Page 95 of Betraying Family Vows

Cubicle dividers lie broken on the floor, and the glass windows of offices are shattered. Perfect ambush territory. I motion for my team to spread out, covering all angles as we advance.

Somewhere ahead, a door creaks open.

Then all hell explodes.

Doors on both sides of the hall burst open so hard the hinges shriek. Men pour out, weapons raised. Not handguns, but full automatic machine guns. The kind that turn flesh into red mist.

The hallway erupts into a storm of bullets and noise.

I barely have time to shout, "DOWN!" before the first burst of automatic fire rips the air apart.

The burnt-out lights above us shatter, raining glass and sparks. The sound is deafening. A constant, punishing roar that vibrates the floor.

I throw myself sideways, slamming shoulder-first into a closed door. The impact nearly knocks the wind out of me, but it's better than standing in the open.

Bullets tear splinters off the frame above my head as I crash through, landing hard on my side. My gun skids across the floor, stopping just short of the opposite wall.

Behind me, the hallway has become a killing ground.

A short burst of fire punches through the wall inches from my head.

Two of my men make it through another doorway. The other screams as bullets pierce through him, the sound cutting off abruptly as his body jerks and falls. Blood pools beneath him, spreading in a dark stain across the concrete.

"Fuck!"

I roll to my stomach, crawling toward my weapon as bullets continue to pour through the doorway, punching holes in the drywall above me. Dust and debris fall on my back.

I reach my gun, fingers closing around the grip, and pull myself behind an overturned desk just as another round of fire shreds where I just was.

I wait for a break in the gunfire, my finger on the trigger, body tensed like a spring. Heart pounding so hard it's all I can hear.

When the barrage finally pauses, I move toward the door and twist around, popping my head out.

Down the hall, a cluster of men are running, swarming around someone in their center like a school of fish protecting something valuable.

I return fire and my two surviving men come out and start shooting too.

A machine gun forces us back into hiding as they fire at us before disappearing.

I look back out and they're gone. Like they weren't even there.

"You guys good?" I ask my men across from me.

They nod.

"Okay, let's?—"

I stop.

I hear Screaming.

It's her.

My blood turns to ice, then fire.

"Athena!"

I signal to my remaining men and we burst from cover simultaneously, guns scanning the area. Smoke and dust still fill the hall, making our vision hazy.