Page 25 of Under A New Moon

"What do you mean?" Darla asked.

Galen sat back, watching the conversation unfold. He didn't know enough about this situation to add anything of value to the discussion. This was all above his pay grade.

"I got an email saying I was being put on administrative leave pending an investigation," Lily said.

"We've got to tell someone. Warn their targets. What do they have in common? Why are they after these shifters specifically?" Darla asked.

"Well, what I found was—"

Galen heard it too late. By the time he could even think to react, the window behind him shattered. All he could do was watch as a round hole appeared in Lily's forehead. Then blood, brain, and bone painted the wall behind as the sniper's bullet exploded out the back of her skull.

Twenty

Darla

“Jesus Fucking Christ!” she screamed as bits of Lily’s skull, brain matter, and blood splattered across the room. Even as she closed her eyes in defense of the red mist, she could hear the sniper’s bullet exit Lily’s face, and whiz by her own.

There was a split moment when Darla opened her eyes just before Lily’s corpse fell that she could see through the gaping hole in her friend’s brainpan to the shooter across the way.

Taking aim.

She deftly pulled Galen to the floor just in time, as more shots came through the broken window, silenced as well as the wall.

This is really fucking bad. They’ve got us dead to rights here and this whole place will be surrounded.

“We have maybe thirty seconds before more agents come through that door. He’ll kill us if he can, but this is cover fire as much as anything else.” Her training was taking over her, and she was taking over the situation. If they were going to live it’s because Galen would do what she said when she said it.

Darla rolled to her belly and grabbed a handful of Galen’s clothes around his chest. “Do you want to live to find out if what we have is for real?”

More than a little panicked, Galen blinked hard with his brilliant blue eyes. “You know I do. I’m with you. What do we do?”

“Low crawl to the bathroom.” Like a soldier in mud, she took off alternating elbow to knee, and belly scraping the floor. As she made her way, she couldn’t help but be disgusted by the treasures left on the floor from previous tenants of this fine establishment.

Oh my god, is that a used condom next to a syringe? I’m going to throw up. And this carpet smells like rat piss!

“Still with me, big guy?” she called back to her fellow traveler.

“Wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

A sense of humor at a time like this, that’s got to count for something.

Plaster fell on Darla’s head and shoulders as two more sniper shots buried into the wall she was passing by.

Upon their arrival into the bathroom, they allowed themselves to sit up against the wall, now that they had a little cover.

“Listen, we’ve just got seconds before they storm this room. I kind of can’t believe how lucky we are that they haven’t yet. We need to get into the ceiling. Luckily, this fine establishment we ducked into has a drop tile ceiling, because, why not?”

Yeah, this place is chic.

“Boost me up,” she said as she put a foot into his clasped hands while he easily hoisted her up into the ceiling. Pushing a tile aside, Darla was able to find a conduit pipe strong enough to pull the rest of her weight in. Once secure in her position, she held a hand down.

Smash! A shot destroyed the vanity mirror as Galen ducked his head a bit for cover.

“You can risk getting shot while jumping up here, or you can be certain you’ll get shot once they breach that door. What’s it gonna be?” she still extended her hand for him.

He took it and jumped with the hidden strength of his alpha legacy, and also pulled himself up by the conduit piping.

“Fancy meeting you here.” His boyish smile and sandy blonde locks falling into his face didn’t paint an accurate picture of just how incredibly nervous he was.

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