Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Slowly but surely, I regain control of my breathing. The shaking stops, and I nod sharply.
“Use your voice, soldier.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Team A was hit, and Team B went in as backup, so we’ll need to cover for them. Are you able to take a shot?”
Adrenaline rushes into my limbs, and I instinctively tighten my hold on my rifle. “Yes, sir.”
“If you don’t have the mental capacity, stay out of it. I will not have you endanger my men’s lives with your indecisiveness.”
“Those men are my friends.” I lift my chin. “I will do whatever it takes to get them out of this alive.”
There’s a short pause before he nods and motions at one of the nearby trees. “Go there.”
“Why not one of the previously designated spots?”
“Those are compromised. We lost all our snipers.” He says it without a hint of emotion, as if he didn’t just announce that many of the people I’ve started to consider my second family are gone.
A slight tremor rushes through me, but before it can disperse and grow, I briefly close my eyes, inhale deeply, and then crawl to the tree.
I’ll think about this later. For now, I’m on a mission.
The moment I push myself into that mindset, my head clears. Little by little, my movements become instinctive, robotic, and drip with purpose.
I don’t even pay attention to the persistent sound of gunshots or the mines that go off all around us.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
In a swift movement, I let my rifle hang at my back and climb the tree in record time. Instead of stopping at the first solid branch, I continue up until I have the best view of the warehouse and balance on a branch.
The downside is that this branch isn’t as strong. But then again, I don’t weigh as much as my male colleagues, so where they’d likely break this one and fall off, I won’t.
I lie flat on my stomach, rifle in position, and stare through my lenses. The first thing I do is take in the whole scene.
My mouth fills with saliva, and my body shakes at the sight of dismembered bodies—mostly our soldiers. A crippling fear grabs hold of me at the prospect of seeing either Maksim’s or Yuri’s body. Or even Viktor’s. I’ve somehow gotten used to the stoic grump, and I know for a fact that his loss would hit Captain the most.
Static sounds in my ear, and I startle for a second, thinking it’s another bomb. But then, the distinctive command comes, “Focus, Lipovsky.”
“Yes, sir.” I inhale deeply and close my eyes. When I open them, I’m filled with an unearthly calm.
I don’t wait for orders or think twice as I aim and shoot an insurgent who’s engaged with one of our own. The shot hits him in the head, and he falls to the ground like dead meat.
The soldier stares up for a moment. Like Captain, Team B must’ve figured out that we lost our snipers and, therefore, thought that no one had their backs.
Captain and I do now.
“You better stay alive,” I mouth to myself as the soldier disappears behind a shed.
The moment he’s gone, I aim at another insurgent, half hidden by the bomb’s waste, and take him down with a clean shot to the heart.
My adrenaline level spikes.
Click.
Aim.
Shoot.
The rhythm becomes natural as I lay them to rest one after the other.
“Eleven o’clock,” Captain’s voice sounds in my ear. “You take right. I’ll take left.”
“Copy that.”
I shift in the direction he ordered me to and pause when I see about five insurgents lying on the ground. With shots to the head.
Well, damn. Seems that I’ve underestimated the captain’s shooting abilities. I always thought he was merely the strategist. I didn’t know he was an essential operational force, too.
I shoot two on the right, then pause when I realize I only killed one and got the other in his shoulder. He escapes, holding his injured arm. I follow his movements and aim.
“Don’t!” the captain commands in my ear, but I’ve already taken the shot.
And I miss again. Fuck.
The insurgent disappears behind the chaos of the destroyed warehouse.
“Why did you stop me…?” I ask with a note of frustration.
“Leave position. Now!” he shouts, and I catch a glimpse of someone dressed in all black at the top of the opposite hill before I slip. The shot hits the already fragile branch, and it cracks, taking me down with it.
I loop the rifle around my neck and hold on to another branch. But the sniper takes aim at that one, too. In my frantic movements to escape his aim, I choke myself with the strap of my rifle. With little oxygen reaching my brain and the chest bandages compressing my lungs, my escape attempts become sluggish.
Shit.
I loosen the sling around my neck and continue my way down.
The moment my feet touch the ground, I hide behind the tree, breathing heavily. I start to remove the sling from around my neck—