Chapter 10 - Under the Chassis
The deafening roar of submachine gun fire echoed off the corrugated iron walls, sending splinters of wood and chunks of concrete flying through the air. Marcus lay flat on his stomach on the oil-stained concrete beneath the blue vintage truck, the metal undercarriage providing minimal but crucial cover from the concentrated hail of bullets raining down from Director Chen’s tactical squad.
“Marcus! Are you hit?” Officer Miller’s voice screamed from somewhere near the back entrance, muffled by the ringing in his ears.
“I’m intact!” Marcus shouted back, pressing his face against the cold floor. “Get out of here, Miller! Find a cruiser, call state police!”
“I’m not leaving you!” Miller yelled back.
A sharp burst of gunfire peppered the rear tire of the vintage truck just inches from where Marcus’s foot lay. He pulled his legs in tight, his mind racing through tactical options. Director Chen had the exits covered, the agency was compromised from the top, and they were trapped in an industrial wasteland with no immediate backup.
“Agent Marcus! This is entirely pointless!” Director Chen’s amplified voice echoed through the warehouse, bouncing off the walls. “You can’t outrun a federal dragnet. Drop your weapon, slide out from under that truck, and we can make this a clean retirement.”
Marcus ignored her. He reached up, his fingers brushing against the underside of the truck’s dashboard wiring harness. Vance had installed a secondary mechanical override switch—a manual bypass for the vehicle’s ignition system that bypassed the computer entirely. If Marcus could cross the ignition wires manually, he could fire up the heavy V8 engine without a key.
His fingers searched blindly through the tangled bundle of copper cables until they found the heavy red and black leads. He pulled them down, gripping them tightly.
Suddenly, heavy boots stomped onto the concrete right beside the truck. One of the tactical agents knelt down, peering underneath the chassis with a tactical flashlight, its blinding beam sweeping across the floor and stopping just inches from Marcus’s face.
“Found him!” the agent shouted, raising his rifle barrel to aim underneath the vehicle frame.
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Without hesitation, Marcus jammed the two bare copper ignition wires together. A brilliant blue spark snapped between his fingers, and with a roaring, guttural growl, the vintage V8 engine burst into life, shaking the entire frame of the truck violently.
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