Chapter 10 - ASHES TO ASHES
The server room erupted into a deafening storm of violence.
Dominic moved with impossible speed, shoving a massive server rack forward. It toppled with a crash, crushing one of the bodyguards and throwing off Alexei’s aim. The gold-plated revolver fired, the bullet shattering the glass wall behind us.
I dove behind a cooling unit, the progress bar on my screen agonizingly slow. 70%... 75%...
Dominic engaged the remaining three bodyguards in brutal, close-quarters combat. Despite his injured shoulder, he was a force of nature, driven by pure, unadulterated vengeance. He disarmed one guard, snapping his wrist and using his weapon to drop another.
I popped up from cover, firing my Glock, putting a bullet through the knee of the third guard before he could flank Dominic.
Alexei, realizing his men were falling, aimed his weapon at the computer terminal. I threw myself over the screen, taking a grazing bullet to my ribs just as the system chimed.
Download Complete.
I yanked the drive out, clutching it to my chest, gasping in pain.
Dominic saw me fall and let out a roar of absolute fury. He lunged at Alexei, tackling the cartel boss through the shattered glass doors and out onto the sprawling, open-air balcony.
I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the burning pain in my side, and staggered after them.
The wind whipped around them as Dominic and Alexei fought on the edge of the forty-five-story drop. Alexei was older, but he was cunning, landing a vicious kick to Dominic's wounded shoulder. Dominic stumbled, dropping to one knee. Alexei raised the gold revolver, pointing it at Dominic's head.
"You die just like your wife," Alexei spat. "Helpless."
"Dominic!" I screamed.
Without thinking, I threw my empty Glock directly at Alexei's face. The heavy polymer struck him square in the nose, shattering bone. He stumbled backward, his gun firing wildly into the sky.
Dominic seized the moment. He surged upward, grabbing Alexei by the lapels of his expensive suit, and used the cartel boss’s own momentum against him.
With a powerful heave, Dominic hurled Alexei Volkov over the waist-high glass balustrade.
Alexei screamed, a terrifying, echoing sound that faded as he plummeted forty-five stories down into the dark, unforgiving streets of Chicago.
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Silence descended on the balcony, broken only by the howling wind and our ragged breathing. Dominic sank to the floor, exhausted, bleeding, but alive. I dropped to my knees beside him, wrapping my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest.
He held me fiercely, his face buried in my hair. "It's over," he whispered. "It's finally over."
