Chapter 10: The Skeleton of Steel

The Helios Tower was a massive, terrifying skeleton of raw steel and exposed concrete rising fifty stories into the freezing, starless night air.

It was a billion-dollar monument to stalled ambition, its construction entirely halted by union strikes and political corruption. Now, it was serving as Stefano Rossi’s impenetrable, high-altitude fortress. The wind aggressively howled through the open steel beams, sounding like the tortured screams of ghosts.

Cole aggressively killed the Mustang’s headlights two blocks away. He coasted the heavy vehicle silently into a shadowed alleyway directly across from the massive construction site.

“We have to completely split up,” Cole whispered.

He was aggressively checking his final magazine in the dark shadow of a rusted cement mixer. His face was visibly pale in the moonlight, the severe blood loss from the earlier alleyway ambush finally taking its heavy toll on his massive body.

“Are you completely out of your mind?!” Haley aggressively hissed, gripping his good arm. “Split up? There are at least thirty heavily armed mercenaries patrolling that ground floor!”

“Exactly,” Cole grunted, tightening the tactical strap on his vest. “I will violently draw their heavy fire directly at the main elevator shaft. I’ll make an absolute massive amount of noise. You take the dark service stairs on the north side.”

Haley stared at him, her dark eyes wide with pure, unadulterated panic.

“That is a literal suicide mission for you, Cole!” Haley argued, her grip tightening painfully on the cold steel of her Glock 19. “You have one magazine left! They will shred you to pieces!”

“I need you to aggressively flank them from the shadows, Haley,” Cole insisted, his dark eyes burning into hers. “You climb those stairs. You stay entirely hidden. When they are completely focused on putting a bullet in my chest, you take out Stefano.”

“I am absolutely not leaving you to die!” Haley yelled in a hushed whisper, tears of raw frustration welling in her eyes. “We fight together, or we don’t fight at all!”

Cole reached out. His large, calloused, blood-stained hand gently cupped her bruised cheek. The intense, violent man suddenly looked incredibly soft.

“I’m the shield, Princess. Remember?” Cole gave her a tired, beautifully jagged smile. “My only job is to make sure you get to swing the sword. Now, go!”

Before Haley could argue another word, Cole violently broke cover.

He sprinted directly into the floodlights of the massive construction lobby, aggressively raising his Glock. He fired two deafening, highly controlled shots directly into the air.

“Over here, you pathetic cowards!” Cole roared at the top of his lungs, his gravelly voice echoing off the concrete.

The heavily armed mercenaries on the mezzanine aggressively shouted in panic. Dozens of blinding muzzle flashes violently illuminated the dark concrete as they opened fire on Cole’s position.

While the absolute chaos violently erupted in the lobby, Haley slipped silently into the pitch-black northern stairwell, her heart pounding a frantic, terrifying rhythm against her ribs.

Would you have the absolute courage to walk up fifty flights of dark stairs in a building full of killers, knowing your only protector was walking directly into a firing squad?

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