Chapter 9 - Blood on the Docks
The interior of the shipping depot erupted into sudden,
violent chaos the moment Adrian and his men crossed the threshold into the main warehouse floor.
Two Russian guards standing by a forklift dropped their cigarettes in sheer disbelief before reaching frantically for the automatic weapons slung across their chests.
They never even got their safety catches off before Marcus and his operatives neutralized them with precise,
double-tap chest shots that echoed sharply off the towering stacks of shipping crates.
Adrian did not break his stride,
walking steadily toward the central freight elevator that led directly up to Petrov's executive suite on the top floor of the reinforced brick building.
Alarms began to blare overhead,
a harsh,
deafening klaxon accompanied by flashing red strobe lights that painted the wet concrete walls in alternating bands of shadow and blood-red illumination.
More guards poured out from the side corridors,
shouting frantic orders in Russian as they raised their weapons to confront the intruders.
Marcus and his team formed a protective wedge around Adrian,
laying down a devastating wall of suppressed gunfire that swept the corridor clean in a matter of seconds.
Keep moving,
Adrian ordered coldly,
stepping over the fallen bodies without so much as a downward glance.
We don't have time to waste playing games with hired muscle.
They reached the elevator shaft,
only to find the call button dead and the heavy steel doors locked tight from the upper control room.
Fine,
Adrian muttered,
stepping aside as Marcus slapped a shaped C4 breaching charge directly against the center seam of the elevator doors.
Stand back,
Boss,
Marcus warned,
pulling Adrian behind a reinforced concrete pillar before pressing the wireless detonator in his palm.
The ensuing explosion was muffled but concussive,
May you like
blowing the steel doors completely off their tracks and sending a massive plume of acrid gray smoke billowing up into the shaft,
opening a direct vertical pathway straight to Petrov's inner sanctum.
