Amira's pulse was a war drum as the truck rattled to a stop outside the abandoned factory. The sky above was black and starless, the air thick with damp and the scent of rust and oil. As Zion killed the engine, silence swallowed them. For a moment, it was as if the whole world was holding its breath.
"Are you ready?" Zion asked, his voice low, rough. His hand brushed hers on the gear shift, warm and strong, and Amira nearly flinched away.
"I've been ready since the day he killed Celeste," she whispered, eyes burning. "Let's finish this."
They moved as one, silent shadows slipping from the truck and into the night. Lucia whispered directions, guiding them toward a side entrance where the rusted steel door had been left ajar. Rosalie stayed back with her laptop, scanning security feeds and whispering over comms, her voice trembling. "Two guards inside…no…wait, four. They're armed. Careful."
Zion nodded once, eyes hard, before sliding the door open. The next several pages unfold in brutal detail: Amira and Zion clearing the entryway with silenced pistols, blood blooming across grimy concrete as Dominic's men fall. Lucia nearly cracks under pressure when confronted by an old contact who remembers her betrayal, but Amira drags her forward, promising that if Lucia falters again, she'll put a bullet in her head.
As they reach the inner hall, alarms blare. Dominic's voice echoes through the factory speakers, taunting Amira with memories of Celeste, describing in grotesque detail how he slaughtered her and stole her art to bankroll his empire.
Amira screams with fury, charging into the central chamber where Dominic waits, Gabriel tied to a chair beside him, blood pouring from a wound in his side. Gunfire explodes in the smoky haze. Zion covers Amira, taking a bullet in the shoulder as she sprints for Dominic. The two grapple, Dominic's knife flashing. They crash into a table, toppling crates and sending glass shattering across the floor.
Amira pinned Dominic beneath her, her gun jammed, Dominic's laughter ringing in her ears as he spits blood in her face and whispers, "You can't kill me."