Chapter 58
CHAPTER 58 — The Smoke of the Past
The scream that escaped her mother’s lips wasn't human. It was the sound of a creature watching its soul burn to ash.
"You ruined us!" her mother shrieked, lunging at Valeria with her fingernails bared like claws.
Before she could touch her daughter, Victor caught her by the waist, pinning her arms behind her back. "The structure is unstable, Valeria! The automated purge is cooking the lithium backup batteries! We have to move now!"
The heavy steel doors at the end of the walkway exploded inward. Three Syndicate operators in white winter camouflage stepped through the smoke, their assault rifles raised.
Victor threw Valeria behind a concrete pillar, firing blindly into the smoke to suppress the advance. "Run, Valeria! To the auxiliary ventilation shaft on the left! Go!"
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Valeria didn't hesitate. She scrambled toward the dark opening of the vent, the smell of burning plastic and lithium smoke stinging her eyes. Behind her, she heard the rhythmic roar of Victor's weapon, her mother's desperate cursing, and the heavy, metallic thud of tactical boots approaching.
She slid into the dark metal shaft just as a massive secondary explosion ripped through the main server floor, throwing a wall of superheated air against her back.
