Marcus

Chapter Thirty Eight

Caroline ~

Caroline's driver introduced himself as Trip and they made small talk on the two hour drive to the meeting point.

She made sure the radio was functional before she left and was half way certain that Trip wasn't working for Fox. He seemed young and innocent enough and to be honest a little bit stupid. She was grateful that he wasn't suspicious and seemed a little too dim witted to be in on something with Fox, but that also meant he was expendable and could mean that neither of them would be returning to base.

Poor guy, he probably has no idea that we are about to walk into an absolute shit storm.

As they reached the abandoned structure, Caroline felt her body start to drain itself of emotion. She became cold and focused, pushing every distracting thought from her mind and retreated to the most tactical part of her brain as she surveyed the landscape around her.

No movement in any of the windows and only one man standing in the middle of those buildings. I need to draw him out closer to me because there's no way in hell I'm walking into the center of that structure.

"Wait here." Caroline said to Trip.

"You sure?" Trip asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah I'm sure, I've got this."

"I can at least be an extra set of eyes." Trip offered.

Listen to me you big dumb idiot or you're going to wind up as collateral damage.

"Trip, Wait. Here." Caroline commanded.

"Yes ma'am." Trip finally conceded.

Caroline climbed out of the vehicle with her rifle in her hands as she approached the asset, who seemed anxious, which wasn't a good sign.

"Drop your weapon or I'll leave." The man said in Arabic.

Not a chance in hell.

"You want your money or not?" Caroline called back, picking up movement in her peripheral vision. A dark figure moved from one side of the room to the other on the second floor window to her right.

I see you motherfucker.

Caroline took aim at the shadowy figure in the second floor window the building.

"You said you were coming alone. Who the hell is with you?" Caroline called out in perfect Arabic as she cocked her weapon.

"Security." The man called back.

Security my ass. I don't like this one bit.

There was more movement on her left side on both floors.

That's four total that I've counted...wait make that five. Shit, six.

More and more men started to pepper her peripheral vision, moving in the shadows from room to room as she walked forward.

The air was still and Caroline knew there was about to be a firefight. It was a feeling in the air that could be physically felt, as if every person on earth was collectively holding their breath at once. It was an eerie feeing and she knew it all too well. Shit was about to go down and Caroline could feel it in her bones.

"Everything okay?" Trip's voice sounded from the vehicle as he stepped out.

No, no, no. Get back in the truck.

A shot rang out, echoing off the desert floor as Trips head whipped back and pink mist floated in the air around him before he dropped to his knees and crumpled to the ground.