The agonizing momentum of the fall terminated with a sickening, heavy impact against the fractured asphalt surface of the rear staging yard. Deep within the Lower Industrial Cargo Terminal, puddles of rainwater mixed with dark synthetic machine oil splashed violently outward, coating Delon's tattered military trench coat in a greasy sheen. He lay gasping on his side, his fingers clawing weakly at the rough stone aggregate beneath him as a sharp, paralyzing wave of trauma radiated through his shattered ribs. Above the open enclosure, the low, deafening thrashing of military helicopter rotors chopped through the dense night air, bathing the entire compound in an unstable grid of piercing white searchlights. The freezing rain continued to fall in a relentless sheet, washing the blood from hi
