BXBX NOVEL Chapter 109: The Game of Prey
Chapter 109: The Game of Prey
"I don\'t think you\'re in control of the situation as much as you believe," Dominic growled, keeping his weapon steady. "If you knew who we were, you\'d understand that walking out of here won\'t be easy for you."
The man smiled faintly. "You misunderstand me, Dominic. I\'m not the one who needs to walk out. But you do." He raised his hand, a signal Dominic didn\'t catch at first until the floor trembled beneath them.
Suddenly, the server room\'s ceiling exploded in a rain of debris. Armed mercenaries, ropes swinging from the ceiling, descended like a swarm. Dominic had seconds to react. He grabbed Alyssa, pulling her to cover behind the large bank of servers, just as gunfire erupted around them.
"Stay down!" Dominic shouted, firing off shots at the descending soldiers. The tight space turned into a chaotic battlefield, with bullets ricocheting off the walls and sparks flying from damaged electronics.
Alyssa\'s heart pounded in her chest. "I\'m almost in!" she yelled, still working furiously to download the files.
Dominic ducked behind cover and assessed the situation. The mercenaries were well-equipped, trained for close-quarters combat. They weren\'t going to be easy to fight off, and the mysterious man—still standing calmly in the room—was clearly orchestrating it all.
"We need to get out of here!" Dominic shouted into his comms. "Eleanor, tell me you have an extraction plan!"
Eleanor\'s voice crackled through the earpiece. "Working on it, Dom! Just hold tight . I\'m jamming their external communications. Reinforcements won\'t be arriving, but I can\'t guarantee how long that\'ll last."
"Not long enough," Dominic muttered, narrowly avoiding a bullet that chipped the corner of a server near his head.
The mercenaries were closing in fast, using military tactics to pin them down. Dominic shot back, managing to take out two of them, but they were being overwhelmed.
Alyssa\'s voice broke through the chaos. "Got it! I\'ve got the data!"
Dominic grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet. "We need to move. Now!"
They bolted toward the exit, but the mercenaries blocked their path. Dominic glanced over his shoulder—the mysterious man was still standing in the shadows, watching, like a predator toying with its prey.
"You can\'t escape," the man called out, his voice unnervingly calm. "You\'re already trapped in my game. Everything you do from here only tightens the noose."
Dominic gritted his teeth. "We\'ll see about that."
A sudden explosion rocked the room, and a cloud of smoke filled the air. Marcus\'s voice came over the comms. "You\'re welcome!"
Dominic didn\'t have time to question it. Using the smoke as cover, they sprinted for the elevator. Gunfire continued to rip through the air as more mercenaries appeared, but Marcus\'s well-timed explosive distraction gave them just enough of an edge to reach the door.
Alyssa punched the button, and the elevator doors slid open. They dove inside just as bullets peppered the walls around them. Dominic slammed his hand against the control panel, and the elevator doors sealed shut, cutting them off from the chaos above.
Panting, Alyssa leaned against the wall. "That was close."
Dominic nodded, still catching his breath. "Too close."
As the elevator descended, Dominic turned to Alyssa. "What\'s on the drive?"
Alyssa pulled out the small encrypted hard drive she had extracted from the server and handed it to him. "I don\'t know everything yet, but whatever this is, it\'s big. It\'s not just Voss\'s research it\'s a full blueprint of his future plans. This is what they\'ve been after."
Dominic examined the drive, his mind racing. "If we have this, we have leverage. We need to get this analyzed immediately."
The elevator dinged as it reached the ground floor. But as the doors opened, they were greeted by a dozen black-suited security agents, weapons raised".
"Don\'t move!" one of the guards shouted.
Dominic raised his hands slowly. Alyssa did the same, her eyes darting around for an exit.
Then, from behind the guards, the man who had orchestrated the attack upstairs calmly stepped forward. He looked down at Dominic and Alyssa with a mix of amusement and triumph.
"You didn\'t think it would be that easy, did you?" he said.
Dominic\'s mind raced. They had the data, but now they were trapped, surrounded. The odds weren\'t in their favor. He had no choice but to think fast.
"You\'ve made one mistake," Dominic said, his voice steady.
The man raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what\'s that?"
Dominic smirked. "You assumed we came here alone."
At that moment, the ground shook again, but this time from outside. Explosions ripped through the building\'s entrance, sending shockwaves down the corridor. Smoke poured in as the outer walls crumbled.
Before anyone could react, Marcus and Laura stormed in, leading a tactical team of their own, guns blazing. The guards scattered, disoriented by the sudden attack.
Dominic didn\'t waste a second. Grabbing Alyssa\'s hand, they ran through the chaos, weaving past debris and fallen guards. Marcus and Laura covered their escape, firing at the remaining mercenaries.
As they reached the exit, Dominic turned back to see the mysterious man watching from the ruins of the server room. His eyes locked with Dominic\'s for a brief moment, and then he disappeared into the smoke, vanishing as if he had never been there at all.
They burst outside into the fresh air, the sound of helicopters overhead. Eleanor\'s voice crackled through the comms. "Extraction team is inbound. Get to the rendezvous point!"
As they sprinted toward the waiting helicopters, Dominic couldn\'t shake the feeling that this was far from over. They had won this round, but the man they had faced wasn\'t just a player he was the one pulling the strings behind it all.
And now, Dominic and his team were directly in his crosshairs.