Chapter 5 - THE SHADOW GUARDIAN
Before Moretti’s gunmen could open fire, two blinding red flares burst into the sky from the dark forest surrounding the airstrip.
Engine roars echoed from the trees behind the hangar as three armored black pickup trucks—Silas’s local chase team—thundered onto the tarmac at ninety miles an hour, smashing directly into Moretti’s SUVs!
The night shattered into pure chaos.
Gunfire erupted across the asphalt. Victor and Silas’s reinforcement team pushed forward with overwhelming force, cutting down Moretti’s men before they could organize a defensive line.
Silas didn't hesitate. Shielding Mateo with his body, he grabbed Khloe’s hand and pulled her toward the safety of the armored pickup truck that had just pulled up beside them.
"Get in!" Silas commanded, tearing the rear door open.
Khloe scrambled into the back seat, reaching out instantly to take Mateo as Silas handed the boy inside.
Just as Silas was about to step into the vehicle, a wounded gunman scrambled out from beneath a wrecked SUV twenty feet away, raising a shotgun directly at Silas’s exposed back!
"Silas! Right!" Khloe screamed, but her voice was swallowed by the roar of rain and engine noise.
Instinct took over. Khloe leaned out of the truck door and slapped her hands together twice in a sharp, explosive visual clap right in Silas’s field of vision, pointing her arm frantically to the right!
Silas reacted on pure instinct. Seeing Khloe’s sharp directional signal, he spun to his right, diving low as the shotgun blast tore through the air where his head had been a second before!
Silas rolled across the wet tarmac, came up on one knee, and fired three precise shots through the rain. The gunman collapsed onto the asphalt.
Silas stood up, panting heavily, his rain-soaked hair sticking to his forehead. He looked directly at Khloe, who was holding Mateo tight in the back seat, gasping for breath.
If she hadn't given him that visual signal, the slug would have caught him squarely between the shoulder blades.
He climbed into the truck, slamming the heavy reinforced door behind him. The driver slammed the vehicle into reverse, accelerating away from the burning airstrip into the dark mountain roads.
Inside the quiet, bulletproof cabin of the truck, Silas turned to Khloe.
"You saved my life," he said, his voice raw.
May you like
"You were protecting your son," Khloe replied, her hands shaking slightly as she stroked Mateo’s hair. "I just made sure you lived to keep doing it."
Silas reached out, his large, warm hand covering hers on the leather seat. He didn't say anything else, but the grip of his fingers communicated a promise stronger than any words spoken in the dark.
