Elias frowned. "What happened?"
But Jax didn't respond and all he could hear was static noise.
Elias quickly tucked the paper into his pocket and tapped a digit on the comms as he muttered, "Extraction, status."
There was no response and nothing but the faint hiss of dead air.
He tried again, sharper. "Extraction, respond."
A bad premonition quickly rose within him. Could it be that he had miscalculated?
He quickly clicked the earbud and spoke into the receiver, "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Loid responded. "It's just your extraction team."
Just then, Jax's voice broke in through the comms. "Sir! It's our people—why are they shooting at us?! The secondary team has been wiped out in an ambush."
At that exact moment, there was a loud bang and the ceiling a few feet away from him gave way. From somewhere above, the muted night split open and a sudden crack of automatic fire sounded. He quickly moved, taking refuge in a corner of the lab. There was barely any blind spot but he would make do for now. He quickly pulled out the rifle at his back and stood flat against a wall, holding his breath.
He quickly calculated and concluded that the assailant also had no choice but to come down themselves. The design of the lab was no good for overhead shooting.
Loid's voice came through the earbuds. "Give me a moment. Let me see what I can do to help you."
The assailants didn't stop for a moment though.
Gunfire ripped through the night, shredding chunks of concrete from a wall near him. Elias dropped low, his movements fluid and economical, scanning for angles. A stack of rusted steel crates loomed to his left, cover enough for a heartbeat. He rolled behind it, leaning just far enough to squeeze off three controlled bursts. Each shot found its mark, clean and efficient, sending two of the rooftop attackers collapsing in silence.
He quickly took the chance and rolled down the floor, hitting several equipment and bullets raining down everywhere he slid past. He was fast enough but the bullets were faster and one managed to graze dangerously past his left arm, blood bursting out instantly. He quickly looked down and saw that his earbuds seemed to have fallen in that moment, cutting his connection with Loid.
"Shit!" He cursed and ran faster but the bullets only followed him as quickly and he couldn't dodge them all in time due to the terrain. He soon got past the first corridor though and he could see several hooded people surrounding the space outside. But the figures waiting outside were no strangers in foreign colors. Their body armor bore the same agency insignia as his own.
The black SUV Elias came in suddenly burst through their lineup though and they had no choice but to jump out of the way giving the car a chance to stop right in front of the entrance. They immediately rained bullets on it but thankfully it was bulletproof so it merely riddled the car with holes and web-like lines on the glass.
Jax rolled out of the car and rushed toward him in alarm. "Chief!"
"Why did you come out?" Elias chastised. "Let's go!"
He was about to run after Jax into the car when he suddenly heard a very familiar click. His spine stiffened instantly and he couldn't help but pause in his steps. His gaze quickly brushed around, locking into the distance and he could see a person perched on a car with an anti-material rifle locked in place.
His heart chilled instantly.
They really were here to erase them.
The trigger was already locked in place and it should go off in seconds. Jax had never seen an anti material rifle nor knew he was directly in its line of sight.
Elias could not calculate. He moved in a matter of seconds, pressing Jax to the ground. But due to that, he also couldn't dodge and the bullet struck him directly in the heart.
Pain exploded in his heart instantly as though his heart had split into several fragments and even all the pain endurance training he had all these years proved to have no effect. It was just how crazy this rifle was and he was even the one who had commissioned the latest model the army got.
Ironically, they had actually deployed it to end him.
His gaze quickly blurred and he could feel his life force draining slowly. Jax had also rushed back, gasping, "Chief! Chief! Are you okay?!"
Elias suddenly thought of something and reached into his chest pocket, digging out the paper and stuffed it into Jax's palm. He knew those people could not see it due to the distance.
"Chief, let me help you! We can still make it."
But Elias knew he could not. Anyway, their target was him. No need to waste another life.
"Protect that list with your life." He began to speak in labored breaths, feeling the pangs of pain envelop him with every word. "Take it to General—"
He was about to say a name but as though he suddenly realized something, his breath quickened and blood drained out of his mouth.
"Chief!" Jax exclaimed in alarm upon seeing that.
"Run. Don't look back." Elias muttered.
"But sir—"
"Go!" Elias managed to yell at him, glowering. "It's an order."
Jax was shaking. He hesitated for a second not wanting to turn away but he knew Elias had made up his mind. He quickly turned and bolted, rushing toward the car. However, in his rush, his shoulder slammed into a waist-high port bristling with cables. A sickening metallic snap sounded and then a wail of alarms burst through the air.
The sound seemed to distract those people enough for Jax to reach the threshold. By the time they regained their senses, Elias bit his lips to endure the pain and grabbed his guns again, riddling the ceiling with holes. He could hear footsteps coming from the side and he guessed some of them must have come to check on the situation. And just as Elias had predicted, those people were preoccupied with him and could not be bothered to take care of Jax as he kickstarted the car at high speed and soon disappeared into the night.
Instantly, Elias sighed and he stopped putting up a fight.
He could see them closing on him quickly and he simply lay there quietly, feeling his life force draining by the second. So this was how it felt to be on the verge of death?
Just then, the world erupted.
A blast suddenly came from above, swallowing the rooftop in fire and shockwave, heat searing the air. Everywhere pitched around him, the edges of his vision tunneling to black.
He could no longer open his eyes and could only hear intense ringing. Somewhere beneath the ringing in his ears, a voice began to speak, flat and mechanically.
"Neural sync begins. 2%… 3%… mapping unstable."
"Sync restarted."
Elias had a bad headache. He was already about to die. What was this voice that kept ringing around him like a broken tape?
The voice kept repeating itself as if it had nothing else to do. A metallic clink suddenly cut through the din and Elias felt as though everything around him blew up.
There was a sudden pull deep inside his skull, like every thought he'd ever had was being dragged along a cable toward some unseen server.
The light around him flared white.
And then his mind was gone.
The cold, mechanical voice rang out again one second later:
"97%… 98%… 99%… neural map sync completed."