Mercer’s world shattered. He let out an animalistic roar and swung his weapon toward Voss.
But Voss was faster. He shot Mercer twice in the chest.
Mercer fell backward, crashing to the floor, gasping for air.
“Jonah!” Ryan screamed, finally pulling the trigger, laying down cover fire. Voss ducked behind the concrete pillar, returning fire. Bullets chipped the walls, filling the air with pulverized concrete dust.
Under the cover of Ryan’s fire, Lucas threw his entire body weight backward in the chair, shattering the rotting wood of the backrest. He rolled, bringing his bound hands beneath his legs to the front, and scrambled toward the cover of a rusted steel desk.
I crawled toward Mercer. He was bleeding out fast.
“Em…” Mercer coughed, blood bubbling on his lips. “The system… Voss isn’t uploading to the cloud. The base’s internal firewalls are too strong today because of the graduation.”
