Chapter 301: The End
Bang! Bang!
Two grenades fired from Hank's launcher, shattering the tracks of the two tanks attempting to flank them, leaving them immobilized.
The tanks immediately returned fire in the direction of the initial shot, but unfortunately for them, Hank had chosen a perfectly defensible position—a dirt berm. Without hesitation, he rolled down the slope after firing.
The two shells only kicked up a massive cloud of dirt on the hillside, accomplishing nothing else.
Hank's precise marksmanship terrified the tank crews so badly they didn't dare dismount to repair the tracks. They were experienced operators and knew the shelling had been ineffective.
That ghost sniper was surely still lurking somewhere. If they dared pop the hatch, they'd be dead men. The safest play was to stay buttoned up inside the tank until these hostiles left, then go out to fix it.
Of course, the plan was solid, but reality was brutal.
After escaping to the rooftop, Ron didn't extract immediately. Instead, he took a running start across the roof and launched himself from one building to another rooftop, twenty meters away.
This was far beyond human capability. Without his exosuit, Ron would never have been able to pull this off, but now he could.
The two tanks positioned between the buildings, sensing the danger, immediately alerted their comrades, but what good did that do?
Ron dropped down from the rooftop and quickly shoved two high explosives into each tank's gun barrel. This had originally been one of his backup plans for sabotaging the submarine, but unexpectedly, it worked perfectly against the tanks.
"BOOM!" Two massive explosions followed, and the gun barrels of both tanks were blasted into twisted scrap metal, completely neutralized as threats to Ron.
"Ron, we've picked up Ramsey and the others, but we only have three vehicles now. They've got eight and they're on our six. You got any bright ideas to help us shake them?"
Hobbs's desperate call for help came through the comms, accompanied by a withering barrage of gunfire. Ron couldn't believe they were still driving under that kind of heat.
Ron checked the GPS map. Their current position had just passed the fire line he'd initially drawn.
"Hank, we're a go! Initiate the evacuation protocol!" Ron shouted.
Hank's heart jumped. "Boss, are you sure? You're still in the kill zone!"
"Of course I'm sure. Don't worry about me, do it now! If you wait any longer, we'll be zipping them into body bags!" Ron yelled, then glanced at the battery—just over three minutes of remaining power.
If Howard's performance specs weren't bullshit, this distance was definitely doable!
Ignoring the two tanks that had circled around behind him, Ron pushed off the ground with both feet, launching his suit like a sprinter, hitting speeds of nearly 55 miles per hour in less than five seconds.
Vaulting over a wall just over six feet high, he spotted Hobbs's convoy being harassed by pursuers.
However, Ron had no intention of helping them. Instead, he continued his full sprint. Behind him, the dock began to be shrouded by a dark cloud. If someone looked closely with binoculars, they'd realize it wasn't a cloud at all, but a swarm of nearly a hundred drones.
Under programmed control, they rapidly converged on the dock from all directions. Each drone carried a massive white phosphorus incendiary device, pre-positioned by trucks courtesy of operatives arranged by Mr. Nobody.
Now was the perfect time to deploy them.
"BOOM!" Another shell exploded at Ron's feet, but it didn't slow his sprint one bit. "Come on, Hank, let's help these sons of bitches warm up!"
The drones flying over the dock received the command and dropped incendiary devices one by one. The scorching inferno instantly engulfed the dock behind Ron, and due to the programming, the drones' bombing pattern continued to expand toward Ron's position.
According to the program, they would stop at a point mid-river, and Ron was less than sixty feet away from that marker!
One step, two steps... With each stride the suit's long legs took, it covered about twice the distance of a normal person's. The flames gradually consumed the area behind him—even the tank that had just fired at him couldn't escape.
Ron could almost smell the scent of roasting meat from the crew inside the tank due to the extreme heat. Of course, he couldn't actually smell it; it was all imagination. But Ron clearly understood that the scorching heat behind him was definitely not imaginary.
It was seriously hot, but still within tolerable limits.
"AHHHHHH!" Ron pushed off the ice with his final step, trying to propel the suit forward, but the battery had already died from his full sprint.
Just as the suit was about to be engulfed by the flames, Ron popped the rear hatch and bailed out, hitting the ground hard.
Fortunately, he'd just cleared the line.
But this didn't mean Ron was safe. The incendiary device's blast radius had indeed exceeded the safety margin, but that was based on the suit's tolerance—the armor could absorb a significant portion of the heat.
Now, he could only rely on his own flesh and blood to endure it.
"Damn it! I'm gonna get at least third-degree burns! What a waste of my handsome face!" Ron cursed, dropping to the ground, hands covering his head, trying to shield his face from the surging heat wave.
"BOOM..." The final wave of incendiary devices detonated behind Ron, but the expected heat wave didn't hit. Aside from the surroundings getting slightly warmer, nothing else changed.
Ron turned his head curiously, only to see seven vehicles behind him—led by Toretto's ride, followed by Hobbs, Letty, Tej, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Roman, and Arthur—forming a semicircle, blocking the heat.
"What were you thinking? You're part of our family. I never let anyone hurt my family." Toretto extended his hand to Ron, pulling him up.
"I agree with you. 'Family' is such a powerful word."
"Hey!" Hobbs interrupted, half-joking. "If Ron's your family, then what am I? In Berlin, you were the one who totaled my car, which got me arrested!"
"You're a cop," the usually silent Arthur suddenly said, his words catching everyone off guard.
Everyone paused for a moment, then burst out laughing. Ron, still chuckling, clapped Arthur on the shoulder. "Arthur, as your boss, I gotta remind you—even though what we do seems pretty different, we're definitely on the side of the law. You need to get used to your new identity."
(End of Chapter)
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