Chapter 88 - Breaking the Syndicate’s Grip
A blinding flash of concussive light detonated behind the shattered doorway as Harris and a dozen heavily armed Navy tactical operators breached the perimeter.
"Federal agents! Drop your weapons!" Harris roared through the ringing silence.
The two bodyguards turned their muzzles toward the doorway, but I was already moving. I lunged forward, slamming my shoulder into the nearest contractor, knocking him to the floor and driving my elbow into his temple until his weapon clattered away.
The second guard fired a burst toward Harris, but Emily swung the heavy steel shotgun receiver with all her strength, catching the man across the back of the knee and bringing him down hard onto the concrete.
Gunfire erupted in the corridor outside. Smoke, deafening screams, and the staccato rhythm of close-quarters combat filled the underground complex.
Arthur Sterling didn’t panic. With terrifying agility for a man of his age, he spun his carved cane. The silver grip detached with a sharp twist, revealing a ten-inch, high-carbon steel blade. He lunged not toward me, but toward the steel crate where baby Leo lay.
"If the line will not serve me," Arthur hissed, his eyes wide with fanatical madness, "it will not exist!"
"Arthur!" I screamed.
I vaulted over the overturned table, catching his descending arm mere inches above the carrier. The impact drove the edge of the steel blade into my forearm, slicing through my jacket and opening a deep, searing gash. Blood splattered across the rim of the crate.
Leo shrieked, waking instantly to the violence.
Arthur’s face was inches from mine, his slate-gray eyes burning with venomous hatred. "You are weak! You bleed for sheep!"
May you like
"I bleed for my family," I snarled.
I twisted his wrist until the bone audibly cracked. The blade dropped from his numbed fingers, clattering onto the floor. With my other hand, I drove a devastating right cross into his jaw, snapping his head back. Arthur staggered, his polished cane skittering away, before crashing heavily onto the cold stone floor beside the shattered remnants of his own arrogance.
