Chapter 7 - The Breaching Charge
A deafening explosion rocked the estate. Dust and plaster rained down from the ceiling as the heavy steel shutters covering the living room windows were blown violently inward.
Julian’s men weren't playing around anymore. They had used C4 breaching charges.
Freezing wind howled through the massive hole in the wall, bringing a blinding swirl of snow into the expensive, curated living room. Two armed mercenaries stepped through the smoke and debris, their weapons raised, sweeping the room with tactical flashlights mounted to their barrels.
"Clear the ground floor!" Julian’s voice barked from outside. "Find the basement access!"
Elias was positioned on the second-floor landing, looking down through the wooden banisters. He had the high ground. He raised the assault rifle, aligning the iron sights with the chest of the lead mercenary.
He remembered his anatomy textbooks. Center mass. The heart, the lungs, the major arteries. He squeezed the trigger.
The rifle barked three times in rapid succession. The lead mercenary collapsed backward into the snow, instantly neutralized.
The second mercenary immediately returned fire, unleashing a barrage of bullets that shredded the wooden staircase and shattered the chandelier above Elias’s head. Glass rained down like diamond shrapnel. Elias dove backward, sliding across the hardwood floor just as a bullet grazed the thick Kevlar of the tactical vest he had pulled from his safe.
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He was pinned down. If the mercenary advanced to the stairs, Elias would be trapped. He reached into his medical kit. He didn't have grenades, but he had something else.
He grabbed two vials of highly flammable surgical ether and a road flare from his emergency kit. He cracked the flare, its brilliant red fire hissing violently, taped the vials to the side, and hurled the improvised incendiary over the banister.
