collar of her lab coat, spinning her around and slamming her against the fuselage of the idling aircraft. "Disarm it manually! Look at me! You have the key in that case!"
The doctor was trembling violently, her eyes darting between the darkness and Jonathan’s savage, bloodshot gaze. "I... I need the biometric needle from the case! It fell when you hit him!"
"Find it!" Jonathan roared.
Suddenly, a blinding beam of light ripped through the darkness from the runway gate.
A heavy tactical vehicle smashed through the chain-link fence at full speed, tires screaming as it slid sideways across the wet asphalt. Spotlights erupted from its roof rack, illuminating the entire hangar in brutal white light.
Marcus Cole leaned out of the passenger window, a megaphone to his mouth: "Drop your weapons! State Police! Drop them or you will be fired upon!"
Arthur Vance spun, his cane raised, pulling a compact pistol from his coat pocket and firing directly at the police vehicle.
The windshield of Cole’s truck spiderwebbed, but the heavy steel bumper didn't slow down. It barreled forward, pinning Arthur against the hangar's steel support beam with a sickening crunch of bone.
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Arthur collapsed into the puddle, screaming in agony, his pistol flying out of reach.
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