Chapter 141: Fire in the Terminal
The first muzzle flash lit the chamber like a lightning strike.
Sound followed a heartbeat later—sharp, concussive, bouncing off the curved ceiling until it became a rolling thunder that made every breath taste of cordite.
Keller dropped low behind the broken ticket kiosk as shards of plastiglass erupted where his head had been a moment before. The kiosk’s metal frame groaned under the impact of incoming fire, but it was thick enough to hold. For now.
Lin, crouched by the abandoned maglev car, returned fire in short, disciplined bursts—two shots, pause, two more. No wasted ammunition, no panic in his movements. He shifted after every volley, never firing from the same spot twice. Keller noticed it, filed it away. Old instincts like that didn’t fade.
The attackers moved in pairs, leapfrogging between cover. They weren’t random street guns—they had coordination, hand signals, overlapping arcs of fire. The drone in the tunnel had been their scout. Whoever was running this squad had planned the hunt well.
A round ricocheted off the kiosk frame near Keller’s knee. He shifted right, leaning just far enough to spot a figure moving behind a toppled bench. He exhaled, squeezed off three shots. The figure went down hard, weapon clattering to the tiled floor.
One less. Many more to go.
Lin’s voice carried across the chamber, calm despite the chaos. "Two flanking right!"
Keller swung his aim toward the indicated archway. Sure enough, two shapes darted into view, one with a compact submachine gun, the other carrying what looked like a shotgun modded for close quarters. He fired at the lead man—caught him high in the shoulder. The shotgunner ducked, but Lin’s follow-up shot hit center mass, dropping him instantly.
They were buying themselves seconds at a time, nothing more.
A metallic whine cut through the gunfire—the sound of servos winding up. Keller glanced toward the main entrance and saw the spiderlike drone reappearing, its sensor array sweeping the chamber. This time, it wasn’t scouting. Its underside pivoted open, revealing a compact rotary weapon.
"Down!" Keller shouted.