“Even if you could kill me, you’d have to take a ticket and get in line at the moment.”
“Yeah, you do seem quite popular at the moment, eh?”
“Looks that way. Good job I’m not heading to a building that’s likely to be filled with people who have guns and orders to shoot me on sight… Oh, wait!”
Josh laughs. “Even when faced with such adversity, it amazes me how you always find time to practice your sarcasm.”
“I’m glad someone’s impressed. I’m turning right now. Where do I go from here?”
“Okay, carry on and take your fourth left, then your first right. It’s the second house on the right hand side.”
“Got it, thanks Josh.”
“Just add to it to the list of things you owe me. Be safe.”
I hang up and navigate my way to the house. It’s in the middle of a quiet, suburban neighborhood. They’re all large, detached houses with expensive cars on the driveways and well-manicured front lawns. It’s hard to believe that somewhere so quiet and peaceful could actually house soldiers fighting in an extremist militia. What goes on behind closed doors… even in neighborhoods like this one.
I take the last right turn and hear several loud cracks that take me by surprise. I swerve right and slam the brakes on, sliding to a halt across the width of the street as the windshield spider-webs.
“What the fuck?” I shout, ducking down to the foot well.
I can hear the rapid, deep clunk sound as more bullets pepper the Jeep’s bodywork. I reach behind me, drawing one of my babies and checking to make sure the magazine’s full. Thankfully, it is, but I have no spares with me.
I take a few deep breaths to compose myself, immediately cursing at the sharp pain each one causes. I completely forgot to pick up any painkillers while I was in the hospital… I’m aching all over, but it’s getting easier and I can certainly live with it.
I take one final, deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh, steeling myself for what comes next.
I chamber a round and reach for the passenger door, ready to leap out.
I’m getting too old for all these gunfights…
20
I push open the passenger door and quickly clamber out, ducking down behind the front wheel. I take a quick peek over the hood at the house, which is over to my right. I see two guys, both dressed in black — one in the doorway, the other kneeling on the front lawn. I’m assuming there are more inside, but I don’t have eyes on them.
No sign of Clara, either… Christ, I hope she’s okay.
I duck back behind the wheel, crouching down on my haunches with my elbows on my knees. I rest my forehead on the barrel of my Beretta.
How the hell did they know I was coming? They opened fire the moment I turned into the street. I could’ve been anybody, so they must’ve known it was me…
Hang on…
I look forward, the way I just came. I scan all the houses and the vehicles. No sign of movement. Then I look up and check the rooftops. Directly ahead of me, I catch a glimpse of a shadowy figure crouching low next to a chimneystack, partially obscured from my view by of the shape of the roof, but he’d have had a clear view of me as I approached, just before turning right.
They’ve got a scout, the sneaky bastards!
Well, the good news is that I found him… the bad news is I’m now aware that I’m surrounded with minimal cover.
Shit.
I’ve got to take that scout out first. He’s got a high-ground advantage, which means he can see me better than I can see him and potentially relay my movements to people in the house, meaning I’ll lose any element of surprise I might have.
I sit down on the road and lean back against the wheel, adjusting myself so I’m comfortable. I take a deep breath and aim my gun at the rooftop, holding it in my right hand and clasping my left around it tight to steady it. I close my left eye to help line up my shot.
There’s hardly any breeze, so wind speed isn’t a factor. I’m aiming up at an angle of around thirty-five degrees and the target is approximately three hundred feet away, now almost completely hidden by the chimneystack at the arch of the roof… I’ll need two shots, on target, in quick succession. The first will be to draw him out, and it needs to be as close as I can get to his position without being able to hit him. I need to put it to the left of where he’s hiding — he’s unlikely to be expecting any heat, so his instinct will be to move away to the right. The second bullet needs to follow immediately, aimed where he’s going to be, so it hits him as he breaks cover.
Good job I’m a helluva shot…
I aim as close to the top of the roof as I can and practice the slight movement between shots — up and right — to catch his head as it pops round the corner to return fire. One… two. Bang… bang. Nice and quick.
Okay, here we go.
I take a deep breath. Then another and hold it. I squeeze the trigger and see roof tiles and brick go flying. A split second later, I re-adjust and squeeze the trigger again. At the exact moment the scout leans out of cover to shoot, his head snapped back, disappearing out of sight and leaving a small puff of red mist dispersing in the air.
I breathe out a sigh of relief.
Easy…
I get back up into a crouch and turn my attention back to the two guys at the house. The guy out front has crouched low behind a large bush. The guy in the doorway has taken cover just inside the hallway.
Where the hell is Clara? She must know I’m here — what else would these assholes be shooting at?
Bullets intermittently strike the Jeep and the ground around me as I try to figure out how to get in the house. I don’t have enough ammo to trade pot shots with these guys and hope I get lucky. Plus I’m running out of time. They know I’m here, so whoever else is inside is likely preparing to move the scientist or kill him.
I pull my other gun from my back holster and check the clip to make sure it’s full. I quickly run through every possible outcome I can think of. If I go left or right, if I stay put and trade bullets, if I move the Jeep, if I don’t move the Jeep — everything. I disregard what will get me shot and work with the options that won’t. I see everything like a game of chess, looking three, four, five moves ahead, reading people, and calculating the outcomes…
It only takes me a few seconds to realize the quickest and most effective way inside the house…
Fuck it.
With a gun in each hand, I quickly stand and walk around the hood toward the house, aiming my left at the guy in the front garden and my right at the guy in the front door. I line up my shots in my peripheral vision, seeing both targets as best I can and pick my moment.
I fire both guns simultaneously, reacting quickly and putting a round in each of the targets as they break cover. The guy crouching in the bushes out front falls backward as the bullet hits him dead center in his chest, sending him sprawling across the lawn. The guy at the door catches it in his stomach, which punches him back against the wall. He slides down and sits lifelessly in a crumpled heap in the doorway.
I quickly run over to the guy out front and search him. There’s no ID, but I find a knife in a pouch strapped to his left leg.
I’ll take that — might come in handy…
I put my guns away and take his assault rifle. It’s Dark Rain’s weapon of choice: the AK-47. I check the clip and it’s half empty, but he has two spares on him, so I pocket them and head over to the front door.
There’s no point searching this guy in the doorway — he won’t have any ID and I’ve got enough ammo to finish up here. I just step past him and enter the house, keeping low and pausing in the hallway to look around.