Chapter 25

Gillian

“I wish there was a better way than a frontal attack. We had the right idea when we were picking them off one at a time. Speaking of which, I took the liberty of darkening the snow with their blood. His cousin and the other three are currently being covered with snow.” The howling wind of the storm had masked the gunshots from above.

“I didn’t hear a damn thing.” I had been listening and there were no sirens or any indication of the police intervening.

“It was like playing a video game with a joystick. It was a silent death. The small pops would’ve been heard but this fortunate storm was able to keep them from hearing me coming.” He was itching to press the trigger. He got his chance to play god with their lives.

“I don’t want you to do anything unless I give you the signal to proceed. It’s about that time. Wish me luck. I hope I won’t need it, but it’s always good to have.” I went to the balcony and stood 5-feet away with my gun trained on the glass. I will have to shoot it to get in.

I was breathing the cold air in through my nose and out through my mouth. I leveled my gaze on one specific spot and began counting down from 10 in my head. When I got to five, I got into a football stance and readied my body for the impact.

“Here goes nothing.” I calculated my odds and they weren’t as strong as I would have liked them to be.

I went back a few more feet to get the velocity I was looking for. I propelled myself forward and began firing the revolver in my hand. It was in a pattern. I aimed my body directly at the weak point I was creating. The guard standing in front of it turned in surprise. Melanie was on top of him before he was even able to pull his gun from his holster.

I crashed into the glass and I felt it give underneath the weight of my insistence. I rolled behind the couch and came up with both hands currently occupied with the same 45 model of gun. I surveyed the room and dropped three men before somebody began returning fire. It punched through the couch ripping through the fabric and barely missing me by an inch.

Everything was happening in slow motion and it was hard to register where the bullets were coming from. They appeared to be everywhere at once. Automatic weapons firing a fuselage of bullets were hard to ignore.

“Watch out behind you.” Melanie’s voice was warning me and I was in no position to argue.

I dropped to my back and drove a hollow point into the man’s chest standing over me.

He was thrown off his feet and came crashing down into the glass coffee table. It shattered it into a million pieces. It was apparent he wasn’t wearing a vest by the pool of blood spreading around him.

Melanie was peppered by bullets pinning her to the wall. There was no blood. They didn’t take the kill shot by putting one between her eyes. It was their mistake and one that was going to cost them their lives. Her breath was knocked out of her with the possibility of a few cracked ribs.

“I’ve got you covered.” I follow that statement by poking my head above the couch to fire at any available target.

Melanie was crawling to a more advantageous position. She snatched the gun lying useless on the floor covered in the man’s blood. We got them in a shooting range between the two of us.

I heard the screaming of the innocent lying on the floor. They were caught in the middle. I could only hope none of them would have the stupidity of getting up during the mayhem. The carnage was a throwback to a different time and place.

“I’m almost out.” I dropped the guns with nothing left in their chambers and found another one flying toward me seemingly out of nowhere.

I procured it out of the air and turned in time to see one of my enemies sneaking up on me with his finger on the trigger. I fired a split second sooner and his bullet went off into the ceiling. He clutched his chest and looked at me defiantly before dropping to his knees.

I could smell the gunpowder burning off in the air. The aroma was sickening and made my stomach lurch. I gave myself permission to be sick after the threat was neutralized.

The faces of my victims were going to find themselves in a haunted reminder imprinted in my mind. I knew how Dalton was struggling. Asking him to pick up a gun again was necessary, but I didn’t have to feel good about it.

Two Hispanic men were sheltered behind a table they had upturned. I jumped from where I was hiding behind the couch and rolled to a sniper position on the floor. The gun bucked in my hand with the recoil of the bullets exiting the chamber. I had no interest in paying the ultimate price. I had to keep reminding myself it was either them or me.

“Keep them pinned down and I might be able to level the playing field.” The window was behind them and Jackson was moving the drone into position.

It didn’t seem fair for them not to see their enemy face to face. It was an impersonal approach, but effective. It was cold as ice.

The two shots through the glass made their guns go deathly silent. The gust of cold air through the opening was bracing.

“I hope I’m not judged unfairly for my actions here today. It does show how technology has come a long way over the years.” It was tempting to turn him off, but we were in this together whether we liked it or not.

“Gillian, four of them have gone into hiding and we need to find them. Jackson can keep an eye on these people. Anybody who comes close to them will be dealt with harshly. We need to treat this as quadrants and clear each one before moving onto the next.” I was hoping we weren’t going to have to deal with this eventuality.

“I’m with you every step of the way. It’s good to see you are still with us. Like there was any doubt. They have us at a disadvantage, but we have been in tight spaces before.” She was wiping her brow of sweat with the gun of the dead man still in her hands.

There was a streak of blood on her forehead courtesy of how the handle was stained with the dead man’s blood. She was wearing her own form of war paint. She looked like she was ready for just about anything.

“That reminds me of the time we had to chase down a terrorist in Nicaragua. We spent five nights sitting in the rain waiting for him to arrive. The six of us made him a footnote in history. If I didn’t die that day then I won’t find my end in this place.” It sounded like she was spitting nickels and biting her tongue to halt the venom from spewing from her lips.

“It can’t be easy to see all of this. We fought for their freedom. They didn’t lift a finger and depended on us to do what they couldn’t. It’s galling to think of how we put our lives at stake. Melanie, we can’t think like that and we can only do what we feel is right.” She paused for a moment to contemplate what I said and then she nodded her head.

“It’s different when it’s happening in your own backyard.” I could understand where she was coming from, but we didn’t have time to dwell on it.

“We have to take this time to put ourselves in the same mindset as our enemies. The shadows are going to crawl all over them which will inevitably lead to mistakes.” I was about to go up the stairs when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

I twisted to an about-face to see the closet door by the front entranceway opening. I had my finger on the trigger ready to send him straight to hell. A young woman in the same maid’s outfit Melanie was wearing came out pleading in a different language. I was very close to making her an unfortunate casualty in this war.

I heard a lower pitched squeal and looked up in time to see Melanie fighting with a man twice her size. She pitched him over the railing and sent him careening down to the floor below. He got off a desperate shot before he landed with a sickening thud.

I could hear Melanie wheezing and I ran up to find she was hobbling on one leg. I tore off a piece of my shirt sleeve and bound her leg as best I could under the circumstances. I determined the round had gone straight through. The bullet was no longer inside her leg.

I felt the muzzle of a gun pressed up against the back of my head. My life consisted of the military, but I wanted something more. In that instant, there was the sound of my biological clock ticking at an alarming rate. I wanted to be a mother and to see my children grow up to be responsible adults.

I heard the cock of the gun and there wasn’t even a chance to move out of the way. I had to risk doing something. I felt this desperate energy in the air. I pushed off with all of my weight feeling the bullet penetrate my earlobe. The pain echoed through my eardrums.

We bounced off the wall together and he momentarily stood at the top of the stairs. His balance was precarious and the terrified look in his eyes was hard to turn away from. He tried to grab onto the railing, but his hands slipped off and he tumbled. He landed awkwardly at the bottom twisted into shape no human body should ever be in.

I saw Dalton and he was leading Grant with his arm draped over his shoulder. They were the men in my life. What was I going to do? I could only hope Grant would understand and would give me my freedom.

We searched the house twice and found that the other two had gone in search of new employment. I never did find out where they finally landed on their feet.

We did find Grant’s father, dead on his bedroom floor. It was self-inflicted and the gun was still in his hand smoking from the barrel. There was a note explaining his cowardice. He was the one that contacted Sanchez to make a deal. The coroner confirmed that his death happened moments after the home invasion. Grant was despondent and I held his hand to give him my support.

“I hope you don’t think this is over. I’m afraid I can’t let this end this way.” I had heard similar words from Dalton in a different context.