“I want him found!” Pope yelled as he stormed out of the empty elevator car on the sixteenth floor. Spike had already told several of his guys to sweep every floor from thirteen to twenty-two. “He couldn’t have gone far.”
The building was not conducive for anyone to escape by climbing down the outside of the structure which meant he was on one of these floors and if he had to tear apart every office in this building he would find him.
He fished out his cell phone and contacted his men on the ground. “No one gets out. Lock every ground floor door. And do not kill. I want him alive.”
Jack wasn’t scared but he wasn’t comfortable either. He’d learned to use fear to his advantage, to ride the lightning so to speak, and often it was in these times his mind was the clearest. Whereas others would only deal with surface fears like money, relationships and health issues, his had always been life and death. And if Dana was gone, he wouldn’t care whether he lived or died. That was why he crouched in the dark and pulled the pin on the extinguisher and waited patiently. It was all about timing. If he could just take one of them out, he could get his hands on a gun and that would level the playing field.
“Eric, where the hell’s the light switch in here?” one of them said. Jack could only make out the silhouette of their figures against the backdrop of the night sky behind them. They were wrapped 360 degrees by tinted glass windows, and the floor itself was open with concrete pillars throughout. From what he could tell the office resembled a call center with computer desks and large gray divider privacy panels. The floors were carpeted, and there were lots of aisles. Jack had positioned himself behind a panel not far from the stairwell. He peered out and saw the bright white light sweep the tops of the offices.
“Right, he’s not in here. Let’s go.”
“Pope told us to search every floor.”
“I’m not risking my neck for that asshole.”
“Don’t let him hear you say that.”
Jack was glad they were talking among themselves as it made it easier to stay undetected and ahead of them. He shifted position multiple times as one came close but then turned at the last second down another aisle.
As he moved again his foot caught on a panel and it let out a thud. Their immediate reaction was to unload rounds in his direction. Although it was dark and he was pretty sure they couldn’t see him, he stayed low and kept moving.
He knew now he had minutes.
One of them would alert the others and the whole floor would be crawling with them. Jack took an offensive approach and headed in the direction of the guy closest to him. He came up from behind and wielded the metal extinguisher like a battle axe. The guy turned just as he swung. It was too late. The hardened metal connected with his skull knocking him out instantly. Problem was the gun slipped out of his hand and Jack didn’t see which way it went. It was too damn dark in there.
Rounds erupted in his direction before he had a chance to search for it.
All Jack could do was hit the ground running still clasping the extinguisher.
Shit, he thought as he took cover behind a panel further down.
“Eric. Eric!” his pal yelled dashing over to where he’d last seen him. Jack knew that his reaction would be one of two: he would either come after him or head out and call for backup. More than likely it would be to call for backup, as he’d assume he was now in possession of a gun. Using this to his advantage, Jack crept up, closing the distance between the two of them while he was down checking his pal’s vitals. However, unlike his friend, he heard him approaching from behind and twisted around firing off several rounds. Jack lunged out of the line of fire, circled around and engaged the extinguisher. A large cloud of white powder exploded out, filling the air as he ran and aimed it in his direction. There was only one purpose behind this — to cause disorientation and confusion, giving him a way to get even closer without getting shot.
He could hear the guy coughing up a storm even as he fired off a few rounds but Jack kept moving, holding down the handle until it emptied. Then he crouched and waited, listening to the guy cough as he tried to find his way out of the unnatural fog.
Within seconds he heard him approach, walking backwards, coughing and cursing.
Although visibility was low, Jack went by sound and by staying low he could see slightly better. He waited for his moment to attack.
Jack sprang into action, launching himself onto the guy and hitting the floor. They rolled across the floor and smacked into a divider. Jack held his wrist as the gun went off again. He slammed a few elbows into the guy’s face and smashed his forehead into his nose before he managed to get him to release his grip on the gun. From there it was over fast. Jack fired off a few hooks, rolled off him and grasped the gun that was a foot away. Without even getting up he unloaded
