Chapter 35 - The Shadow Protocol
There was no time to raise a rifle. At a distance of fifteen feet, the spread of a 12-gauge combat shotgun would shred both Claire and Julian Vance into unrecognizable pulp.
Claire moved on pure instinct.
She kicked Julian's broken leg, using his staggering body to bump the heavy steel fire door behind her. As The Wolf pulled the trigger, Claire dropped flat onto the blood-slick marble.
*BOOM!*
The blast of twelve double-ought buckshot pellets tore Julian’s upper torso apart in a cloud of red mist and shredded wool. The Director of National Intelligence died before his body even hit the wall, his manic laughter silenced forever.
Before The Wolf could pump a second shell into the chamber, Claire surged forward from the floor.
She closed the distance in a fraction of a second, sliding under the barrel of the shotgun, her right elbow driving with concussive force directly into the gap beneath The Wolf's chin. The massive man grunted, his head snapping back, but his immense size absorbed the blow. He dropped the shotgun, his massive, gloved hands locking onto Claire’s tactical vest, lifting her clear off the ground and slamming her violently against the concrete pillar.
The impact drove the air from Claire’s lungs, white spots exploding across her vision.
The Wolf leaned in, his scarred face twisted into a sadistic grin beneath his mask. He drew an eight-inch combat trench knife from his chest rig, aiming the point directly at Claire’s throat.
"You're fast, girl," The Wolf snarled, his breath smelling of tobacco and rot. "But you're just flesh and bone. The One-Eighty-Seven dies tonight."
Claire looked directly into his cold, dead eyes.
"I am not just flesh and bone," Claire whispered through gritted teeth, blood trickling from the corner of her lip. "I am Ethan’s sister."
With a sudden, violent twist of her hips, Claire wrapped both legs around The Wolf’s neck in a lethal inverted triangle choke, using the pillar behind her to push off with explosive power. The sudden torque threw the three-hundred-pound mercenary completely off balance.
They crashed into the glass coffee table, shattering the three-inch plate into a million razor-sharp shards.
The Wolf lost his grip on the knife. Claire rolled instantly, pinning his right arm against the floor with her knee, her hands locking onto his helmet straps. With a vicious, unrelenting scream of pure rage, she slammed his head down onto the concrete floor once, twice, three times, cracking the composite helmet down the center.
The Wolf went limp, his eyes rolling back into his head, blood pooling from his nose and ears.
Below them, the floor gave a terrifying groan. A massive explosion ripped through the seventieth floor beneath them, blowing out the south-facing panoramic windows. A wall of fire surged up through the elevator shaft, licking at the steel rungs of the escape ladder.
"Claire!" Marcus’s voice screamed through her headset, static tearing through the transmission. "The building is going! You have twenty seconds to reach the roof! The helipad is collapsing!"
Claire didn’t look back. She scrambled to her feet, grabbed the heavy black titanium hard drive containing the complete Obsidian ledger from Julian's desk, shoved it into her chest pouch, and leaped onto the ladder.
May you like
She climbed with frantic, superhuman speed, the flames chasing her boots up the metal shaft as the world around her disintegrated into a vortex of fire and falling steel.
***
