Chapter 29 - The Anatomy of Annihilation
Chaos erupted inside the silo.
"Kill him!" Kowalski roared, drawing an automatic pistol from beneath his coat while diving behind the steel wheel of a loader tractor.
The remaining four operators opened fire, their submachine guns rattling in full-auto bursts that chewed into the concrete pillars, sending clouds of dust and pulverized stone flying into the air.
Damon didn't retreat. He advanced directly into the firestorm.
He moved with an impossible, erratic fluidity—never staying on a linear path, shifting his center of gravity with terrifying speed. He appeared beside the first operator before the man could swing his muzzle around. Damon shoved the operator’s barrel down with his left palm, wedged his forearm into the man’s throat, and drove his titanium combat knife upward beneath the jawbone into the base of the skull.
The operator went instantly limp. Damon used the dead man’s body as a mobile shield, absorbing a burst of 9mm rounds, while his right hand fired two double-taps through the operator’s shoulder into the second mercenary’s chest.
Two down in under four seconds.
The third operator panicked, dropping his empty magazine to reload. Damon discarded the human shield, closed the five-foot gap with a low slide, swept the man’s legs out with a brutal shin-kick, and fired once through the top of the operator’s ballistic helmet.
Silence crashed back over the silo, broken only by the hum of the halogen light and Kowalski’s ragged breathing behind the tractor.
Damon stood among the bodies, his rifle smoking, his combat shirt speckled with dust and crimson. He ejected his half-spent magazine, slapped a fresh 30-round mag into the receiver, and racked the bolt home.
"Victor," Damon called out, stepping over a puddle of expanding oil. "Your team is neutralized."
A low laugh echoed from behind the tractor. Kowalski stepped out, holding a detonator in his left hand, his pistol aimed directly at Damon.
"Always the fastest dog in the kennel, weren't you, Damon?" Kowalski rasped, blood leaking from a shrapnel cut on his cheek. "You think this was about an old grudge? You think I’m working alone?"
"Drop the detonator, Victor."
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"The footage of you breaking that kickboxer in the gym... it didn't just reach me, Damon," Kowalski sneered, his finger hovering over the red arming switch. "It reached the Director. He’s already in the state. He didn't send me to kill you. He sent me to confirm it was really you."
***
