The Exile's Wrath

CHAPTER 6: The Echo of the Pit

Ten.

John dropped the tablet. He didn't think. Instinct took the wheel.

Nine.

He sprinted toward the bay doors. His ribs, bruised from the fight with The Golem, screamed in protest.

Eight.

He saw the red blinking lights on the support beams. Charges. Everywhere.

Seven.

He reached the heavy metal doors. Locked. Welded shut from the outside. A trap within a trap.

Six.

"Drax!" John roared into his earpiece. "Extract! Now!"

Five.

"Wall! Three o'clock!" Drax’s voice barked back.

John turned. The east wall of the warehouse was thin corrugated metal. Beyond it lay the harbor water.

Four.

He ran. He didn't have enough speed to break it.

Three.

A massive roar filled the air outside. The sound of a heavy engine.

Two.

The corrugated wall suddenly exploded inward. The nose of the armored SUV smashed through the metal, debris flying everywhere. The vehicle drifted sideways, the passenger door flinging open.

One.

John dove.

He launched himself through the air, landing in the backseat of the SUV just as the warehouse detonated.

ZERO.

The world turned white.

The shockwave lifted the three-ton SUV off its wheels. The rear window shattered, showering John in glass. Fire rolled over the roof like a liquid wave.

Drax slammed the accelerator. The tires found traction on the wet pier, and the car shot forward, outrunning the collapsing building.

Behind them, the warehouse folded in on itself, a skeleton of fire and twisted steel sinking into the ocean.

John lay on the floor of the SUV, breathing hard. He picked a shard of glass out of his arm.

"Cut it close, Commander," Drax said, his eyes on the rearview mirror.

John sat up, looking at the inferno. "Viper. It’s Viper."

"The Syndicate Lieutenant?" Drax frowned. "I thought he was dead. Intelligence said he died in a coup in Macau."

"He’s here. And he has Ivy." John’s hands were shaking, not from fear, but from rage. "He said the Sterlings work for him. That means this isn't just about land or a grudge. The Sterlings are laundering money for the Syndicate."

"That explains the sudden wealth of the Sterling family fifteen years ago," Drax noted. "They used the orphanage land to build a port extension. A smuggling hub."

John nodded. It all fit. Martha died because the Syndicate needed a shipping route. His life was destroyed for a logistics calculation.

"We need intel," John said. "Viper won't be easy to find. He’s a ghost."

"Where do we start?"

"The money," John said. "Follow the money, find the snake. Who manages the Sterling accounts?"

Drax tapped the console. "Arthur Rostova. Elena’s father."

John’s expression darkened. Elena had defended her father, claimed he was a victim. But if Arthur Rostova was the accountant for the Syndicate, he knew where the bodies were buried. He knew where Viper was.

"Locate him," John ordered.

"Already done," Drax said. "He’s not at his home. His phone signal is bouncing off a private server farm in the Financial District. Sterling Secure Storage."

"They're scrubbing the files," John realized. "They know I'm coming."

"What are your orders?"

John looked at the burning horizon. "We go to the bank. And we make a withdrawal."

The Sterling Secure Storage facility was a brutalist concrete block in the center of Ironhaven. 

No windows. One entrance. Protected by Titan Corp mercenaries and a biometric security system that cost more than the GDP of a small country.

Inside, on the 40th floor, Arthur Rostova sat sweating in a room filled with humming servers.

Arthur was a small man with thinning hair and thick glasses. He typed furiously on a terminal, his fingers trembling.

"Faster, Arthur!"

Victor Sterling paced behind him, leaning heavily on his cane. His face was bruised, and his ego was shattered. "If the Feds get these files, we all hang. Delete everything. The Syndicate accounts first."

"It's encrypted, Victor!" Arthur snapped, panic making him bold. "Viper's keys are complex. If I force it, the system wipes the money too. Do you want to lose three billion dollars?"

Victor slammed his cane on the desk. "I want to lose the evidence! That maniac John Vance is alive. He knows!"

"He's just one man," Arthur muttered.

"He's not a man," Victor hissed. "I saw his eyes. He's a demon."

Suddenly, the lights in the server room flickered.

The humming of the cooling fans died. Silence fell over the floor.

"What happened?" Victor barked. "Power backup!"

"Systems are down," Arthur whispered, staring at his screen. It had gone black. "Someone cut the hard line."

The emergency red lights bathed the room in the color of blood.

The heavy steel door to the server room, rated to withstand a tank shell, began to glow.

In the center of the door, a point of white-hot light appeared. Then another. Someone was cutting through with a thermal lance.

"Security!" Victor screamed into his radio. "They're here!"

"Sir..." the radio crackled with static. "They're already inside. They're everywhere. It's, "

Gunfire. Screams. Silence.

The steel door hissed. A perfect circle of molten metal fell inward with a heavy clang.

Through the smoke, a figure stepped in.

John wore a gas mask and held a suppressed submachine gun. He didn't look like a hero. He looked like a cleaner.

Victor stumbled back, pulling a gold-plated revolver from his jacket. He fired blindly. Bang! Bang!

Bullets sparked off the doorframe. John didn't flinch. He walked forward, raised his weapon, and fired a single shot.

The revolver flew out of Victor’s hand, spinning across the floor. Victor clutched his numbed hand, wailing.

John ripped off his mask. His face was cold stone.

"Arthur Rostova," John said, ignoring the sobbing billionaire.

Arthur raised his hands, shaking violently. "Please... John... I didn't want this! I did it for Elena!"

"Elena is safe," John said. "Unlike my sister."

He grabbed Arthur by the collar and slammed him onto the desk. "Where is Viper operating from? Where is the Syndicate hub?"

"I can't!" Arthur cried. "If I tell you, they'll kill Elena!"

"I am the only thing standing between Elena and a bullet right now," John snarled. "Tell me!"

Arthur looked at Victor, then at John. He broke.

"The Foundry," Arthur whispered. "The old steel mill in District 9. That's their HQ. That's where they keep the... the assets."

"Assets?" John narrowed his eyes. "You mean prisoners?"

Arthur shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "No, John. You don't understand. Ivy isn't a prisoner."

John froze. "What?"

"She's been with them for fifteen years," Arthur sobbed. "Viper didn't just kidnap her. He raised her. He trained her."

John let go of Arthur, stepping back as if struck. "Trained her?"

"She's not a hostage, John," Arthur whispered, delivering the killing blow. "She's their top assassin. Her codename is 'Chimera'."