Blur

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Bells and chimes rang and clattered at the old church, announced the time of day.  The sun was high overhead as Mac hunkered down in the tall steeple of the church, thanking Ghost for urging him to bring along a pair of earplugs.  Even with the foam plugs deep in his ears the noise of the bells rattled his bones and made his eyes shake in their sockets. 

He had dropped Jewels off several hours ago and had made his way up here not long after that.  Mac had killed the time by experimenting with the nearby drones.  It was amusing for him to pry into everyone’s lives with the simplest of button pushes.  The little drones dug up secrets like they were turning earth.  As he sat in his perfect perch he had seen countless felons walk by, the drone picked every one of them out of the crowd and each of their rap sheets displayed details for him to read.  It seemed to him that the church he was in ran an AA meeting for the criminal insatiable.  He had seen the entire realm of the criminal world displayed before him.  Gang bangers, mobsters, molesters and thieves, the whole prison yard had passed under his watch, unknowingly.

The sunglasses on his face continued to track his latest target as the grungy homeless man pulled on the handles of parked cars, looking for easy money.

His phone buzzed with a new message.  “Target’s incoming.  Prepare yourself.  Going silent now, same codes, one-ready, two-set, three-go.”

“Roger that ghost,” Mac told the phone.

Mac picked up the assault rifle and did one final check on its blackened metal surface.  He primed the gun with one quick pull and double checked the scopes settings. 

Buzz.

Mac was ready.

Buzz, Buzz.

He slid the rifle onto the ledge and covered himself with a tarp, masking his outline.

The scope flared and began absorbing the incoming drone data.  Icons directed his motions and he swung the large gun to the left and picked up a black SUV rushing down the empty street.  Instantly the front window of the SUV turned red. 

Mac slid his finger into the trigger guard and slowed his breathing, waiting for the go signal.  He continued to watch the SUV as it came closer.  A motion caught his attention as the homeless man stumbled into the street, collapsing into the path of the oncoming car.  The black SUV squealed to a halt, just inches away from the downed man.  The door opened and a woman leapt from the SUV yelling and cursing.

Mac could hear the woman’s voice for the distance as if she was standing beside him. 

“Get you grubby ass out of the street before I run you over dirt bag!” she screamed.

Mac’s heart stopped as the words reached his ears.  He knew that voice.

The woman had come around the front of the SUV and was swinging a familiar black purse down at the bum.  Urging him along his way.

The light in his scope went green on the woman’s face even as he said her name.  The third buzz of the cellphone all but ignored.

“Julie?  Julie!!!”  Mac called out.

The woman stopped her assault on the homeless man to look up towards the steeple.  Mac saw the woman’s eyes strain in an effort to spot him.  Mac pulled off the tarp covering him and stood tall.  When she finally did see him, Mac waved.  But the coldness in her face didn’t warm at the sight of him.  If anything it turned sour.  Julie turned back to the car and yelled something. 

Five men burst out of the SUV and ran towards his position.  They moved with an unnatural speed and it only took seconds before they were obscured from his line of sight.  For her part, Julie simply threw her purse back into the SUV and slowly began stalking his way.