Bull's Eye Sniper Chronicles Collection (The Second Cycle of the Betrayed Series)

by McCray, Carolyn

  “Sir! Move your toes if you can,” Lopez yelled. The boot sat unmoved though.

  “Here, here, here,” Davidson yelled out, pointing to a trio of rocks that were perched precariously.

  The men rallied around the sniper, carefully removing the stones to reveal a crevice. Malvern had fallen deep into the gap. His ankle was wedged between two huge slabs of stone from the wall.

  Prenner forced his arm into the crevice. “Sir, grab my hand if you can!”

  Bunny sucked in a breath waiting for the response.

  Levont frowned. “I don’t know if we can move these slabs without heavy equipment.”

  “The ATVs?” Lopez asked.

  Levont shook his head. “The suspension isn’t built for it. The wishbone will snap if we try to pull this much weight.”

  The two shared a look.

  “No,” Bunny said before anyone said anything else. She knew that Baasha was fleeing with Sarin gas, but they were not going to leave Malvern behind. “We are not abandoning him.

  Lopez smiled. “Girlfriend, we weren’t even considering it. What we were considering was what mechanical device was used to pulling this much weight.”

  Bunny looked at the corporal as if he was speaking another language. “What are you talking about?”

  Levont shoved a thumb toward cable car engine.

  “Then go!” Bunny ordered. The two men rushed off, grabbing a towing hitch from the ATV on their way.

  “He’s alive,” Prenner said. “I can reach his chest, he’s breathing.”

  With such good news, Prenner didn’t look all that happy.

  “What’s wrong?” Bunny asked.

  Prenner brought his hand out of the crevice, it was blood stained. “There’s a lot of blood.”

  Bunny’s heart sank. Every moment they delayed here gave Baasha more of a lead. Perhaps too much of a lead for even Lopez to close. And what if Malvern was already too far gone?

  Prenner squeezed Bunny’s shoulder. “We can’t give up. He’s still alive. There’s hope.”

  Bunny didn’t even try to hide the tears that streamed down her face. She couldn’t stem the tide even if she wanted to.

  Lopez came back, winded, but determined.

  “Who’s got a drill?” Lopez asked.

  Prenner pulled one out of his pack.

  “We’ve got to sink a few anchors. Everyone be on the watch for dislodged rocks.”

  Bunny knew that everything that they were doing was dangerous. To try and evacuate a rockslide could easily trigger another, larger rockslide. There was still a huge amount of broken wall above them. Enough that it could take them all down. No one even flinched staying in the danger zone.

  Prenner quickly drilled the holes they needed to hammer in the tow hooks. Lopez threaded the tow cable through them, then ran back up the hill to the cable car motor.

  “Watch out!”

  Davidson jumped down from the slab of rock as it inched it’s way off the pile.

  “Stop!” Prenner yelled. The motor groaned to a stop. He waved Davidson over. “We’ve got to clear these first.”

  The sniper leapt over the gap and helped Prenner throw huge boulders down off the pile. What adrenaline could do for you. Bunny heard a rumbling above her. The boulders above her had been dislodged. A tiny pebble bounced its way down the rubble. Then a larger rock, then a boulder.

  Bunny covered her head as more and more rocks flowed down the side.

  “My hand!” Davidson shouted. Bunny grabbed it and the sniper pulled her over the gap to safety as a boulder the size of a refrigerator tumbled down, right past the spot she had been standing.

  The sniper smiled, squeezing her hand. “Don’t need another one to dig out.”

  Bunny laughed the nervous titter that someone just saved laughed.

  “I’ve got movement!” Prenner yelled. “He’s moving!”

  She felt her heart soar. Movement was good. Bleeding was bad, but moving was good.

  “Take my hand!” Prenner shouted into the gap. “He’s got it. He’s got my hand.”

  Bunny couldn’t help the tears of joy that now flowed any better than she could the tears of sorrow.

  * * *

  Davidson jumped down to be at the edge of the gap. “Do we need to move the slab anymore?”

  Prenner shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to risk another slide. If he can help, I think we can get him out from here.”

  Davidson shoved his hand in the gap, fishing around. Finally he found a hand. Malvern gripped it, not as tightly as Davidson would like, but it was enough to get the colonel sitting upright. His head cleared the gap. He had a nasty gash over his eyebrow that was streaming blood down the side of his face.

  He wasn’t too worried about that. Head wounds always bleed profusely, but seldom bled enough to be dangerous. They just looked bad.

  Davidson shifted his grip to support the colonel’s elbow. Prenner did the same.

  “Can you push off, sir?” Prenner asked.

  “Not with my ankle wedged,” Malvern said, grimacing.

  Davidson leaned over and shoved the offending rock out of the way. Malvern’s foot was freed. He tried to bend his ankle, but cried out.

  “Don’t move it,” Prenner said. “We can lift you.”

  Well, Davidson wasn’t so sure, at least about his half. Malvern was a big man. Then Lopez was at his side, helping lift the colonel out of the gap.

  They half-carried, half-slung Malvern down the pile, finally laying him down on the grassy meadow.

  Lopez handed Bunny a large square gauze. “Keep that on his wound.”

  The corporal then quickly felt over Malvern’s body for other injuries. “Do you hurt anywhere in particular, sir?”

  “Besides my ankle and splitting headache, I’m pretty good.”

  “Were you unconscious under there?” Lopez asked, now moving down to the colonel’s ankle.

  Malvern yipped, wincing as Lopez tried to move the offending joint. “I think so. All of the sudden I felt Prenner’s hand so I think there was some gap between getting hit and your rescue.”

  Lopez nodded. “Concussion. You can’t sleep for a day. Don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

  Malvern smiled for the first time. Davidson felt better now that the colonel’s affable nature was coming back. “No, I doubt it. I take it that Baasha is in the wind?”

  They all nodded.

  “Okay, then what’s the plan? We need to get moving.”

  “Not with that ankle of yours,” Lopez stated.

  “Splint it and let’s go,” Malvern said.

  “Sir, it is most likely broken in several spots and at the best, a bad sprain. If we don’t get it stabilized properly, there could be permanent damage.”

  “Really?” Malvern asked, his eyebrow raised. “Now you develop caution?”

  “When it is somebody else’s body, yes,” Lopez stated. His own safety? Never mind, throw caution to the wind, but surprisingly the corporal was very diligent about everyone else’s.

  “Just get it so that I can limp around, then we’ve got to get in pursuit.”

  Lopez’s lips pulled back into a smile. “I’m liking you more and more.”

  Then the corporal hit Malvern on the back, hard. The colonel coughed then said, “Glad to hear it.”

  As Lopez bent over to splint Malvern’s ankle, Prenner straightened up. “So what is the plan? We’re down an ATV.”

  Davidson nodded. “Stark, he’s right. We can’t make it at any speed to Beijing with three to an ATV.”

  * * *

  Stark was watching Baasha. He’d been prepared and had a get away car. He was already half way back to Beijing. His vehicle was easy to spot. Not a lot of other cars in China had tinted windows.

  Doing a few quick calculations, Stark tried to figure out the best options for the team. All of the cars in the parking lot had been taken during the evacuation. The only land vehicles were the ATVs which weren’t hardly going to make the g
rade.

  Prenner was right.

  “Outside the box,” his mother urged.

  Which sounded like great advice but how to implement it?

  Already emergency vehicles were being dispatched to the area. Even if they had a car, Stark seriously doubted that they could make their way back to Beijing due to traffic. Plus the Chinese were going to have to put up roadblocks and such, trapping the team in Badaling.

  He extended his search. Badaling was basically just a tourist town. It had very little other than restaurants and hotels. It didn’t even have its own airport. Not even a regional one.

  There just weren’t any options. The train wasn’t scheduled to leave for another twenty minutes, if it would even be allowed to leave the station. And there wasn’t any rivers in the area so no water travel.

  “Extend your perimeters,” his mother suggested.

  “Mom, if you have an idea, just spit it out.”

  Sometimes his mother’s desire to help Stark “learn his way out of a problem” got annoying.

  She pointed to the north.

  “No,” Stark said, but his mother cocked her head and smiled.

  “It’s Lopez, he’s going to love it.”

  * * *

  “Yah, guys,” Stark said into their earpieces. “We might have a transportation alternative.”

  Bunny waited, but Stark didn’t continue.

  “We’re all ears,” Malvern stated.

  “Well, about ten minutes north is an experimental aircraft plant.”

  “So we’re stealing a plane?” Davidson asked.

  “Well, not exactly,” Stark replied.

  “Spit it,” Lopez barked.

  “They are the research and development arm of Terrafugia.”

  For some unknown reason, Lopez clapped his hands, jumping up and down. “Oh no, you didn’t.”

  “I’m afraid I did,” Stark answered.

  “What?” Bunny asked the question that seemed to be on everyone’s mind. “Who is Terrafugia?”

  “Oh, only the foremost leader in flying cars!” Lopez said pumping his fist up and down. “Though Stark you had me at secret experimental aircraft. I’m in!”

  The corporal dashed to the ATV, revving the engine. “Come on! What are you waiting for?”

  Probably for another plan that didn’t involve flying cars.

  Bunny followed Davidson to their ATV as Prenner helped Malvern to his feet.

  “You’re going to have to stand on the back axels,” Davidson instructed as Lopez spun the back tires of his SUV, apparently to hurry them up.

  Malvern, who’s face was a bit pale, shook his head. “I’ll do it.”

  Davidson frowned at the older man. “Not on that ankle you aren’t. You’ve got to take the seat.”

  Malvern waved Prenner off. “You better get on Lopez’s ride before he leaves without you.”

  “Good idea,” Prenner said, setting off at a run.

  Davidson turned to Bunny. “Either this or you trade places with Levont on Lopez’s ATV.”

  Bunny watched as Prenner had to jump on the back of Lopez’s ATV at a run since the corporal had already skidded off.

  She gulped. “No, I’ll take the back, thanks.”

  Malvern had a hard enough time just getting on the backseat, let alone standing on the rear axel. Bunny got up on the metal struts and grabbed a hold of Malvern’s jacket to stabilize herself as Davidson ramped up the engine, then took off.

  Bunny nearly fell on her butt, however she somehow managed to stay on the ATV as they set off into the rolling hills.

  Just in time as sirens sounded on the wind. What looked like a thousand flashing yellow and white lights descended on the previous location of the Great Wall.

  CHAPTER 23

  Davidson could only imagine how both Malvern and Bunny felt after the wild ride through the Chinese countryside on their ATV. Davidson felt as if he’d been rattled down to his marrow. Lopez had set a brutal pace and hadn’t let up the entire way.

  They had only pulled to a stop once they arrived at the back fence to the research facility. It looked on high alert after the attack on the Great Wall of China. They hid the ATVs behind some brush while they snuck up on the compound.

  There were still a few planes out on the runway that hadn’t been brought in yet. They must have been testing them when the alarm sounded.

  Davidson could spot at least five gunmen on patrol, however they weren’t very well organized and everyone’s attention seemed to be on the front gate. They should be able to build a window of opportunity here.

  Not a hundred yards in was one of the “flying cars.” It really did look like something out of the Jetsons. It looked like a high-end sedan, only with wings and two jet engines. Right now it was in car mode, meaning it was sitting on the tarmac, looking like it was getting ready to go for a drive on a Sunday afternoon, with wings of course.

  “You are sure you can fly one of those?” Malvern asked.

  “Please, I just flew a space shuttle.”

  “Into the Parthenon,” Malvern reminded him. “So let me rephrase. Do you think you can land one of those?”

  Lopez’s eyebrows went up and down like Groucho Marx. “We’ll see won’t we?”

  “I was hoping for a slightly more definitive answer,” Malvern mumbled. It was useless with Lopez.

  The corporal clapped his hands together. “Just add one more thing to cross off my bucket list.”

  Davidson looked to Bunny who rolled her eyes. “It couldn’t be worse than the space shuttle, could it?”

  Davidson really didn’t want to find out.

  * * *

  Baasha had told the driver to go the speed limit, but he found himself getting frustrated as rickshaws passed them by. Most of the traffic was emergency vehicles heading out of the capital city. The roads in were sparse with vehicles. They had arrived after the mass emigration from the Wall.

  It wasn’t the traffic he was frustrated with though, it was his present circumstance. The elders of the Righteous had not been pleased that he had killed their savior clone. They felt he had acted rashly, jumping to conclusions that should have been deliberated over for weeks or even months.

  Baasha knew people though. That is how he learned to survive even with his deformities. He knew when someone was lying. Davidson had been telling the truth. Judas had died upon the cross, not Christ which meant Baasha, all of his brothers and even their savior were copies of a mere mortal. A mortal besmirched by history.

  He would hold his head in shame, however his head was already bent there since his birth. He could not feel any more shame than he already did.

  With the coordinated Sarin attack dismantled by the Americans, it was up to him and him alone to begin the mankind’s next chapter. That is why he was heading straight into the heart of Beijing.

  The city that couldn’t decide who it was. Steel and glass sky scrapers soared above one story squat family owned shops. A new Mercedes slid past, driving next to a bicycle that was probably manufactured before the second World War. A city of great dichotomy. Rich and poor ate side by side at small food carts.

  Many would suspect he would head to the most densely populated portions of the city, but Baasha’s intent was not a high body count but maximum disruption to the largest economy on the planet.

  So instead of heading to the Tiananmen Square with all of its tourists. Or Wangfujing Street that routinely had 100,000 people shopping, or even the capital buildings, Baasha headed slightly south to the Financial Street. It was like Wall Street only three times the size. It was all glistening steel and reflective glass. As decedent as any Western institution.

  To bring down these CEOs and CFOs would cripple the Chinese state. And if he could make them believe it was the Russians? The retaliation would be swift and fierce, bringing about exactly the type of calamity he desired.

  To think, it would be the crippled, deformed boy no one wanted to reshape the world. Baasha would be its savior.
r />   * * *

  Bunny felt weird hooking on her seat belt. It was just like the one in your car. Over the shoulder and everything. She’d often wondered why planes only had the lap belt.

  Seriously, was a plane crash less dangerous than a car crash? She didn’t think so.

  Unfortunately the car was built for four and they had six so Bunny was sitting on Davidson’s lap while Prenner was sitting over the gearshift in the front seat. It was he who made the joke that he was the best qualified. No one else would have dared.

  “Easy peasy,” Lopez stated as he turned the ignition on the flying car. It revved up just like a normal motor.

  Davidson rolled down his window, because apparently there just wasn’t enough power to go around to the windows. He had to wrap his arms around Bunny to grip his rifle. Not long ago the contact would have been welcomed and familiar. Now she felt like a little girl stuck on Santa’s lap even though he smelled like a brewery. Not that had even happened in her life.

  No wonder she had Daddy issues.

  As guards rushed down the tarmac as Lopez eased them forward, Davidson took a few shots. They weren’t his most accurate, however it did get the guards to slow down and forget about a full out frontal assault.

  Soon they were racing down the runway, heading straight for the guards. The closer they got, the more accurate Davidson became, dropping the Chinese version of rent-a-cops one by one.

  “Here goes nothing!” Lopez shouted, hitting several buttons and pulling up on the steering wheel.

  Just as promised, they lifted off. The jet engines roaring to life, providing the uplift.

  “Wahoo!” Lopez shouted even as they were being shot at from below. “This is the only thing on my Christmas list from now on!”

  About twenty feet off the ground, they skimmed over the research offices, then out over the fence, heading toward Beijing.

  While Lopez was all smiles, Bunny noticed that the other men were holding onto something so tightly their knuckles were white. Bunny was glad she wasn’t the only one.

  * * *

  Stark shook his head. This wasn’t good. “Guys, they are scrambling jets to intercept.”

  “I thought I was staying under the radar?” Lopez asked,