Fragments of Grey [Book Five of The Alexis Stanton Chronicles]

by Phelps, J. C.

  “Looks that way, but I think they have company.”

  “Already? Shit. How long do you think we have?”

  “Maybe fifteen minutes, if they make it.”

  Jake started issuing orders immediately. He sent the man who spoke Arabic to hurry the woman out of her home and let the village elder know they had to go now or risk being caught in the crossfire.

  He had three of us filling sandbags as fast as we could, three more building bunkers in front of the vehicles they’d parked to block the road and against the front row of houses near the road. Eric remained glued to his binoculars and Joe was dispersing weapons and ammo into the bunkers.

  As the stain of dust approached I felt my adrenaline level rise. My heart started to beat harder and my breath became more shallow.

  “Relax. Use up all your reserves now and you’ll be exhausted before the fight really begins,” Jake warned as he came up behind me. “You’re probably the best shot on the line. I need you to get up on this roof and start picking off as many as you can as soon as they get into range.”

  “Our guys are ahead of the trucks a good distance, so you’ll have time to get adjusted,” Eric said as he pulled a gorgeous Barrett .50 caliber out of the back of one of the vehicles.

  “This is a single-shot bolt action rifle. Think you can handle her?”

  I felt a sense of security as I reached for the rifle.

  “This is my girl,” I said, thinking about my own Barrett back in the closet at White and Associates.

  “What?”

  “I had to give up my Barrett when I left White and Associates. She looks just like my baby back home.”

  “No shit?”

  “No shit.”

  I reached again for the rifle.

  “Then you should have no troubles, unless you never get on that damn roof. Get your ass up there and I’ll hand her up to you.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Don’t fall through,” Eric called up to me as he took his position behind the sandbags piled in front of the small house I was perched on.

  I’d worried about that as soon as I got up on the roof and heard the creaking of the boards. I managed to find a good position at the peak and positioned the rifle just over the edge. I only hoped the kick of the weapon didn’t push me off backwards.

  I’d made the men hand me some boards and had quickly nailed them to the roof to give me some holding power for my feet.

  I looked through my scope and saw our guys speeding our direction. No one was manning the turrets of the Humvees, but the two small trucks trying to catch our guys were full of armed men taking turns firing ineffective rounds at the armored vehicles.

  “There’s about twenty of them,” I called down as I chambered a round.

  I gave the rungs a quick kick to test their security. They held. I fired. A man slumped over into the bed of the truck.

  As always, the kick was strong and welcomed. I let it push me down somewhat, using my legs like springs. I wouldn’t be able to fire as fast as I hoped with this setup, but I could still get the job done.

  I chambered another round.

  The man in the back of the truck was a test shot. This time I aimed for the driver.

  I fired, recoiled with my legs, pushed myself back into position in time to see the vehicle swerve off the road and flip into the air. Men flew out of the bed of the vehicle and skittered across the ground. The second pickup truck fishtailed as it tried to miss the falling men.

  I chambered another round and targeted the next driver.

  The first vehicle touched down and slid several feet creating a huge dust cloud, obscuring the second truckload of armed men.

  Two seconds later the remaining vehicle sped through the tan cloud.

  I heard Eric’s voice below me but didn’t let the words seep into my conscious thought. The second driver was in my sights.

  I squeezed the trigger and could practically see the bullet’s path as it made its way to the target.

  I chambered another round and watched the bullet slice through the driver. Men started to emerge from the settling dust near the first transport, their weapons drawn.

  Another squeeze of the trigger and a man fell out of the back of the truck rolling to a stop.

  The sound of gunfire, other than mine, reached my ears.

  The two Humvees that carried our men slid into place alongside the two we had used to block the road. Men streamed out of them and took cover inside the hurriedly constructed sandbag bunkers.

  The dust had dissipated and the men who were left from the truck that had flipped were running toward the other truck for cover. The second truck had rolled to a stop and all of the men were out of the back of the vehicle and targeting us.

  I chambered my last round in the cartridge and fired.

  My target dropped, but it hadn’t been my round that took him out. I knew it hadn’t been me because the timing was off and the damage wasn’t anywhere near a .50 caliber round.

  I growled.

  “My fucking target, asshole!” I had no idea who I was screaming at, but I didn’t like wasting bullets.

  I slid down the backside of the roof for cover while I changed out my cartridge.

  When I emerged, the remaining hostiles had dwindled and were all behind the vehicle for protection.

  I fired and my round ripped through the side of the truck. I smiled when I saw three men fall backwards.

  I heard another .50 caliber firing and watched the vehicle being torn to shreds. One of our guys had finally manned the turret of one of the Humvees.

  It was over before it even started and my fingers itched. I scanned the wreckage for movement. There was none.

  The silence was a warm, comfortable blanket for a full minute, then it started to become suffocating.

  Someone besides Jake barked orders just before we all drowned in the quiet. “Team two! Clean up! The rest of you, stand fast!”

  I was in the best position to take out a threat that may be playing dead. My sights touched every body as the group of three men fanned out and started checking pulses.

  Movement.

  A man near the flipped truck grabbed a weapon and rolled behind the truck.

  My elevated position allowed me to see over the vehicle, and the man, though he thought he was safe for the moment, was mostly exposed.

  I fired.

  Threat eliminated.

  The men who stood below me brought their weapons into firing positions in response to my latest round. The sound of my .50 caliber had elicited more movement directly in front of the middle man of team two.

  His response was quick and sharp.

  The team moved a little quicker after that. They stopped checking pulses and simply put one in the head of each of the bodies. The repeated pops made me flinch. It occurred to me that it was one thing to put down a threat and quite another to just put them down.

  But, if they don’t do it, they’ll just turn into threats later. It’s not like we have the capability to take prisoners. I tried to rationalize it.

  I remained on my perch until the team returned to the village and probably would have stayed there all night had Eric not demanded I give up the Barrett.

  Reluctantly, I handed it down to him. Then I allowed Joe to help me climb down.

  I dangled my feet over the edge and waited for Joe to grab my legs. When he had a good grip, I let myself slide through his arms to the ground.

  “Impressive,” Joe said into my ear as my feet touched the ground.

  “That’s the second time you’ve called me an asshole recently.” Jake interrupted anything else Joe had planned to say.

  “What?”

  “Sorry about taking your target.” Jake clarified his statement.

  “That was you?”

  He nodded and grinned.

  “Asshole,” I repeated. “I don’t appreciate wasting rounds outside of practice.”

  The men who heard the exchange laughed, but I was serious.
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br />   Jake turned to the other man who’d been issuing orders since he got there.

  “Lance, this is Alex Grey.” Jake introduced us.

  “The Ms. Grey?” Lance beamed as he offered his hand.

  I took it and he gave me a hearty shake.

  “Where’s the rest of your guys?” Jake’s voice had turned to all business.

  “I lost two guys back at the palace. We lost the other five on the road here.”

  “Damn. Sorry, man.” Jake clapped Lance on the shoulder.

  “I know. But, we don’t have time for this right now. I’m sure we’ve got a small army behind us. We need to get the fuck outta here.”

  “Better mount up, then,” Jake said. “It’s a good three-hour drive back to the airport.”

  “Should be good to go, then,” Lance said. “Mount up men!”

  We all complied, but I noticed our charge was nowhere to be seen.

  “Where’s what’s-his-face?” I asked Jake.

  “Our job is complete. We got him safely to his destination. If he’s smart, he’s already dug a hole to hide out in.”

  Within two minutes, we were back on the road heading back the way we came. Less than a quarter mile outside the village we came across the villagers walking back to their homes. They had a captive, tied up and being drug back to town.

  “Bad decisions,” Jake said.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Our former charge thought he could take refuge in his home village, but they don’t seem to care too much for him.”

  “Shouldn’t we do something?” I asked as we passed by the mob.

  “Nope. He paid us to get him here, not to protect him from his own family. I’m sure they’ll hand him over.”

  “So what was the point?” I was flabbergasted.

  “We get paid.” He shrugged.

  We get paid.

  Jake’s phrase kept playing over in my mind as I bounced along in the Humvee.

  We get paid.

  I’ve always been paid, but I had a higher sense of purpose when I worked with White and Associates. Now, I was reduced to nothing but a paycheck.

  The firefight, though short, had been exhilarating. Maybe it was okay to get paid for this kind of thing, even if it didn’t serve any real purpose.

  Still, it felt wrong.

  “What’s up?” Jake interrupted my thoughts with a nudge to my ribs.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’ve been talking to you and you’re just staring out the window.”

  “Oh. Just thinking.”

  “‘Bout what?”

  “The job.”

  “What’d you think of your first combat experience?”

  “Not much different than anything I’ve done before, just did it in a group and with live ammo.”

  “How many did you get? I only got the one I stole from you.”

  “I didn’t count.”

  That was a complete lie. I always counted. I’d fired seven rounds and took out eight men, thanks to the shrapnel from the truck. It would have been nine if Jake hadn’t stolen my target.

  “You did better with the Barrett than I thought you would,” Eric added.

  “I told you. The Barrett is my favorite.”

  “I thought it was going to throw you off that roof,” Joe said.

  “I thought it might, too,” I admitted.

  “Nice teamwork out there, guys,” Jake said.

  I guess this was the way the guys patted each other on the back when they made it out alive.

  The conversations continued, but now that I’d said a few words the guys left me alone until we reached our destination.

  I had to go through the same kind of pats on the back when we were joined by the rest of the Mesa crew and boarded the plane.

  It was much more congested for the flight home, but that didn’t stop me from sleeping for almost the full twenty hours.

  Chapter Eleven

  As soon as we returned to the Mesa facility, we were ushered to one of the rifle shooting ranges.

  I followed in line as we gathered on the field with the metal targets behind us. We were instructed to grab an empty champagne glass as we walked past a table that held the glasses and chilled bottles of champagne. The brand wasn’t familiar to me.

  A charter bus rolled up to the range and six scantily clad women paraded out. Posner exited the bus right behind the women and took his place in front of us. He looked like a politician about to give a speech.

  He waited until he had a quiet audience.

  “Good job, men. We lost seven good men, but we got the job done. You should be proud,” he said.

  The women, in skimpy shorts and halter tops, took their cue and started pouring the champagne into our glasses.

  When everyone had a full glass, Posner lifted his for a toast.

  “For our fallen comrades. You will be missed. And for those of you who came back, to more successful jobs in the future.”

  The men were quiet as they downed their champagne in salute and we all bowed our heads for a full sixty seconds in honor of the lost employees. Then the women started walking around refilling the glasses.

  Jake, Lance, and Posner moved to stand by the bus and everyone left them alone to talk.

  Thank goodness it was a short speech.

  I watched Posner’s lips. They were getting a major ass-chewing. At least Lance was.

  “In the future be sure to only lose those who don’t have families. You get me, Lance?” Posner shook his head. “I’m not looking forward to calling Jeff’s wife and paying out the ass to keep her from suing me.”

  “What a complete prick.”

  I meant to only think it, but I said it out loud.

  “What? Who?” Joe asked me.

  “Never mind.”

  “Posner?”

  He’d followed my line of sight and guessed who I was talking about.

  “Yeah.”

  “He did sound a little insincere.”

  I sighed but didn’t take my eyes from the conversation.

  Posner told Lance he and his crew would be taking a break for a couple of months, to recover from their loss. My mind added a sneer to his voice at this last statement.

  Lance walked away and Posner praised Jake for coming to the rescue. He specifically asked about me and my performance.

  “She did great.”

  “No hesitation? You usually find hesitation in women.” Posner looked directly at me, causing Jake to look my way, as well. I nodded to them both and threw them the most disingenuous smile I could muster.

  “Not one bit of hesitation. She dropped eight men and didn’t bat an eye.” Jake gave me a return nod and a genuine smile.

  He knew exactly how many men I’d taken out in Sudan. Why had he even asked me? Was it just common courtesy to let the killer tell you how many he’s done, like asking someone about their number of sexual partners?

  Posner continued their conversation. “You still sure she’s an asset?”

  “Yep.”

  “Fine. You can keep her. I’ve got a low-key job for you next weekend if you want it.”

  “What is it?”

  “Cheap and easy security detail at the Civic Center and Arena. Some concert.”

  “That’s kid’s stuff, Mark.”

  “Thought you might like a nice break after Sudan.”

  “What’s up with your security employees?”

  “There’s another convention that day and I was just informed that our guys didn’t want to pull doubles. I can’t blame them. They are just minimum wage rent-a-cops.”

  “So you pull in the higher-grossing guys to fill the slack?”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll be getting minimum wage.”

  “Fine. How many to fill the slack?”

  “A group of ten should cover it.”

  “Consider it covered.”

  Jake and Posner clicked their glasses together and then downed their drinks. Posner refused another glas
s when one of the girls approached them with her bottle of champagne, but handed her his glass. Then he left the rest of us alone with our champagne and the targets.

  Jake walked over to Joe and me. “You two up for a minimum wage security detail for a concert?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Joe said.

  “As long as we get paid,” I said.

  Jake’s earlier remark still ate at me. At least I wasn’t getting paid to shoot people this time. Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be Penumbra. Then again, Penumbra made the world a better place. Maybe I wasn’t cut out to work for Mesa.

  “I’m going to go find Eric and see if he’s up to it.” Jake left me alone with Joe again.

  “So, you and Jake an item?” Joe asked as soon as Jake was gone.

  “What? No.” I laughed.

  “Are you going to be competition for any of these women?” He indicated the closest girl pouring champagne.

  “Nope. Not at all my type.”

  “I’d hoped they wouldn’t be. There’s something very attractive about a woman who can handle a big gun.”

  I was caught off guard and was sure it showed.

  I looked at the ground and then back at Joe. I’d never thought of Joe as a man I would be interested in. I pictured the two of us on a date. In a matter of seconds, my mind had us in my bed. He wasn’t all that good-looking, but he had a rugged manliness about him. Stubble made his square jaw stand out and he wore the typically fit body that most of these men had. He’d definitely look good in swim trunks, or out of them. Plus, he knew how to handle his own sniper rifle. That was a definite pull for me.

  I was sure Joe wouldn’t be turned off by the fact that I’d been Penumbra in a past life and we could probably even start a killer business of our own. I doubted he had any of the right-versus-wrong hangups I had. None of these guys did.

  I looked him directly in the eyes, seriously considering his offer. For some reason, the look he gave me made me blush.

  He smiled a broad grin.

  “It could be interesting,” I mused. “But, I’ve already learned my lesson about dating coworkers.”

  “Let me know if you change your mind.”

  “I will.”

  I could still feel the heat on my face when Eric and Jake came back to us.