Nancy couldn't stop crying, her small hands clutching the hem of Clara's coat as if it were the only anchor keeping her tethered to the earth.Thomas turned around, sliding a small, black remote detonator out of his pocket as he glared sharply at Phyna, who was standing stiffly at the edge of the gathered crowd, refusing to step fully into the center."You!" Thomas sneered at Phyna, gesturing aggressively with his gun. "What is your problem?! Did you not hear me when I said you should enter the circle?! Or is your massive, arrogant pride getting in the way of your basic hearing?!"Phyna glared absolute daggers at Thomas, her eyes narrowed into deadly slits, her fists trembling at her sides. For a second, she looked as if she were about to dive across the floor and tackle him with her bare hands. But she quickly looked at the tactical odds stacked heavily against her: Thomas had a live weapon aimed at her head, Dorian was covering the rear with a submachine gun, and Clara held the Dire

Clara’s voice came from the back seat, low, cold, and completely unbothered. "Don't stop. Maintain speed. It should scare them off."Thomas kept his foot jammed down on the gas pedal. The heavy SUV accelerated to sixty, then seventy miles per hour, its heavy steel bumper heading straight for the two officers like a charging bull!But the two men on the road didn't break. They were elite, highly disciplined soldiers trained to stand their ground against any threat. As the massive black SUV closed the distance, the two officers raised their rifles and opened fire point-blank through the storm!RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!A spray of heavy, armor-piercing rounds slammed into the front windshield! The bulletproof glass spider-webbed violently into a dense maze of white cracks, but the reinforced layer held! One stray round caught the driver's side mirror, shattering the glass and ripping the plastic housing completely off the vehicle!"WHOA!" Thomas yelled, instinctively swerving the steering wheel t

"LET ME BE!" the Director roared, gasping for air as he shoved their hands away. He sat in the mud, his chest heaving, his body shaking uncontrollably.His life had flashed before his eyes a hundred times in the span of an hour. He had come to this fortress to flex his high political authority, to assert dominance over a field commander, and he had ended up in the crushing grip of the most dangerous shadow operative in the country.He realized now, with sickening clarity, that Phyna’s arrogance had actually saved his life in a twisted way. If he had actually succeeded in taking Nancy and handing her over to Gerald Colton, Clara would have tracked him down and snapped his neck like a dry twig without a second thought."I am never coming out here again..." the Director whimpered, tears mixing with the rain on his bruised face. "Never again!"He dragged himself up, ignoring the guards, and immediately ordered his private driver to bring his bulletproof sedan. He just wanted to go home, l

Back in his grand estate office, Gerald Colton was pacing back and forth across his expensive rug, his face twisted in pure, simmering rage. He was furious that Commander Phyna had outsmarted his front team earlier, pulling Nancy straight out of his holding cell right under his nose. He had used his vast political connections to dispatch the Director of National Security to retrieve the girl, but things had gone completely silent."The Director isn't picking up his phone," Colton barked into the receiver, his voice cold and dangerous. "Give me an update, Warren. Where is the girl?!""Sir..." Warren reported cautiously, keeping his eyes locked on the diner entrance, "...I just watched Commander Phyna’s personal armored SUV leave the fortress grounds a few minutes ago. And... the Director seemed to be thrown out of it into the mud."Colton froze in his office, his eyes narrowing. "Thrown out? The Director of National Security?!"That was one of the most powerful, high-ranking men in the

Clara kept her arm wrapped tightly around Nancy's shoulders, her voice remaining impossibly steady despite the darkness. "Stay calm, Nancy. It's nothing. Just stay close to me.""Let's teach these bastards a lesson!" Thomas barked, unbuckling his seatbelt and checking his knuckles. "There can't be more than a dozen of them outside! We can kick these doors open and tear them apart in thirty seconds!""Thomas, calm down!" Clara commanded sharply, her voice cutting through his rising anger. "Don't always think with your fists!"Clara’s mind raced in the dim light of the container. In their younger years, when it was just Thomas, Dorian, and herself, they would have happily blown the roof off the truck and fought their way through a hundred men without a second thought. They were hardened by years of brutal underworld warfare. But Nancy was here now. Nancy was a normal, fragile teenager, and in a chaotic, blind fight inside a dark, moving container, the slightest stray bullet or flying pi