Silhouette (Part One)

Chapter 6

Silver

The metal body of the gun was comforting against the chilly fall night air. Sending Silhouette off on his own may not have been the best decision I've ever made, but I gave him all the information I'd been collecting since two years after I saved him. I was going to give it to him on the plane and explain. Only now he has to figure out what to do with it.

Right now, I just hope I can get out of this alive. Three versus one.

I'm getting too old for this. I should do a few more jobs and retire with the money I make, assuming I live through this.

The shooting stopped as soon as Sil disappeared down the alley. They had to be moving to re-position. They may assume Sil is still with me.

"Hi ho Silver!" A deep Australian voice echoed through the street. Bouncing off everything, I couldn't discern the source. "You and your kiddo still cowerin' in the alley?"

The smartest thing I'd probably done all night was wear a black outfit. If I moved through the shadows I could.... My thought was interrupted by a metallic object bouncing into the alley. Grenade?!

I didn't wait to inspect the source of the noise. So I kicked in a door in the side of the building I found. As soon as I made it inside, a flash and bang echoed through the night, through the building. Maybe even waking up some of the neighbors. I don't need civilians getting hurt for my mistakes.

"If you give yourself up; I promise to make it quick. For both of you."

I couldn't help myself. "Oh, and I suppose you'll escape the cops who are, no doubt, on their way right now." I shouted out the doorway, trying to mask the fact I was in the building. Now to make it look like I never entered the building.

I pulled the door from the wall on the other side of the room and sat it in the door frame. Locking and dead bolting it wouldn't do anything other than keep it in place. Unless they found out I entered the building. Alone. The darkness began to fade as my eyes adjusted to the minimal light. The bare room suggested no current tenant, but that didn't mean someone doesn't live here. This is probably just storage, but if this is storage then where's the stuff?

Whatever. Footfalls echoed through the alley and through the broken door. At least they don't have thermal scopes. I felt the lump in my pocket and pulled out a flashlight. They most definitely have night vision though. The footsteps continued to get louder. This is not the most ideal place to engage two at once. There should be three left. Two on the ground, one in the "sky". Trajectory. Sil killed Taurus and Slayer at the hotel. So that leaves Ender, Trajectory, and KillStreak.

Ender is the only one I haven't much info on. The only thing the underworld circulates is he began at a very young age. Much like Silhouette, only he was more brilliant than brawny. A master tactician as it would be. Maybe that's why he's on this team.

I had made my way through the next room and into a hallway. Possibly the center of the building. So it was an apartment complex. That explained the empty rooms. I started up the concrete and wrought iron railing staircase that spiraled upward. The only way was up. Hopefully, they didn't notice the.....

Bang.

They noticed, and how many flash-bangs do they have!? Maybe they assume I have night vision goggles too. How stupid of them. Flash-bangs do enough on their own.

I made my way up more stairs as Boots clomped up the stairs, very close below me. I trained myself physically, for every situation, but somehow stairs always make that null and void. Especially after a few flights of running from footfall echoes.

I kicked open the metal door when I reached the end of the stairs. The roof. I probably shouldn't go out there, and this was probably the worst plan in the history of plans, especially if Trajectory is still out there in his perch.

The cold air flooded through the breach in the building's pocket of relative warmth as I made my way onto the roof. My last stand. Silver's last stand. Quite the headlines for the criminal underworld. I won't go without a fight though. I leaned over the edge of the roof, looking down at the street below. A wave of nausea ripped through me as I fought to stay standing. For a top class sniper, I don't do well with heights. A terrible combination, but one always accompanies the other some way or another.

The bout passed as I occupied my eyes with the other buildings around me. A flash lit up a window across the street as a heat seared into my thigh. Burning pain laid me out on the smooth, flat, roofing, followed by the sound of boots approaching from behind. A picture of those homeless people holding signs saying things flashed through my mind. Mine said "The End Is Nigh".

I twisted around on the ground to face my assailants, and pulled out the flash light. I clicked it on and flashed it in their faces. Eliciting a string of curses from both, I pointed my rifle at one and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The one on the right got a hole in his neck large enough for me to stick my finger through, and the one on the left dove onto me and punched my face. Stars exploded across my vision, making me lose grip on the gun.

"Now, now Jeremy. I would hate to have to hurt you anymore than that leg wound." His Aussie accent was extremely annoying if you listen to it enough. "The person with my paycheck wants you alive."

"What for?" I struggled through teeth gritted from the pain. Which wasn't allowing me to think straight. "I'm not useful to him like this?"

"Oh, but you are." He hauled me onto my legs, making another wave of pain cloud my mind further. "But I don't know what they want with you. All I know is; I get money." KillStreak briefly looked at his partner's body, making a face at the blood that stained the roof and clothes. "At least he wasn't important."

"Ender?"

"No, some meathead they lent me after I lost Taurus and Slayer." With one swift action, he drew something from his belt and buried it in my neck. Everything started to get blurry, and darkness crept in on me till everything was gone.