ALICE

Chapter 66: AWFUL

Chapter 66: AWFUL

 Peering through the buildings, Alice could see dusty men in desert-coloured rags, alongside sharp-dressed LSF in polo-shirts. Alice treaded carefully, walking first on her heel, then the side of her foot, and finally the rest of it. The rest of the team was employing similar methods to walk silently.

 Alice looked to a high building that she recognized from recon pictures, the tallest building around, and the one they were going to fire from. They carefully circled the square, going wide and taking cover whenever possible.

 When they finally reached the building, Redd carefully looked into the door, into what was at one point a lobby for the large apartment building. He carefully closed it and then started doing hand signals. He held up two fingers, meaning two enemies, and then tapped his rifle, signifying they were heavily armed. He then pointed to Angel and Alice, and made a gun symbol in one hand. He wanted Alice and Angel to take out two enemies, and, now with a finger over the lips, quietly.

 Alice nodded, then looked to Angel. He counted down to three on his fingers, then pointed. Alice kicked the door open and put her knee on the ground. She raised the VoidGun and took a shot, allowing time to go slower as the bullet whipped into an LSF’s neck. Alice took two more shots and hit the man in the head, all before Angel could stick a curved knife into the temple of his assigned soldier.

 When both men were bleeding on the floor Angel whispered. “You’re vicious with that gun.”

 Alice nodded and continued.

 Redd walked in to the building and cut in. “Okay let’s go upstairs, and keep the guns ready. We’ve got to assume there’s more LSF or Natives up ahead. King, on point.”

 Alice nodded and pointed the VoidGun at the door that indicated a fire escape. She creeped up to it and opened it, looking up to a see a spiral of stairs that went on for nearly thirty floors. Alice groaned.

 “Dammit. This’ll take a while. Hope your cardio paid off, King.”

 (BREAK)

 The team, heavy breathed, went as high as they could up the building, before the top, which had collapsed on one side, blocked their exit. The building itself, which at one point was flat topped, now was slanted from what Angel said was a missile. Sterling 1 went back downstairs until they could get into the main building which was the floors down from the top. Carefully, Alice opened the door, revealing a destroyed room with vacant holes where floor-to-ceiling windows used to be. This seemed to be the wide area, where the building’s roof had not yet tapered off the rooms.

 The team did a check to make sure the floor was clear, and it was. The wide part of the building, luckily, didn’t face the square where the deal would go down, where young children would be traded for a few hundred gallons of water. It was pathetic, Alice decided.

 Redd went on his stoumach and started to crawl towards the small part of the building, where the small slit one could look through was only about a foot tall, the perfect amount of room for a large sniper rifle, a sniper, and two spotters. Redd went to go look at the spot, moving the rifle around until he found a good spot. When he was satisfied that his rifle was in a spot that was pointing towards the general direction that ZERO would be, he crawled out, sitting against the wall as soon as he didn’t have to stoop and freeing two striped pills from a blister pack. He threw both into his mouth like popcorn, swallowing but not chewing.

 “What’s that?” Alice asked as she lay on the ground, finally catching her breath after jogging up the steps.

 “Penzetamine. Steadies the hand and stops sweating.”

 “Sniper’s type of pill then.” Angel said as he dropped his backpack to the ground.

 “Yeah.”

 There was a pause and a silence that was only broken by heavy breaths. Alice broke it.

 “When does ZERO and the Native guy get here?”

 “Good question.” He leaned into his headset. “Base this is Sterling 1, codename Light, come in.”

 There was a pause of static, and then Kendo’s voice. “This is base, Light, what do you need, over?”

 “Wondering when the mouse is going to be in the trap, over.”

 “Roger, mouse will be arriving in about eighty mikes.”

 Alice knew ‘Mikes’ meant minutes in army lingo.

 “Roger that base, Light out.”

 Alice bit her lip as her stoumach churned with adrenaline. “So what are we going to do for eighty minutes?”

 Angel whipped a battered deck of cards out from his vest. “Who knows how to play Cheat?”

 Alice nodded, as did Redd. Quickly, and with grace like a casino dealer, he flicked the 52 cards into three piles, then slid each one to one of the team.

 “Ace starts.” Angel said as he fanned his cards and began organizing them.

 Alice threw down three cards, “Trip Aces.”

 Angel squinted, but said nothing. Realizing it was his turn, he quickly dropped a card, stammering as he spat the name and number out.

 “O-One t-Two.”

 Alice bit her bottom lip and squinted.

 “Bullsh-, I mean, cheat.”

 He flipped the card that was meant to be a two over, revealing none other than two diamonds glaring at Alice. “Gotcha.”

 Alice swore, laughed, and then took the four cards, adding them to her hand.

 “And so, it begins.” Redd said.