Page 61 of Viral Justice

“I see fourteen,” Ali put in. “A couple are walking a circuit around the edges of the crowd.” She studied the situation for another few seconds. “There’s no way for us to pick off more than two each without them taking cover. There are too many places to hide and too many people to hide behind.”

Max stared down his scope for a few seconds, then asked, “Can either of you tell if Bull and Cornett’s legs are tied?”

“I think they’re loose, but it’s hard to tell,” Tom answered.

“What if you hit just one man? The one doing all the talking,” Max said.

“Or the one doing all the talking and one other. Someone aggressive...” Ali’s voice trailed off. “The one standing behind Bull. He seems steadier than the guy behind Cornett. Shooting those two will give our boys the best chance of getting away.”

“Where are they going to run to?” Tom asked. “Tied like that, someone would have to meet up with them right away and get them out of there and out of sight quickly.”

“Max, do you mind a suggestion?” Ali asked. Did he really think of her as a soldier capable of doing her job, or a woman who needed to be protected?

“I would be grateful for one.”

Score. “I play sniper and take out those two targets specifically. Max, you act as my spotter while Tom helps get them out of the danger zone.”

Max didn’t respond immediately, but she could almost see him running her idea through several mental simulations. After a few seconds he turned to Tom. “Your take?”

“The same. It’s the only option I can see working.”

“Let’s do it. How long until we set this in motion?”

“Give me a couple of minutes to get down there and close enough to do some good before you start putting bullets into people,” Tom said, already crawling backward toward the hatch in the roof.

“Okay,” Max said, sliding closer to her. “What does a spotter do?”

“Normally, you’d have a special scope to determine wind speed, but the one you’ve got isn’t bad. Use it to keep an eye on all the moving targets and anything else that might be a distraction.”

“Got it.”

Max settled in, his body relaxed in a way it never was when he was shooting at a target, be it a paper outline of a man or the real thing.

She almost pointed it out to him, but stopped herself. He didn’t need to think about that now.

She followed his example instead, relaxing into her prone shooting position, following the target doing all the talking. He was moving around a lot, but he paused to pivot on one foot then turn to pace one way then the other. Those pivots would be the best time to take her shot.

She was so wrapped up in formulating her shooting strategy that she caught only the last of Max’s whispered comment.

“...ave a couple of minutes.”

Shit.“What?”

“I don’t think we have a couple of minutes. Look at the leader’s body language,” Max said, sounding worried. “He’s working himself up to something. I think he’s almost there. Can you take the shot without Tom in position?”

“I might get both men killed if I take it now.”

A second later, the leader shouted and walked with purpose toward the two men kneeling on the ground. He raised his rifle and pointed it at the back of Cornett’s head.

She found the center of the leader’s head in her scope and tightened her finger on the trigger. Not enough to fire, but enough to keep her body poised on the edge of action.

All her choices had disappeared but one.

Would that one save either man or would it make no difference at all?

“Take the shot,” Max ordered.

An evil smile spread across the leader’s face.

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