Chapter 148

Chapter 148

BOOM—!

A deafening explosion swallowed everything.

Jack felt like all his organs had shifted out of place in an instant.

Intense pain and scorching heat swept over him, followed by endless darkness and icy lake water.

His consciousness was fading, his body sinking.

Was this… the end?

He seemed to see Barrett, see Lynx, see the faces of all his brothers from the Black Hawk squad.

They didn't speak, just smiled at him from a distance, then turned and walked into the light.

"Jack!"

A piercing scream cut through the darkness surrounding him.

It was Lucy's voice.

The instinct to survive made him snap his eyes open.

The power room was a complete mess. The blast had torn apart the surrounding pipes, water gushing from the ruptured lines. The water level in the entire space was rising at a visible rate.

Thick smoke mixed with the sharp smell of blood, choking and suffocating.

Ronan's body, or what was left of it, floated on the water surface not far away. The dagger had snapped in two and lost its glow.

He was dead.

The nightmare that had tormented him for five years had finally disappeared completely.

Jack felt no satisfaction from his revenge, only a hollow exhaustion.

He tried to laugh but pulled at the wound in his abdomen. A mouthful of blood surged up.

The grenade explosion had nearly torn his entire abdomen open.

"Jack! Wake up!"

Lucy stumbled out from behind the generator, threw herself beside him, and tried to pull him from the water. But she didn't dare touch that horrific wound, tears streaming down her face like broken beads.

"I'm… fine…" Jack's voice was weak.

He saw that the backup monitor on the wall had survived the explosion. The countdown on it had turned to bright red "00:00:00."

On the screen, a line of green text slowly appeared:

【Data transfer complete.】

Jack's mouth twitched into a smile uglier than crying.

It was over.

All of Ronan's evidence of guilt, the 4.2 billion dollars he embezzled, the secret of his "War Dog" unit—all would be exposed to the light.

The White Tower Foundation would be turned upside down.

Brothers, I've answered to you.

Just then, violent shaking came from overhead. Countless rocks and concrete chunks fell from the ceiling. The entire base was collapsing.

"We need to get out of here now!" Lucy screamed in terror. She used all her strength to try dragging Jack toward the vertical shaft.

But Jack was too heavy, and his injuries made it impossible for him to help.

"Don't… worry about me…" Jack gasped. "Go… get out…"

"I'm not leaving!" Lucy cried out. "I said I'd stay with you till the end! If we die, we die together!"

She gave up dragging and bent down to try carrying Jack on her back.

But how could she possibly carry a nearly 200-pound man?

"Cough cough… cough…"

Jack had another violent coughing fit, blood staining the front of his clothes.

His vision began to blur, and a ringing started in his ears.

The shadow of death loomed over him once again.

"Jack? Lucy? Can you hear me? Answer me!"

Suddenly, Lucy's walkie-talkie, which had fallen in the water, crackled with static, then came Alex's extremely anxious voice.

"Alex!" Lucy grabbed the walkie-talkie like a lifeline and shouted, "We're still alive! Jack's badly hurt! The base is collapsing, we're trapped at the bottom!"

"Damn it! I knew it!" Alex sounded both urgent and angry. "That maniac Ronan detonated the backup power! The entire mountain structure is unstable!"

"Listen, from where you are now, go about 100 feet in the twelve o'clock direction. There's a maintenance gate that leads to an abandoned sewage pipe! I'm sending you the structural diagram! Hurry!"

Lucy looked up toward twelve o'clock. The way was blocked by a row of collapsed cabinets—she couldn't see any gate.

"Go…" Jack used his last bit of strength to push her. "Hurry…"

"I'll carry you!" Lucy gritted her teeth and bent down again.

This time, she didn't try to carry Jack entirely on her back. Instead, she draped his arm over her shoulder and, in a half-dragging, half-carrying posture, moved step by painful step toward that direction.

With each step, blood poured from Jack's abdominal wound.

With each step, Lucy's shoulder felt like it would break.

The icy water reached their knees, the surface floating with debris and… bodies.

The remaining "War Dog" members had been killed or injured in the explosion and collapse.

They finally reached the row of collapsed cabinets.

"Alex! The way is blocked!" Lucy shouted desperately.

"Use your gun! Shoot out the connection points on the cabinets!" Alex commanded through the walkie-talkie.

Lucy set Jack down and picked up the rifle that had long run out of bullets, then remembered the magazine was empty.

"The gun's out of ammo!"

"Use Jack's! His pistol! Hurry!"

Lucy fumbled to pull the pistol from the holster at Jack's waist.

She never imagined she'd become so skilled at using such a deadly weapon.

She aimed at the connection point between the cabinet and wall and emptied all the bullets in one go.

The connecting rivets broke, and the heavy cabinet fell to the other side with a thunderous crash, revealing the rust-covered circular gate behind it.

Lucy threw down the pistol, rushed over, grabbed the huge wheel on the gate, and turned it with all her might.

The wheel didn't budge.

It was rusted shut.

"It won't open! I can't open it!" Lucy's voice cracked with tears.

Overhead, a massive concrete slab teetered, ready to fall at any moment.

"Use a grenade, I have… one more… at my waist…" Jack's voice was barely a whisper.

Lucy froze for a moment, then immediately reached into Jack's tactical pouch and felt a cold, hard metal lump.

An M84 flashbang.

"Will this… kill us?" Lucy asked fearfully.

"No… low power… it'll just… blow the door open…"

Lucy looked at the flashbang in her hand, then at Jack, who was about to lose consciousness. She bit her lip, pulled the pin, stuffed it into the gap in the gate wheel, then threw herself over Jack, shielding him with her body while closing her eyes.

"BANG!"

A loud boom accompanied by blinding white light.

The gate was forced inward by the massive impact, and countless cracks split the surrounding walls.

Lucy felt like her ears would burst, her head ringing.

But she didn't care. She immediately got up, rushed to the gate, and pushed hard.

The heavy gate finally opened.

A current of air mixed with stench and fresh air rushed in from behind the door.

Without hesitation, Lucy lifted Jack again and dragged him into the pitch-black sewage tunnel.

The instant they entered, that massive concrete slab crashed down.

The entire power room was completely buried.