Page 20 of Garr

“Snipers? You see the man on the corner of Enunciation and Melpomene? He’s on the roof?” said Adam.

“Got him,” said Hawk. “I’m close enough to use the discs. Jumping to the next building.” He crouched behind the air conditioning unit, watching as the man lined up a shot. He had three rifles on tripods ready to go. Fortunately, his back was to Hawk. Quietly, he moved to the ledge of his own building, lined up the shot, and fired the discs. The man stood, jerking around from the electrical shot, and then stepped off the building, falling to the street below.

“Damn, Hawk,” muttered Ben. “You couldn’t just shoot him?”

“I was hoping to keep him alive. Shit.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Luke. “Find the other one. Find him now.”

Garr and Leif were running toward the overpass that they suspected would be where the worst of the events would take place. Searching the streets, alleyways, and bridges around them, they noticed a dark figure moving around the catwalk at the top of the bridge.

“Up there,” said Leif. The man turned, staring at the two men.

“Fuck me,” whispered Garr. “It’s Buzz. It’s fucking Ricky Busbee.” Leif raised his weapon, pointing it at the man.

“Don’t make me kill you, Buzz!” he yelled. The man only stared at him, taking another step up the ladder. As he did, the bag and rifle fell from his shoulder, dropping to the street below. He had two options: go down the ladder and try to get them back, which would surely end in his death.

Or run.

Wisely, he chose the latter. When he hit the top of the overpass, he took off running over the bridge. He noticed a drone chasing him and stopped, turning to fire at it with his pistol. It wobbled but didn’t completely fall. As cars stopped on the bridge to try and find out what the crazy man was doing, he opened the door of an old truck, tossed the driver to the concrete, and took off in the stolen vehicle.

“What the hell, Leif?” said Garr. “Buzz.”

“Let’s go. This just got complicated.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Who the fuck was that guy?” asked Luke, staring at the table of men. He looked along the walls, seeing the men who had been runners. They all had medals around their necks, finishing in the top twenty runners, with Clay, Hiro, and Trak finishing in the top ten.

“Congrats to you guys, by the way,” he smirked. Trak shrugged.

“Would have finished first, but that guy distracted us,” he frowned. “I’ll let you kids figure this one out. Gray Wolf needs me.”

They all chuckled as the senior left the room. He probably would have won the race, which would have been an interesting conversation with all the other runners as to why a man that old beat them.

“Ricky Busbee,” said Garr. “He was in Ranger school the same time as all of us.”

“He obviously didn’t make it,” said Cam.

“Oh, no. He made it and then was asked to leave for suspicion of selling weapons to our enemies. Seems Buzz had a habit of interfering in deliveries meant for our troops and somehow getting them to the other side,” said Garr.

“Shit,” muttered Luke. “Beyond the obvious of money, why?”

“He wanted his own unit,” said Leif. “He got through Ranger school, barely, but he made it through and was placed in another team. He wasn’t happy because his unit commander was a by-the-book all-the-way kind of dude.”

“What happened to him?” asked Luke.

“Not sure. We finished our last mission, and when we all showed up at base for our exit, his unit was in deep shit. Seems Buzz had walked off with everyone’s weapons and several crates that had been placed in storage,” said Garr.

“So, he’s got a few dozen weapons unless he’s sold them. That still doesn’t answer the question of why he’s picking off innocent citizens in our city,” said Luke. “Did he know you lived here?”

“Judging by the look on his face, he didn’t,” said Garr. “He was genuinely shocked to see us. So much so he dropped his weapon and bag. We gave it to the tech team to make sure there wasn’t anything inside that we needed to worry about.”

“Nothing!” yelled AJ from down the hall. All the men raised their eyebrows, shaking their heads with a smirk or grin.

“Thanks, AJ,” yelled Luke back to him.

“Doesn’t it worry you that he can hear you all the way down the hall?” frowned Ben.

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