Page 69 of One Eye Open (The BlackWater)

“Stay where you are. Don’t do anything Mads, we’re on our way.” He stated.

“Roger that.” She said hanging up and glancing in the window again. Whatever was going on inside it looked like it was heating up. She saw people being moved, pretty much shunted about at gunpoint and then she heard it.

A single gunshot.

She didn’t think then, she just went into auto mode. She sprung away from the wall, seeing a fire escape up to the first floor and climbed it halfway till she half threw herself against the open window sill before hauling herself inside as quietly as she could.

She was on the landing she realised, above the main room. She looked about, counting another five armed men around her, rifles all pointed down to the crowd below.

She saw the man nearest her. He had his back turned, oblivious. She crept up behind and in one fluid motion yanked his head so forcefully to the side she snapped his neck. His body fell limp against hers and she dragged him back into the alcove of a window, laying him down carefully before searching him.

She found a knife, a nasty, short, sharp blade no more than a few inches and she tucked it into her sleeve, just in case. She took his rifle too, and checking the coast was clear she put the safety on and unclipped the mag out. From what she could see it had a full chamber.

All live rounds.

These guys weren’t messing around. She clipped it back in and switched the safety off again.

And then she crawled across on her stomach to peer out through the balustrades.

Below someone was talking. Loudly. Everything was focused on them.

Cole, Brandon, and Thomas the Head of Black Tech were there up front, with what looked like every damn government official too. It was like something out of a movie, only it was real.

She looked down, seeing the body of the person they’d shot. A woman, though Maddie couldn’t tell who it was. Her blood was pooling around her and she was so still it was clear she was dead.

“…give us what we want and no more people will die.” The man at the centre of it all said.

“Fuck off.” Cole snarled.

“Have it your way then.” The man replied smirking and one of the other assailants grabbed another woman and pointed his gun right at her head.

It was Jennifer, Maddie realised. She had tears streaming down her face with her fear evident to anyone that looked at her.

For fucksake, Maddie thought as she emptied her mind, going right back to her training. Right back to Blackops. It was like a shutter came down, a switch, her mind emptied, her thoughts vanished. She went back to soldier mode, sniper mode.

She lay flat, her left leg straight and her right at an angle with her knee bent. The rifle was rammed right into her shoulder with the barrel pointing through the pillars so that she had a near perfect line.

The man in charge nodded, silently giving his command and Maddie took aim, breathed in, let it out and without hesitation she pulled the trigger.

The man fell back, dead before he even hit the ground.

And the entire room froze.

“What the fuck?” The man said before jerking his head as his minions rushed to respond.

Maddie twisted round onto her back, waiting for them to come. She saw the legs of the first guy. Big mistake, she thought as she pulled the trigger and the man fell back down the stairs, crying out as his leg bone shattered. The second came running and she shot him at near point blank. The third shot first just as she turned her face, feeling as the bullet grazed it and a searing pain ripped along her cheekbone. If he’d been a better shot, she thought, she’d be dead. She shot back, seeing him fall and then immediately shot the final man.

“Stop shooting.” The man yelled and she rolled, looking through the balustrade and seeing that two of his men were pointing their rifles at the crowd.

She narrowed her eyes. The adrenaline was pumping through her, her heart was racing, but her mind was calm, dead calm.

“Get down here. Now.” He ordered, his gun against another woman’s head. Why is it always women? Maddie thought as she gritted her teeth. From the angle she was at there was no way she could get a clean shot.

She got up, slowly, holding her hands up and the rifle with it and walked, past all the dead bodies, past the carnage she’d created and stopped at the top of the stairs.

Everyone was staring at her.

“Who the fuck are you?” He snarled and she was half tempted to smirk.

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