Chapter 11 - The Stand at the Culvert
The rain began to fall in heavy, driving sheets, turning the dirt embankment of the service road into a slick mire of mud and gravel. Elena stood upright beside the concrete drainage culvert, her black jacket drenched, her dark wavy hair plastered across her face. She kept her service pistol raised with a two-handed grip, perfectly steady despite the freezing wind cutting through her clothes.
Williams knelt beside her, covering the left flank where two operatives in matte-black tactical gear were advancing with weapons drawn, their visors reflecting the amber glare of the highway lamps above.
"Agent Vance, this is your final warning," the lead operative shouted, his voice amplified by a tactical comms unit. "Drop your weapon and step away from the culvert. The Department of Justice has already revoked your credentials. You are operating as a rogue combatant."
"My credentials come from the Constitution, not a corrupted administrative desk," Elena replied, her voice cutting cleanly through the roaring sheets of rain. "You're protecting a criminal conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of federal oversight, and your time ran out the moment I opened that bag."
The lead operative didn't reply. He signaled with a sharp chop of his hand, and both men rushed forward, firing suppressive rounds that chipped away chunks of the concrete culvert inches from Williams's head.
Williams returned fire, his shots clipping the shoulder of the right operative and forcing him to stumble backward into the chain-link fence.
"Elena, go!" Williams yelled, firing his final round before frantically pulling a fresh magazine from his tactical belt. "I'll cover the rear! Get the drive to the state police headquarters!"
"I'm not leaving you behind," Elena said firmly, firing two precise shots that forced the lead operative to dive behind a rusted shipping container for cover.
"You have to!" Williams insisted, gritting his teeth as a round grazed his forearm, painting his flannel sleeve with a dark streak of blood. "If they get that drive, every single name in that ledger is erased from the mainframe forever. Clara is already in the pipe. Run!"
Before Elena could answer, the roar of an approaching engine echoed from the service road above. The matte-black van dropped off the overpass ramp, its tires screeching against the wet asphalt as it slid to a halt directly blocking the exit of the alleyway.
The sliding side door of the van flew open, and a towering figure stepped out, holding a heavy riot shield in front of a specialized kinetic breaching weapon.
May you like
"They're bringing heavy gear!" Williams shouted, shoving Elena toward the dark mouth of the drainage pipe. "Move!"
---
