Chapter 6 - The Betrayal at Blackwood
By 4:00 AM, the rain had turned into a thick, blinding fog that blanketed the dense, mountainous forests of Upstate New York.
A heavily armored black SUV tore down the narrow, unlit mountain roads of Blackwood Ridge, fifty miles north of the city. I sat in the driver's seat, my hands gripping the leather-wrapped steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity. Marcus sat in the passenger seat, checking the magazines of three tactical rifles, while Leo slept soundly in the back, wrapped in a heavy wool blanket.
"Arthur Vance has built a fortress out here, sir," Marcus said, pulling up a digital schematic of the terrain on a tactical tablet. "It's listed as an abandoned biological research station from the Cold War. But satellite thermals show massive underground energy draws over the past six months."
"He used my family's money to build a prison for my sister," I said, my tone deadly quiet. "He let my father die of grief while he siphoned millions out of our pharmaceutical research to isolate Eleanor's genetic traits."
"And your legs, sir?" Marcus asked, glancing at me. "How do they feel?"
"Stronger than they were seven years ago," I replied honestly.
The heat Leo had injected into my body hadn't just repaired the damaged nerve tissue; it felt as though it had enhanced my entire nervous system. My reaction times were sharper, my senses clearer. The dull, constant fog of physical exhaustion that had plagued me for years was completely gone, replaced by a cold, unstoppable focus.
Ten minutes later, the high concrete perimeter walls of the Blackwood Facility loomed out of the fog. Towering razor-wire fences, motion-sensing floodlights, and armed guards in grey uniforms patrolled the heavy iron gates.
I didn't stop.
I stomped my foot down flat on the accelerator. The massive V12 engine of the armored SUV roared to life, the six-ton vehicle surging forward, accelerating from sixty to ninety miles per hour in seconds.
"Hold on!" I shouted.
BOOM!
The reinforced steel bull-bar of the SUV slammed directly into the iron gates, shattering the heavy chains and tearing the doors off their hinges in a shower of sparks and twisted metal. The vehicle plowed through the courtyard, smashing through a glass security guardhouse before coming to a violent stop in the center of the main tarmac.
Alarms immediately began to blare across the facility—a harsh, deafening klaxon that echoed through the foggy mountains.
"Marcus, cover the rear!" I ordered, throwing my door open and grabbing a tactical shotgun from between the seats. "Leo, stay under the seat! Do not come out until I call you!"
Guards surged out from the side buildings, raising automatic weapons.
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Before they could fire, Marcus opened door, providing a suppressing fire that sent three guards diving behind concrete barriers. I stepped out onto the wet pavement, racking the slide of the shotgun, firing two heavy rounds into the electronic lock of the main facility door, blowing it completely off its frame.
We kicked the heavy door open and pushed deep into the belly of the beast.
