Chapter 10 - The Breach in the Hallway
The first smoke grenade came rolling across the foyer floor like a bowling ball, colliding softly against the wainscoting before erupting into a thick, blinding cloud of grey chemical fog. Within seconds, the warm, recessed lighting of the hallway was swallowed by an opaque, choking haze that smelled faintly of sulfur and burning rubber.
"Stay down!" Julian barked over the hiss of the smoke, raising his firearm toward the threshold.
Maya dropped instantly to her hands and knees on the Persian rug, coughing violently as the acrid smoke drifted into the dining room. She scrambled across the floor until her shoulder collided with Nia’s leg. Nia was curled into a tight ball against the base of the heavy mahogany table, gasping for air, her beige satin shirt stained with cold sweat.
"Maya... it hurts," Nia choked out, her fingers digging desperately into Maya's wrist. "The baby... I think it's coming."
"Don't talk, just breathe," Maya whispered fiercely, pulling Nia closer to her chest to shield her from the smoke. She looked up and saw Evelyn kneeling nearby, her olive-green satin blouse smudged with soot, whispering a frantic, endless prayer under her breath.
Marcus was crouched near the sideboard, his hands clamped over his ears, his braided head pressed tight against his knees, completely paralyzed by the violence unfolding around them.
From the hallway came the sharp, distinct sound of a suppressed gunshot—*thip-thip-thip*—followed by the heavy thud of a body hitting the floorboards. Julian fired two measured rounds back into the fog, the muzzle flash illuminating his grim, hardened features in jagged bursts of yellow light.
"Extraction is cut off!" Julian shouted over the gunfire, backing slowly into the dining room while keeping his weapon aimed at the smoke-filled doorway. "They anticipated the safehouse route! We have to move through the kitchen to the cellar hatch!"
Suddenly, a massive crash echoed from the rear of the house as the kitchen door was kicked off its hinges. Heavy footsteps thundered across the linoleum floor, cutting off their only remaining avenue of escape. They were trapped between two advancing teams in a crossfire they didn't understand.
Julian lowered his weapon slightly, his face pale with sudden realization. "We've been set up from the inside," he muttered, turning his cold eyes directly toward Marcus.
Marcus slowly lifted his head from his knees, his eyes wide with stark terror. "It wasn't me," Marcus whispered, his voice trembling violently. "I swear to God, I didn't tell them where the safehouse was."
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Before Marcus could finish his sentence, a laser sight's bright red dot flickered across his chest, locking dead-center over his heart.
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