Chapter 79 - Crossfire in the Sleet
The front doors burst open with a deafening crash just as we reached the swinging steel doors of the boiler room corridor. Two armed men in private security parkas entered the hallway, their assault rifles raised, tactical lights cutting through the darkness.
"Freeze! Don't move!" one of them shouted, raising his rifle toward Julian.
Julian didn't hesitate. He fired two controlled rounds into the reinforced plaster beside the lead man's head. The explosive crack in the enclosed concrete hallway was deafening, the muzzle flashes blinding in the dim corridor. The guards ducked, scrambling behind the cinder-block partition for cover.
"Go! Now!" Julian shouted, shoving Tyler and me through the heavy metal fire door leading to the side vehicle bay.
Tyler caught the heavy fire door before it slammed shut, holding it open as I scrambled through into the freezing night air. Sleet was coming down horizontally now, whipping across the tarmac with hurricane force. The county cruiser was parked fifteen yards away, its engine block still radiating faint warmth from its recent arrival.
Behind us, glass shattered in the guard office as the men inside attempted to cut off our line of retreat. A burst of automatic gunfire tore through the corrugated metal wall above our heads, sending hot shards of galvanized steel singing through the storm.
Julian emerged from the doorway backward, returning fire with measured, deliberate precision until his slide locked back on an empty chamber. He sprinted the remaining distance to the cruiser, diving into the front seat as Tyler helped me into the back.
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The engine roared to life with a turn of the key. Julian threw the transmission into reverse, flooring the accelerator. The cruiser slammed backward through the flimsy aluminum chain-link gate, spinning 180 degrees on the ice before gripping the frozen gravel and rocketing down the access road into the heart of the blizzard, leaving the flashing lights of the reservoir outpost far behind.
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