Page 22 of The Perfect Stranger

Chapter Eight

The moonlight shone through the thin splattering of trees that protected our target, covering his body with a silver glow. The only noise was our restrained footsteps lightly crunching the dry leaves and twigs beneath our boots, and the low whistle coming from the man who had no idea we were approaching.

A tap on the shoulder stilled me.

“Let me,” Alejandro whispered next to my ear.

Before I could respond, he continued his careful approach.

The whistling came to abrupt stop, replaced with a hacking cough. The soldier doubled over clutching his chest as his smoke affected lungs struggled for air. Taking advantage of the added noise, Alejandro quickened his pace. The target didn’t stand a chance. As he was recovering, the blade impaled into the spinal cord at the base of his skull. His body momentarily went into spasm before he fell to his knees, completely immobilized. Alejandro hadn’t let go of the knife, instead driving it in further with a hate-fueled passion. With a grunt, he pulled the blade free finally allowing the soldier to fall face down onto the jungle floor.

Breathing heavily, hands trembling with adrenalin, Alejandro wiped blood from the blade on the dead man’s shirt before turning to me, his eyes ablaze with a murderous fury.

“You good?” I asked my cautious tone and raised Glock pointed at Alejandro.

He nodded, swallowing hard, his eyes glazing over. “His name was Marco. He took great pleasure in retelling the story of what the Colonel did to my sister every night.” His now saddened gaze fell to the ground.

I lowered my weapon knowing he only acted out of his grief. Instead of thinking I needed to keep one eye trained on him, I now saw that he could be our greatest warrior.

“Look,” I pointed behind him where the bright spotlight flashed three times down to the watchman in the middle of town. Alejandro moved with speed to collect the flash and secure us another hour. I stood behind him as he too signaled three times to base.

“If we leave now, we should make it down in time to meet Jase.”

Alejandro nodded, dropping the torch before taking the lead. He’d spent a lot of time walking the jungle and I trusted his direction. We moved at speed, dodging protruding branches, taking turns at sliding down the steep terrain and navigating the large boulders that seem to be sporadically placed throughout the mountains. Sweat soaked through our clothes and I could taste it on my lips. We were edging closer to town, the laughter and banter of foot soldiers beginning to reach our ears. We slowed down to a crawl and scoped out the area. It appeared everything Arturo and Josiah had said was correct. The outer perimeter was scarred by the fire. A glow of lights came from the two designated areas where the men and women were being housed separately.

“Over there,” Alejandro pointed to the watch tower that was formally the church. “We need to kill them first if we stand a chance of getting close.”

“How many are usually in there?”

“Two, sometimes three.”

“Wait here, and keep an eye on the foot traffic around the area. If you see anyone else even get close to the tower, whistle.”

He nodded and watched as I made my way further up the mountain. I sat perched on a boulder in perfect line of my targets. Setting up my sniper rifle I looked through the scope and waited. The first guard appeared almost instantly, drifting in and out of focus. He wore a helmet and had already established a routine of walking to the western wall where he would prop up his arm and scan the town before walking away to watch the eastern side. Five minutes passed, and I was almost convinced he was the only sentry, when a second man appeared. He wasn’t wearing a helmet and didn’t seem too worried about what was happening beneath him. A cigarette dangled from his lips as he approached the first man.

“That’s it,” I coaxed silently to myself. “All in a line now.” I wanted to take them out with one bullet, not willing to risk giving away my position. My finger caressed the trigger, waiting for the perfect moment. The men were sharing a joke, the one smoking using elaborate hand gestures while he told his story.

And for the briefest of heartbeats, they fell into line.

“Thank you,” I breathed before pulling the trigger. Since one of them was wearing a helmet, I aimed for the neck allowing the bullet a clean exit and entry from one to the other. I could just make out a spray of blood coming from each man before they fell to the ground and out of sight.

“Let’s go!” Alejandro scrambling up the steep hill ushered for me to follow him.

“Changeover could happen at any time,” he warned keeping pace in front of me as we made our way to the base of the mountain. We had only just begun our journey toward the town when we came to an immediate halt.

“What’s that noise?” We both paused, carefully listening for the sound that was cause for concern.

We waited, Alejandro’s face creasing into a frown.

And there it was again, a loud bang muffled by the barrier of buildings. It was a small explosion occurring every minute or so.

“Tejo,” Alejandro guessed, waiting for a follow-up explosion.

“They’re playing Tejo in the midst of a massacre?”

Alejandro shrugged like it didn’t surprise him.

“At least they will be distracted,” he offered, and in a way, he had a point.

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