Marcus dragged on his cigarette as he looked out at the neon city skyline in the distance. The evening mist muted the lights in the sky, giving them a hypnotic and dream-like quality. The bright colors stood out in deep contrast to the drab and lifeless atmosphere of the industrial area he found himself in.

Those bastards are hiding somewhere out there. Marcus thought. I won’t stop until I find and kill every single one of them.

A voice channel came to life in his head, and a female voice spoke directly to him. “All done over here, Marcus. You’re up.”

“About time, Kat.” He said. “I’ve been itching for something to do.”

“You got two around the building to the north.” The voice said. “They’re shooting up in front of the truck parked on the side of the road. Shouldn’t be much trouble.”

“Got it. I’ll take care of them and meet up with you at the designated spot.”

Marcus ended the communication line and Kat’s voice vanished from his head. He took one last drag of his cigarette and dropped it to the ground, stomping it out. Time to get to work.

He pulled out the shotgun from behind his jacket and cocked it as he stepped toward his targets across the empty road. Peeping around the north-most building, he could see an armored black truck standing idle beside the filthy sidewalk. Two voices chirped away just ahead of it. Kat was right.

With as light a foot as his large body could muster, Marcus turned the corner and pulled up behind the large truck. Stealth was never his strength, and he much preferred to handle business head on. But tonight was special. They couldn’t afford to mess this mission up.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He pressed his body tightly against the cold metal of the truck and slowly crept along the side of the vehicle until he spotted his targets. One of them leaned against the hood, a needle protruding from his forearm. The top of the other’s head barely cleared the front bumper; he was sitting on something. Both were oblivious to his presence.

Marcus slid his shotgun along the roof of the hood and aimed it at the first man’s back. With a squeeze of the trigger, the shotgun roared, sending the poor bastard flying forward.

The other one sprang to his feet. “What the f-”

A second blast dropped him to the ground.

Too easy, Marcus thought as he looked down at the two bodies. Black skulls tattooed on top of their heads confirmed what he’d suspected; they were Skull members.

He scanned the area to see if he had drawn any attention, but there was no motion. The night stood as still as it had been before he’d fired the two shots. Time to proceed.

He continued down the dirty road, ignoring the small puddles that had formed during the rain earlier in the evening. A few blocks down, he reached the meeting spot where Kat had been waiting. She was pressed up against a railing, looking down at one of the buildings on the lower deck.

Marcus put away his shotgun and walked up beside her. “So, what’d you find?”

“The one in the center is owned by the Skulls.” Kat said as she kept her eyes on the building. “But TrillTech are hiding something down there. Something important.”

“You sure? Looks just like all these other run-down shit-holes.”

“Positive. I confirmed it from the guys I killed earlier. They’ve got ex-military guarding the place.”

Marcus sighed. “Fuckin’ aye.” He used his optical scanner to zoom in on the central building. It looked just as worn-down as the others, typical of the abandoned manufacturing plants and warehouses in the area. “If what you’re saying is true, then Lana’s intel was right all along.”

Kat gave him a sideways glance. “Did you doubt her?”

“Of course not. But I never expected something like this. Skulls, TrillTech, ex-military. Do you think they’re hiding him in there?”

“Only one way to find out.” Kat said as she pulled out her gun and cocked it. “Let’s go.”