Chapter 7 - The Syndicate’s Strike
The storm outside grew wilder, heavy wind howling through the tall pines surrounding the cabin.
At 0200 hours, three blacked-out SUVs crept up the winding dirt road, their headlights off, moving like predators in the dark. Six heavily armed operatives dressed in night-vision gear and tactical armor emerged from the vehicles, forming a perimeter around the timber cabin.
Inside the darkened house, Lucas stood in the shadow of the hallway, holding an M4 carbine provided by Miller.
"They’re crossing the tree line," Miller reported through an earpiece, watching the infrared camera feed from his basement command desk. "Six hostiles. Heavy thermal body armor."
"Lily is secure in the panic room?" Lucas asked softly.
"Locked down tight. Shadow is with her."
"Good," Lucas said. "Let’s end this."
The front door was blown off its hinges by a breaching charge. Dust and wood splinters filled the entry hall as two operatives rushed inside, weapons raised.
They didn't make it three steps.
Lucas materialized from the darkness like a ghost. He struck the first operative with the stock of his rifle, neutralizing him instantly, then fired two quick, controlled rounds into the chest plate of the second, knocking him through the broken doorframe into the rain.
Outside, shouting erupted. "Hostile engaged! Subdue him!"
A hail of gunfire ripped through the wooden walls of the living room. Lucas dropped low, rolling behind a massive stone fireplace.
Suddenly, a heavy thud echoed from the rear porch. An operative had bypassed the main entrance and was breaking through the kitchen window—directly above the trapdoor leading to the basement panic room.
"Lucas! Rear entry!" Miller shouted over the comms.
Before Lucas could swing around, the heavy basement trapdoor burst open from the inside.
It wasn't Lucas. It was Shadow.
The Belgian Malinois shot out of the dark basement like a battering ram. He launched himself through the shattered kitchen window, slamming into the mercenary with two hundred pounds of kinetic force. The operative screamed as he crashed through the porch railing, tumbling ten feet down into the muddy ravine below, with Shadow landing right on top of him.
Lucas pushed through the kitchen, providing cover fire from the doorway, knocking down the remaining two operatives as they tried to flank the house.
Within four minutes, the quiet of the forest returned, broken only by the sound of falling rain and the rhythmic thrum of distant helicopter blades.
Lucas stepped onto the porch, wiping rain from his face. Shadow trotted up the steps, muddy, wet, but completely uninjured, carrying a tactical radio in his mouth.
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Lucas took the radio and pressed the receiver button.
"This is Lucas Reed," he said cold into the microphone. "Tell your CEO that his strike team failed. And tell him I’m coming to his office at sunrise."
