Chapter 18 - Point Blank
"Eleanor! We have to get out of here! The whole floor is going up!" Marcus screamed, grabbing her shoulder.
Eleanor coughed violently, pointing a shaking finger toward the corner of the room.
Arthur Pendelton was crawling through the smoke toward an emergency evacuation hatch, holding a backup hard drive.
"He... he has the master copy," Eleanor gasped, her voice raspy from smoke inhalation.
Marcus sprinted across the burning carpet, stepping on Arthur's wrist just as he reached the hatch handle.
Arthur rolled onto his back, pulling a small derringer pistol from his boot holster.
A gunshot exploded at point-blank range in the tight space.
Marcus felt a searing surge of pain cut through his left shoulder, knocking him backward.
Arthur scrambled to his feet, aiming the small pistol directly at Marcus's head.
"You lost the moment you put on that cheap security uniform, Vance," Arthur spat, his finger tightening on the trigger.
Before Arthur could fire the final shot, a heavy brass object slammed violently against the side of his head.
Arthur collapsed onto the floor, unconscious, revealing Eleanor standing behind him with a heavy bronze award trophy.
She dropped the shattered trophy and collapsed to her knees, clutching her own abdomen.
Marcus scrambled over to her, realizing with horror that a stray bullet had struck her during the struggle.
Blood was spreading rapidly across her beige silk blouse, staining the fabric dark red.
"Eleanor!" Marcus cried, pressing his hands against the wound to stop the bleeding.
"The... the drive is destroyed," Eleanor whispered, her breathing shallow and ragged.
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"Take... take the master copy... and save Sarah," she whelmed, pressing the hard drive into Marcus's hands.
Sirens wailed in the distance as the fire alarms blared across the burning skyscraper.
