Chapter 6 - Blood on the Marble
Victoria didn't wait for them to open fire.
She shattered the glass of the payphone booth with two precise gunshots.
The bullets struck the lead mercenary straight through his tactical vest.
He stumbled back into the flooded gutter.
Marcus cursed over the comms as the other two mercenaries immediately took cover.
Victoria kicked open the shattered frame of the booth and dove into the shadows of a nearby alley.
Her bare feet cut against broken glass and asphalt, but she felt no pain.
Adrenaline pulsed through her veins like liquid fire.
She heard heavy boot steps echoing through the narrow brick corridor behind her.
"She went down the eastern alley!" a familiar voice shouted.
It was Jackson, her former heavy-weapons specialist.
Victoria flattened her back against a rusted dumpster.
She held her breath, counting the approaching steps.
One shooter was moving fast; the other was flanking around the block.
Jackson rounded the corner with his rifle raised.
Victoria lunged forward, slamming her forearm against his throat before he could pull the trigger.
She disarmed him with a fluid, lethal motion learned in years of hand-to-hand combat.
Jackson fell to his knees, gasping for air as Victoria pinned him against the wet wall.
She pressed the barrel of her pistol against his forehead.
"Look at me, Jackson," she growled.
Jackson looked up, his eyes filled with fear and shame.
"Commander... please," he choked out.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't end you right here," she said, her trigger finger tightening.
"They have your brother," Jackson gasped out frantically.
Victoria's mind went completely blank.
"What did you say?" she whispered.
May you like
"Vance... Vance didn't just buy us off," Jackson wheezed.
"He rounded up your family before you even landed in the capital."
