Page 65 of The Sniper

Daniels stiffened. “What did you do?”

Artemis’s smile was slow, sharp. “I told you, Agent Daniels. This isn’t just about revenge. It’s about truth.” She turned, gesturing at the flickering screens. “And the world is about to hear it.”

The audio crackled, then a distorted voice echoed over the rooftop. A masked figure appeared on the screens, the image grainy but clear enough. It was old footage. Cerberus operatives breaching an underground auction. The camera angle was shaky, likely taken from someone’s body cam. The feed cut to a woman—bound, terrified—being dragged from a holding pen by a masked buyer.

Reyna’s hands clenched around her rifle. They’d saved that woman. But no one would see that part. Artemis had edited this to fit her narrative.

Reyna flicked her scope back to Artemis. The woman was watching Daniels, head tilted, expression almost amused. Before the footage could play long enough to make sense to anyone, allof the billboards and everything that had been linked to them went black.

Fitz’s voice crackled through the comms. “Power grid is down. Get that bitch—preferably alive.”

Artemis tilted her head to one side. “You won’t stop us. This is just the beginning,” she murmured. “Imagine what happens when you can’t control the narrative and the right people see the rest.”

Daniels took a slow step forward. “If you think this is justice, you’re delusional.”

Artemis lifted an eyebrow. “And if you think Cerberus are the good guys, you’re naïve.”

Reyna pressed her lips together. Artemis wasn’t entirely wrong. Cerberus operated in the gray, pushing the line between necessary force and outright lawlessness. They worked missions that the government didn’t want to claim. Did things that weren’t exactly legal, all in the name of stopping something worse. But if this footage went public? It wouldn’t matter if they’d taken out traffickers, shut down auctions, saved lives.

All anyone would see was the blood on their hands.

“All those missions,” Artemis continued, taking another slow step toward Daniels. “The people you ‘saved.’ The ones you didn’t.” Her voice softened, mocking. “Did you ever stop to think about the ones you missed?”

Daniels didn’t move. But Reyna saw it—the tightening of his jaw, the slight twitch of his fingers.

Artemis was getting to him. Reyna breathed out, steadying herself, her mind racing.

This was too easy. Artemis wasn’t an idiot. She wouldn’t have set this up just to monologue.

“Daniels,” Reyna said through the comms, her tone urgent. “Move.”

The explosion rocked the rooftop.

Concrete cracked beneath the force, a shockwave tearing through the industrial district as the initial blast knocked Daniels off his feet. A plume of smoke shot up, debris raining down as the rooftop trembled under the force.

Reyna barely held her position, heart hammering as she scanned the chaos below.

Snipers.

Three of them.

Two positioned across the way on the adjacent rooftop, one on the fire escape of the abandoned warehouse down the block.

“Fitz!” Reyna barked into the comms.

“Yeah, yeah, I see ‘em,” Fitz gritted out. “Mitch is trying to get an angle.”

They didn’t have time. Daniels was still rattled, still exposed from where he’d fallen. Artemis was already moving, her black silhouette slipping through the smoke.

Reyna expelled her breath slowly.

One shot.

She lined up the scope, centered the crosshairs over the first sniper on the rooftop, and pulled the trigger.

The bullet struck true. The mercenary jerked backward, his rifle clattering against the ledge before his body followed.

Reyna immediately swung her rifle to the second sniper, but it was too late.

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