Dangerous.

Chapter Fifteen.

Some time much later...

The 9mm is cold against my skin, settling itself into my palm as my fingers curled around it to hold the trigger cautiously. The shiny metal of the pistol was cool against my skin as my cube, Brinkmanship, and I crept forward cautiously. The cold September midnight wind was blowing harshly against us as we closed in on sector 7XX of Jiakzm.

20 minutes.

Only 20 feet away, I held up my left arm and held up 4 fingers, folding them forward twice before returning back to my 9 double M. I listened tentatively to the soft footsteps panthering in the strategic pattern before heading in the opposite side with a third of the group following behind. Counting silently to ten, as a unison, we crouched down into the tall, tall sharp saw grass onto one knee. And then... silence.

18 minutes.

I painstakingly observed the sector activities in the low visibility of the midnight half moon. Two figures walking on the first floor greeting another three. Seven figures on the first window to the left of the second floor conversing while another forty-four tucked nicely into their beds in dormitories.

Oh, but little do they know, I smirked.

I held up right both my index and middle fingers pressed together for a second before pointing forward with a flick of a wrist. A few seconds later, my ears rang violently at the sound of the explosives deginating somewhere deep within the compound. A few more seconds later and shouts were heard followed by shadows fleeing into the night to escape the fire behind. Fleeing towards us. A few more seconds later and my ears rang with the sound of our gunshots being distributed, eliminating all the coward shadows, disposing them into the slicing saw grass.

12 minutes.

"The car was turned on!" Axel yells while taking aim. Another down. I nod and hold my hand up. Two and three.

"Let's go!" Vice and Kobi follow my sprint towards the back, avoiding being detected by the now armed defendants. I motion them to cover me as I fire to the wheels of the speeding SUV trying to make a getaway. The car swerves as the two rear tires are taken out, I shift to reload the magazine of my gun with ease and aim for the front wheels.

"Not so fast," a voice booms behind me and I freeze. "Drop the gun."

"And why would I do that?" I speak, my voice flat but still confident. As always.

"I don't know about you but I personally like keeping bullets out of my head."

"Personally, I like putting them in others straight between the brows." I respond, my hands tightening around the grip of my pistol, eyes on the SUV. They make no attempt to get out yet.

"I like your thinking Rodriguez," I listened carefully as Klov stepped closer, the muzzle of his gun pressing to the occipital part of my head. "Turn around for me so I can just do that, sweethe-"

Before he can finish his sentence, I duck and the gun goes off. With my ears ringing violently I kick my left leg backwards and swipe to the side, taking one of his with me. I roll my ankle to wrap around his and yank forward, twisting myself to face him. I sock him hard to right his zygomatic bone, grabbing the gun by the barrel, my fingers expertly detach the magazine and it falls with all of its bullets between us. He drops the gun soon after.

Klov now stares at me wide eyed when I swiftly step back, the muzzle of my gun pressed against his forehead. Right between his brows, "well, I'll be damned."

I smirk, "guess you won't be putting a bullet through me today."

"No, but I will."

I tense up, alarms rushing through me as I hear the click of the hammer behind me. Klov's smirks smugly as I lift my hands up, my right still holding my pistol by a finger. Just one finger..

The gun goes off and I drop to the ground on all fours. Klov's body makes a thud as I turn on my toes and shoot half blind. They yell and I am quick to fire again. Only a thud is heard.

4 minutes.

I'm stead on my feet and turn to face the SUV with my gun up for aim. The doors swing open and I drop my pistol and reach behind me, taking the Colt .45 from the waistband of my leather jeans to lock, load, and fire.

3 minutes.

"CR, we have to go!" Axel yells, tossing his used gun aside. I glare at him and he quickly picks it back up.

"The money is probably in the car," I call over my shoulder as I yank the doors open open, shoving aside the dead bodies blocking it. Axel helps me open them and I crawl forward towards the front of the car, grabbing the large black duffle and swing it over my shoulder before scampering out.

2 minutes.

"Ok, now we seriously need to get out." Axel inputs, grasping my arm and tugging me forward. We run, shouting at the group to fall back. Another explosion is heard deep within the fire inflamed compound and my skin hisses in pain when the saw grass slices right through my layer of leather as we race away.

1 minute.

Tires screech on the road exposed as five black SUVs open their doors, shouts are heard and people begin to lunge into them. The duffle weighs me down as my legs struggle to keep up and Axel is already in a passenger seat. Four of the cars sped off and shouts were heard from the fifth.

20 seconds.

"Lunge for my hand, I've got you!" The shout was heard when I stumbled due to excessive weight and the car began to move.

15 seconds.

I sprinted to catch up to the moving black van, shouts from inside heard and I yelled back to keep going. I pumped my arms and legs, my adrenaline pushing me to take a leap towards the opening. Multiple hands reached out and hauled me in and I cried out when my legs skimmed the gravel covered road when the van was speeding pass 50 mph.

5 seconds.

I lifted my hands to cover my ears and the others immediately followed. The van lurched forward on the first wave, the exploding sound piercing down on us making majority yelp. The second wave made it swerve and I felt the heat wave surge through my body. My eyes caught a pair of turquoise blue ones that were wide but I couldn't find more than a glint of relief.

What I did detect in those wide, wide bright blue eyes were excitement and triumph.

His first successful run.