Chapter 10
The blinding glare of the high beams washed out the truck stop parking lot, casting long, distorted shadows across the cracked asphalt. Jax didn't hesitate. Adrenaline surged through his veins with the lethal efficiency of a cornered predator as he drew the 9mm pistol he had taken from the operative on the ridge.
"Get behind the dumpster, Leo! Move!" Jax bellowed, firing two rapid warning shots toward the hood of the lead sedan to shatter their momentum.
The heavy slugs pinged off the chrome grille in a shower of sparks, causing the advancing operatives to dive for cover behind the doors of their vehicles. Marcus stepped out from behind the passenger side of the second car, adjusting his tailored suit jacket with chilling composure, his dark aviator sunglasses reflecting the harsh white lights.
"You're making this entirely too difficult, Jax," Marcus called out, his smooth, unhurried voice carrying effortlessly over the hum of the idling engines. "You called your brother just in time to hear him draw his last breath. Why prolong the inevitable? Hand over the boy and the ledger, and we'll let you ride off into the sunset alone. It's the only mercy you're going to get tonight."
Jax crouched behind a rusted industrial ice machine, his heart hammering against his ribs as he checked the magazine of his pistol. Six rounds left. Against a tactical squad equipped with automatic weapons and thermal optics, six rounds wouldn't buy them thirty seconds.
He glanced quickly toward the shadowy alleyway between the truck stop diner and an abandoned auto-repair bay. It was narrow, dark, and led directly out into a labyrinth of rusted semi-trailers where they might be able to vanish into the industrial maze.
"Leo," Jax whispered fiercely, keeping his eyes locked on the syndicate operatives who were slowly spreading out to flank their position. "When I count to three, you run straight for that gap between the two semi-trucks. Do not look back, do not stop for anything. I'll draw their fire."
"I'm not leaving you again, Jax!" Leo shouted back, tears of frustration streaming down his pale cheeks as he clutched the faded photograph and the folded legal pad paper against his chest. "Mom died so I could find you! I'm not going to watch you die, too!"
"You aren't going to watch anything except the finish line, kid!" Jax growled, his voice cracking with a fierce, protective desperation. "One... two... three! Go!"
Jax leaped out from behind the ice machine, raising his pistol and firing three controlled shots into the tires of the closest black sedan. A loud, hissing pop echoed across the lot as the rubber shredded, forcing the operatives stationed behind the vehicle to scramble backward in surprise.
"Take him down! Don't let the kid reach the trucks!" Marcus roared, drawing his own suppressed sidearm.
A hail of gunfire erupted across the asphalt, chewing up the gravel and shattering the ice machine into a million frozen crystals. Bullets whined into the night air as Jax laid down suppressive fire, his massive frame shielding Leo’s frantic dash toward the industrial maze.
Leo hit the gap between the massive semi-trailers just as a bullet clipped the shoulder of his oversized jacket, spinning him around before he tumbled safely into the darkness.
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"I've got you, kid," a deep, gravelly voice echoed from the shadows of the semi-trailers, catching Jax entirely off guard.
Before Jax could pivot toward the new voice, a heavy hand grabbed him by the back of his leather vest and jerked him violently backward into the shadows, right as a fusillade of syndicate rounds pulverized the exact spot where he had been standing a microsecond earlier.
