by Shawn Keys
“Y-yes. I… I’ll try.” The line went dead, whether dropped or hung up, Kyle couldn’t tell.
Kyle settled in next to Steve at the window, squinting into the sunlight to get his bearings.
Steve said with concern, “Whoever that was, you just gave everything away.”
Kyle nodded. “I know. But I think I might have just killed her. Least I could do.”
Steve clearly wanted to ask more, but it was then they heard the approaching engine. A flash of black came through the trees. Then, the SUV pulled into sight.
Laura wasn’t waiting for any kind of signal this time. A spiderweb crack appeared on the SUV’s windshield, and a millisecond later they heard the pounding ccrrracckk! of her sniper rifle’s firing.
Kyle shot next, aiming at nearly the same spot. The driver seemed like a good target. He was wearing ear-plugs, but his rifle shots still echoed painfully inside the house. He fired three times in a deliberate sequence. He watched in dismay as each of them marked the windshield but skipped off without penetrating.
Steve had gone for a different tactic. He started punching holes in the radiator. At least, he tried. But rather than see the thin grate give way to the bullets and steam explode outward, there was nothing but a few sparks and the sense that he hadn’t done very much. Certainly not enough to stop the vehicle in its tracks.
Dazz fired twice herself, not nearly so confident. One of her shots missed, while the other bounced off a door. It didn’t even penetrate, making little more than a dent against the steel.
Kyle snarled. “It’s got armor and bulletproof glass! Shit!” This made everything far, far worse. He called out, “Don’t shoot the car! It isn’t worth it! Wait till they get out, then pin them down so they can’t get into the house!”
In front of them, the SUV went through a 90-degree combat skid, coming to a rest about twenty yards from the house. Despite his own advice, Kyle pumped a quick three rounds right at the shaded face behind the tinted glass. The glass might be hardened, but he couldn’t believe it would stand up to a rocket of blasts at a flat angle at this close range.
He was right. It resisted, but the glass fractured. The fourth bullet punched through, and the fifth went out the far side. But by then, the face had disappeared, and Kyle was sure the agent was taking shelter below the far harder door panels… or maybe had even crawled out the far side and hiding behind the whole SUV.
From outside, a woman’s voice called, “You surprised me, Mr. Hutchings! I’ll give you that! It is you in there, isn’t it? Such a shame! It would have been far easier and far quieter with a needle!” From behind the hood, a face appeared for a heartbeat. For the first time, Kyle looked down the barrel of a loaded weapon pointed at him and looking to do him harm.
The muzzle flashed a half dozen times, spattering the front of the house with a hail of return fire.
Another face appeared near the rear of the SUV, along with another barrel. It barked three times, and another round of shattering wood and breaking glass tore up the air around them.
Steve grimaced. “They’re the ones with the armored car to hide behind. The only thing we’ve got going for us is that they can’t see us. The bullets are punching right through the front of the house!” He let off a couple shots where he thought they might appear, but ended up hitting only air.
Kyle got onto the open phone channel. “Danielle, if you don’t have a shot, can you go to the sides?”
“Not really. The hills don’t look down at the right angle. I can only see the back bumper of the SUV.”
“Stay there, then. It would take too long to get around. Shoot if you can!” He shook his head and said to Steve. “We need another play.”
Dazz crawled into sight, heading for kitchen. She called out to them, “I’m going out the back door! I’ll circle around and shoot at them from the side!” She scrambled on her hands and knees down the corridor and vanished.
Kyle wanted to tell her to be careful, but she was already gone. He snarled. “Come on, we need to keep their attention focused on us!” He did what he swore he wouldn’t do, switching the gun over to full automatic. He popped up…
Then, darted back down again when he saw one of the agents pointing their rifle right back at him. Going flat on the ranch house’s hardwood, he rolled to the side as fast as he could.
A split second later, a tornado of shrapnel cut apart the area he had been occupying. Kyle hissed in pain as a splinter jabbed into his calf. Fortunately, it wasn’t large and didn’t hit anything overly vital. It just hurt even worse than the knife wound from earlier.
Once again, his pain tolerance helped keep his mind clear. Finishing his roll, he bolted back to the window and unleashed his own shots.
Whatever agent had shot at him had spent too long admiring his own work. Kyle’s first bullet tore through the bridge of his nose and sprayed red mist all over the dirt behind him. The rest of his automatic fire pocketed the side of the SUV, raising an awful racket but doing very little more damage or injury. Kyle emptied the rest of his magazine before ducking back down again.
Steve growled, “We have to move! They know which window we’re at.”
“Let’s go!” The two of them crawled on their bellies out of the living room as a few more rounds punched in. At the archway leading out of the room, Steve paused and fired a few more rounds at them, making sure the agents didn’t think they were getting away with any time off.
But the return fire caught him off-guard. Despite shielding himself behind a long corridor partition, one of their bullets skipped along the drywall and clipped into his shoulder. Steve yelled in pain, falling back onto the corridor floor.
Kyle immediately slammed home another magazine and hit the bolt advance before unleashing another half-dozen rounds out through the front door itself. Firing blind, he needed to make them back off. He shouted into the kitchen, “Lily! Steve’s hurt!”
“I see him!” She sounded terrified as the punishing gunfire continued to hammer her senses. She crawled on her hands and knees into the thick of the warzone, dragging her first-aid bag as she came.
Steve groaned in pain, but pushed off with his boots as he tried to get further from the front windows. “No! No closer! Don’t! I… I can get to you!” But his progress was meagre at best.
Kyle scuttled fast to the dining room windows where Dazz had been. “Don’t let him die, Lily! My Mom would never let me hear the end of it!”
Steve laughed through his pain. “I’m taking my Orca season tickets to the grave with me!”
Kyle thought the humor was a good sign. He didn’t see dying people having a good sense of humor.
Once in position, he took a risk.
He waited.
He tucked himself as far back against the outside wall as possible. “Get him into the kitchen, Lily! This next part isn’t going to be fun!”
She screamed back at him, “You call what happened before fun?” But she listened. Rather than unzip her bag, Lily struggled to pull Steve away from the front. Together, they managed to get back into the corridor and back toward the kitchen.
Kyle kept waiting. And waiting.
All four of the agents opened fire. They lit up the whole face of the house in a brutal wave that blew out every remaining window and pock-marked nearly every inch of the wooden structure, maybe even enough to weaken it to the point of potential collapse. Kyle rode through the wave, gritting his teeth and shielding his face against the debris flung about by the attack.
The barrage ended.
He waited.
Then, when sure he had given them enough time, he snapped out from behind cover and went hunting.
Two targets. Both thinking they might have the freedom to advance. He opened up at one with the second half of his magazine, thinking it likely they all had on their vests. He wasn’t a sharpshooter. He aimed at the center of mass and blasted away until he saw his target fall.
Nearly hidden behind his own gunfire was the single, poignant ccr
rraccck! of another sniper round slashing in. It punched through the leg of the other exposed agent, making him cry out and scurry back behind the SUV.
But then, a slew of bullets slashed in from out of the forest.
Dazz! Kyle grinned and grabbed the second last of his magazines. She came through! He propped his weapon on the shattered window sill, and fired off a series of rounds. And another. Another sniper round came storming in from the side.
One of the agents opened the driver’s side door, bracing it open as protection against Dazz’s attack.
But then, a yell of pain came, and Kyle knew she had managed to pick off the third of the agents.
Kyle saw movement inside the cab of the SUV, and the lights flashed as the ignition turned over. The tires spun and he realized the last remaining agent was trying to peel out of the gravel parking area.
Not about to let the last of them get away, Kyle launched through the destroyed window and then over the edge of the porch. The SUV was fish-tailing across the loose rocks, picking up speed.
Dazz fired once… twice… three times… none of it helped.
Another of Laura’s sniper shots smashed the rear-left window, but that did nothing at all.
We’re going to lose ‘em! Kyle refused to let that happen. Not now!
He went down on one knee, tracking the vehicle as it went through one last wide swerve. A single hope dawned on him. He lowered his point of aim and went to full-automatic fire at the SUV’s wheels. He fired and fired and fired and fired…
…then felt a flash of insane delight as the rear left wheel was shredded on its rim. The vehicle lost control in its skid, buckled sideways, then rolled over once... twice… before crashing to a rest on its passenger side, the drive train facing him.
Kyle ran toward the flipped SUV. He went around by the trunk, expecting trouble. But the trouble came at him far faster than he expected. All of a sudden, he was face-to-face with the blonde, female agent he had fought once before in Dazz’s house. The same one who had gunned down Dazz’s parents. Without remorse, he raised his rifle to return the favor, but she dove at him with a ferocious snarl. Her weapon was gone. Her face was streaked with blood. Her hair was a knotted mess. But she surged into him with savage fury, batting away the still-hot tip of his gun and pummeling him with a flurry of snapping punches.
Kyle did his best to bring his gun back on aim, but she ducked under the weapon again and hooked her elbow through his. Leveraging his bodyweight, Kyle was whipped around and smashed against the now vertical top of the SUV. She nearly managed to rip the rifle away from him.
He had had enough. Fearing the agent was more likely to steal the gun back before he got a clear shot, he tossed it backward over the SUV and out of range. He was more than willing to go toe-to-toe with her with empty hands. Gnashing his teeth, he launched back at her. He smashed his shoulder into her gut, then heaved back and into the air, sending her soaring to the ground a half-dozen feet away.
She should have run. That had been her first instinct with the SUV, and she probably should have done it again, now that she had a little distance. Even with two snipers out there in Laura and Dazz, she might have managed to make it into the tree line and get away.
But anger was driving her now. She was back on her feet and back in Kyle’s face in a heartbeat. She snarled at him, “You pitiful, little boy! You’ve stopped nothing! You’re a worm and I’m going to scrunch you into the dirt!” She feinted once with a punch, then swept a kick at his head.
Kyle was done playing her game. Rather than meet her with his own strikes, he jammed in under her kick, using his shoulder again. He didn’t throw her away this time, instead choosing to sweep her lower leg and slam her to the ground. Driving her into the gravel, he attempted to climb higher, grabbing for her arm to lock her down.
She wasn’t having any of that. Jutting her knee up, she smashed him in the side, kicked hard off his hip, and rolled away to break contact. Rolling back over her shoulder, she bolted up to her feet.
A gunshot blasted over the clearing. A blot of red bloomed on Agent Niles’ chest while a gout of blood splattered out behind her through an exit wound. Stunned, Jill Niles coughed once, then collapsed backward onto the gravel.
The adrenalin surging through Kyle was slow to react. He shouted out in momentary, stupid anger that someone had interrupted the fight. He could have taken her! He glared backward, about to scream at whoever interfered… when he saw Dazz standing at the edge of the clearing with a merciless sort of expression on her face. She had taken her revenge, for better or worse.
The protest died in Kyle’s throat. This wasn’t a tournament. It wasn’t even a duel. This had been about survival, and now it was over.
Mostly.
He slumped to his knees, hardly believing it was over.
Dazz let the rifle fall, pointing at the ground, breathing heavily.
Then, reality hit Kyle in the face again. The gun battle had been loud. The house was remote, but surely someone had heard the hundreds of rounds being fired. They wouldn’t mistake that for a few people hunting in the woods.
If they didn’t move, they could all still end up killed. They had to be fast. If the police showed up to find four dead FDPC agents, they’d either get the death penalty or be sentenced to life in prison. He was fairly certain that whatever dark force operated behind the FDPC wouldn’t let them live for long in captivity. Hell, they would probably be stopped from ever seeing the inside of a courtroom to stop them from getting their chance to a public trial and public spread of what their suspicions.
This wasn’t over until they got away.
Spitting the dirt from his mouth, he grabbed at his clip-on microphone. It had come loose in the struggle, but he re-attached it and called to the others. “It’s over. Megan, we need that ride.”
“On my way.”
“Lily, how’s Steve?”
“I’ve got the bullet out and the worst of the bleeding stopped, but it’ll take a few more minutes to get him stitched up.”
“Alright. The police are going to be here before too long. Can we move him?”
“Carefully.”
“Carefully it is.” He glanced at Dazz. “Are you alright.”
Dazz was still glaring at the dead remains of Jill Niles. She looked like she wasn’t satisfied with only being allowed to kill her once. “I will be.”
Kyle exhaled slowly. “Yeah.” He was being very careful not to look back to the center of the clearing where three other agents were lying in bloody heaps. “Yeah, I get it.” He opened the channel again. “Danielle, Laura, can you meet us at the house?”
“On our way down.”
Focusing on the task at hand, Kyle kept them all moving. It was good to keep busy. It kept him from having to think too much. That helped. It helped a lot.
Chapter 18
The minivan pulled into the parking lot, nudging up to the other two vehicles sitting there.
As they came to a stop, the doors opened, and once more there was a reunion as everyone traded hugs and kisses all around.
Amanda ran up to Kyle. “Where’s Steve? Yvette said he was hurt!”
Kyle nodded. “He was, but Lily is taking care of him. He’s going to be fine.”
She gave him a fierce hug, then darted over to see to her husband.
Megan approached him next with Yvette at her side. They both wrapped their arms around him, embracing him warmly. They clung together for a while until they relaxed enough to talk while not leaving his arms.
Megan said, “That was horrible… even knowing I could drive to you, I hated the idea of just waiting.”
Yvette nodded fervently. “Meeting your family was sweet, but yes. Waiting was terrible!”
Kyle leaned in and kissed each of them, enough to let each of them know he meant it. Not too long. They still had things to do. But it was enough to tempt him for later. “I’ll try not to make it a habit. Being there wasn’t all that great either. I might not sleep fo
r a while. But… well, we took care of it.”
The others started to gather around, looking to talk about what was coming next.
The sound of tires squealing caught their attention. They spun around to see a sedan with a crumpled trunk curving off the road, driving a little erratically but obviously headed their way.
Laura instantly went for her rifle in the trunk.
The others all ducked for cover, expecting trouble.
Kyle called out, “Hold on! I think I know who this might be!” He started to walk out toward the on-rushing car.
Nathan called out, “Dude! You gotta be sure! There might be more!”
Kyle held out a hand, hoping he was right. “If it’s who I think it is, she’s here to help.” As long as she didn’t panic and show up with her implant still glowing. Then she has killed all of us without firing a shot.
The car came right at him. But just when he thought it might run him down after all, it swerved and came to a stop nearby. Claire pushed open the driver’s door and darted out. “Hutchings! You’re really here! I thought I’d missed you for sure. That took so long!” There was a small bandage wrapped around her upper arm.
Kyle asked, “No-one saw you?”
Claire looked pale. “You never said I had to do it by myself! I knew a friend at the hospital. She knew how to dig them out in case they malfunctioned. We’ve had to use her in the past. I called in a favor.”
Kyle starting sweating. “But you got out of the hospital without being followed?”
She nodded. “I kind of took away their ride.” She glanced back at the damaged trunk on the back of her car. “They were a long way from help, I think. Maybe they’ll get their hands on a rental car or something. But I got in and out of the hospital fast. Julia promised not to say anything about seeing me.”
For a second, Kyle gave that some thought. These agents could be forceful. But he didn’t know this ‘Julia’ at all. He wasn’t going to be able to protect her. If she was true to her word, she wouldn’t need it. “Alright. Maybe we’ll check in with her later and make sure she’s alright. For now, we’ve got to disappear. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
