Chapter 7 - The Desperate Diversion
Before I could physically restrain him or even shout a desperate warning, Leo violently shoved a massive stack of unstable, rusted metal piping directly toward the advancing mercenaries.
The heavy iron pipes crashed forcefully onto the concrete floor with a deafening, metallic clatter, instantly creating a massive, confusing cloud of blinding dust and rust.
"Take the shot!" Thorne screamed furiously, completely losing his composed, arrogant demeanor as the heavy debris rolled aggressively toward his expensive leather shoes.
In the brief, chaotic moment of total visual distraction, General Hayes surged forward with the unbelievable speed and ferocity of a soldier half his advanced age.
He tackled the treacherous Agent Miller forcefully to the ground, violently wrestling the heavy assault rifle directly from the corrupt man's grasping hands.
Using the massive, stolen weapon, Hayes unleashed a fully automatic, suppressing burst of heavy fire strictly aimed at the ceiling, causing huge chunks of heavy masonry to rain down violently.
"Run for the loading docks, now!" Hayes bellowed, physically shoving me and Leo violently toward the dark, narrow service corridor at the rear of the massive building.
I grabbed Leo's hand and sprinted faster than I ever thought humanly possible, my legs burning with pure, unadulterated adrenaline as bullets violently shattered the walls right behind us.
We burst frantically through the rusted rear exit doors, stumbling blindly out onto an abandoned, garbage-strewn shipping dock overlooking the dark, swirling waters of the East River.
"We need to completely disappear, they have the entire perimeter completely locked down!" Hayes shouted, limping heavily as a fresh, bleeding graze wound painted his shoulder bright red.
I looked frantically around the desolate, highly exposed dock, completely desperate for any viable escape route out of this deadly, tightening trap.
Moored loosely to the decaying, wooden pier was a small, rusted municipal maintenance speedboat, its key miraculously left dangling carelessly in the ignition by a negligent city worker.
"Into the boat, jump, now!" I screamed, forcefully tossing Leo over the low fiberglass side before scrambling desperately aboard myself.
Hayes furiously laid down one final, massive volley of covering fire toward the warehouse exit, physically buying us the crucial seconds needed to survive.
He threw himself awkwardly into the rocking vessel just as Thorne's heavily armed mercenaries burst violently through the rear doors, instantly leveling their deadly weapons.
I forcefully cranked the rusty ignition key, and the heavy outboard motor roared to life with a massive, sputtering cough of thick black smoke.
I slammed the throttle completely forward, forcefully throwing us all flat against the deck as the small boat violently rocketed away from the dangerous pier.
A heavy hail of deadly bullets aggressively churned the dark water all around us, loudly splintering the protective fiberglass hull but miraculously missing our vulnerable bodies.
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As we sped dangerously fast into the freezing, dark waters of the busy river, the terrified reality of our impossible situation settled heavily over us.
We had completely lost the encrypted laptop, but I reached deeply into my jacket pocket and felt the cold, hard reality of the original silver data chip still safely hidden.
