Chapter 8 - The Siege of Lake Norman
"Take Miles and get to the storm cellar under the kitchen floor," Marcus ordered, handing me a tactical rifle. "I'll hold the front. Tessa, you stay with the kid."
"I'm not leaving you, Marcus," I said, checking the magazine.
"You have a family to put back together, Ethan! Now move!" Marcus barked.
I ushered Tessa and a terrified Miles into the hidden hatch beneath the kitchen rug. Just as I slammed the wooden door shut over them, the front windows of the cabin shattered inward as flashbang grenades detonated with deafening roars.
The cabin turned into a war zone. Smoke filled the air, illuminated by the red laser sights of tactical weapons. Marcus opened fire from behind the kitchen island, taking down two operatives clad in completely unmarked black tactical gear.
I fired blindly through the haze, keeping the stairs secure. A soldier breached the side door, aiming directly at Marcus’s exposed back. "Marcus, watch out!" I screamed, firing a burst that caught the operative in the shoulder, throwing him backward out the door.
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But we were heavily outnumbered. A fragmentation grenade tossed through the window exploded near Marcus, sending him flying across the room, unconscious and bleeding from shrapnel wounds.
Before I could reach him, a heavy boot kicked my rifle out of my hands, and a hard punch to my temple sent me crashing to the floor, the world spinning into darkness.
