43. Chapter 38
Iadjust my scope, making sure I have the large wooden door centered in the crosshairs.
“Where the fuck is he?” Hunter asks in my ear. I shift just enough to tap the earpiece, adjusting the volume.
“He’s probably just late,” Viper says, his voice tinny through the earpiece.
“He’s never late,” Breaker says.
“Just sit tight,” Reaper says.
I wince at how loud it seems, his voice coming from next to me and through the earbud. I swing the rifle, focusing on where I know Hunter, Viper, and Breaker wait.
I wanted to be the one down there, in the middle of it, see his face when he realizes why we are here. Sometimes I hate that this was my skill. Killing without ever touching my victim. These missions are hard on my body. Over the years I’ve spent more time crawling and slinking through mud and bushes, getting bitten by god only knows what bugs as I try to piss while laying on my side. While I should feel good about being their cover, or being able to hit a mark, then protect my brothers while they exit a target area, I don’t like the looks I get when others learn my skill.
They give me that flickering, judgmental look, like they can see skewed morals or some dark layer that hangs over me like a veil. Because what kind of person can kill so impersonally? As if killing someone in cold blood while they can see your face is somehow superior and less immoral than being a sniper.
But, I’m good at it. Compartmentalizing. Sitting for hours almost completely still, ignoring any pain as it laces up my spine and stiffens my shoulders. Shutting my mind down to the extreme cold or heat, or fatigue. Sleeping in bursts. Ignoring the world around me, my mind and my body, any pangs of hunger, until I’m suspended in a single mindset that allows me to focus on the task at hand.
At least my mother gave me something. I learned thanks to her how to survive. It’s the only gift she’s ever given me, and it came at the expense of her life.
Ironic that I use it to take others.
This is why I’m up here. I’m the best shot and am needed to cover them in case things go wrong.
And the possibility of that happening is high.
We got our orders two days ago, and barely have had enough time to plan, much less learn the layout of the lodge. But, we have orders and if there’s one thing we all do, and do well, is kill.
Reaper sweeps his scope to the left and freezes as Hunter raises a fist, telling us to hold and wait. We decided that having Breaker and Viper on the ground with Hunter was best. They are fast, and can sweep in, take out our targets, then fall out before any of them can escape.
Right as Hunter lowers his hand, a loud clack rings out and smoke curls around my brothers, and my sight”s filled with gray. My blood turns to ice as I watch the porch on the lodge holding my brother’s swarm with Rune’s men, smoke curling around them like vines. Suddenly there’s screaming and pops of gunfire and all the blood in my head drains out.
Someone betrayed us.
For a split second, neither one of us moves, too shocked at the sight before us, then we’re up, running through the short grass, toward the lodge, using the dark tree line as cover. I spot several men sweeping the place, with rifles raised, no doubt looking for us, and I take them out. They fall quietly to the ground. Reaper takes out two more while I shoot three in the back of the head, standing where my brothers should be.
Someone screams. The smoke clears some and then I see Breaker on the ground, a pool of blood under his thigh. I shoot the man holding a gun to his head and the soldier crumbles. Viper’s scream makes us both pivot, and I shoot the second my eyes land on the man next to my brother, but Viper’s already slashing his throat. Blood splatters his face, both from his knife and the bullet I put through the soldier’s head.
“You tell that sack of shit he’s going to fucking pay!” Rune screams.
I spin, rifle raised, and I see him.
Hunter’s on the ground at Rune”s feet, legs sprawled out, blood pooling under his leg. I aim, swinging my rifle up to Rune”s face, but men swarm in front of him, blocking him and Hunter from my view.
There’s static and noise in my head. Voices. Reaper cursing, telling me to move in. Viper next to me, telling me to move, move but I can’t seem to drag my feet from where they are planted.
We have to get him.
We have to get our brother.
I have to get to Hunter.
My feet unfreeze and I bolt forward, weapon aimed, following Reaper’s dark form, keeping Rune and his men in my sights.
“Stay back!” Rune screams, and we all freeze. My blood chills.
“Fuck,” Reaper grates from my left and in my earpiece.
“Which one of you fuckers was it?” Rune screams and my stomach bottoms out. Between the press of bodies and guns surrounding Rune and Hunter, I catch the glimpse of a Glock pressed to Hunter’s temple.
“It was me,” Reaper calls out.
Liar, I think just as Hunter screams, “It was me!”
An angry snarl roars from behind the line of soldiers. I aim, considering taking out each one until I can get a clear shot at Rune, but know the second he realizes what I’m doing, he’ll shoot.
God. Please.
I move my finger off the trigger, sweat beading my brow, soaking my mask. I’ve never hesitated before.
But then I’ve never had something I was scared to lose.
“Was it him?” Rune asks. “Did he give the order to have her killed?”
I shift, trying to get a clear shot and one soldier suddenly shifts, aims, fires.
Pain explodes through my chest as the air punches from my lungs. I hear Hunter’s animalistic scream as I stumble back, landing on my ass.
Fuck.My hand flies up to my chest, sliding over my vest to my shoulder. My pulse quickens as I sit stunned, trying to determine if the pain in my chest is fatal. If I’m about to bleed out.
My finger hits a spot just above my vest and agony shoots through my nerve endings into my brain like an electric bolt.
Reaper appears next to me, and I hear more movement. Shouting. The pop, pop, pop of guns firing. His arm laces around my shoulders and I’m pressed back against his chest.
When did I lie down?
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Reaper rasps, pulling me up, each curse scraping out of him like it’s painful.
“He shot with a hell of a curve,” I say, reaching for my chest again, but my arm feels heavy. “That asshole was a good shot.”
“Almost as good as you,” Reaper says, and I realize I’m sprawled across his lap.
“Get back!” Rune screams. “I’ll fucking shoot him right now!”
“I’ll cut your fucking throat,” Viper screams. “You kill him and I’ll gut you.”
Reaper sits me upright. I grit my teeth, fire shooting through me. I don’t know how the fuck I was hit at that angle, but it’s not clean.
“Asshole got me,” I say as my eyes move over to Rune. A break between the bodies gives me a glimpse of Hunter. His mask has been torn away and, like he can feel me looking, his dark eyes meet mine. They grow large and he jerks in Rune’s grasp.
“Get him out of here!” Hunter screams. “Reaper, I swear to god get him out of here!”
Reaper curses, looking from me to Hunter. He shakes his head. “No.”
“Do not let him die!” Hunter screams. My vision swirls in and out of focus, but I keep my eyes locked on Hunter. His face contorts and my insides feel like they’re contorting, stretching, and twisting too.
“No.” I shove Reaper away. Pain lances down my arm. “Go. Go get him, Reap. Please.”
“Fuck.” Reaper’s shaking hand lands on his helmet and he hits. Once. Twice. “Fuck.”
I suck in a shaky breath, and my gaze falls to my weapon laying across my lap. That’s when I notice the blood. It pools in my lap, coats my glove, thumps between my ears, making my head swim.
Breaker’s face appears and then I’m hauled up, one arm holding me up from either side. Dammit, I’m tired. I wish they’d just let me lie back down. I just want to go to sleep. Like in the darkness, when I went to sleep and there wasn’t pain anymore.
The thumping in my ears slowly gets louder, the wind picks up. Leaves and dirt hit my face. I glance up at the starless night and make out the black chopper swooping in low.
I don’t realize I’m screaming until my throat grows raw.
We can’t leave him.
Please, we can’t leave him.
Please.
“Please.” My begs are ignored as they drag me forward. “Reap. You know we can’t leave him. He’s my—”
My vision blacks out before I can finish, cutting my words off.
The world comes back around as well as the pain in my chest, but it’s not the bullet wound that’s making me feel like I’m being shredded alive.
“We’ll get him,” Reaper says over the roar of blades as the chopper lands. “We’ll come back and get him. Do not fucking die on me, Strike. Do not fucking die. He’ll never forgive me.”