Page 99 of Viral Justice

She shot the gunman first.

For a moment the remaining gunmen didn’t realize their man was dead and not the teen.

The boy winced as if he expected to feel pain, then raised his head and looked right at her.

Undiluted fear radiated from his wide eyes and tense mouth.

She did the only thing she could do to tell him the situation had changed.

She jerked her head to one side.Go, run.

Behind him, his would be murderer crumpled. His weapon bounced across the stone street, drawing the attention of his friends.

She sucked in a breath.

They stared at the rifle, then at the body.

She let it out.

Everyone moved at once.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The two soldiers workingwith her charged toward the gunmen from either side, while she picked off the ones in the middle with careful single shots. This was not a good time to go semi-automatic. Too many civilians in the way.

She picked off two before anyone started returning fire. A couple of gunmen grabbed women and used them as shields, but they underestimated the shooting accuracy of the soldiers they faced. They died with bullet holes in their foreheads.

Something punched her diaphragm, hard enough to knock her back and force all of the air out of her chest. She had to work to stay on her feet and catch her breath, but managed both within a few seconds.

She regained her equilibrium and got her rifle into position just in time to shoot some asshole who’d grabbed the teen she’d saved. He was either going to shoot the boy or try to use him as a shield.

Coward.

Ali shot him in the throat.

Another gunman went down a few feet away and she looked for another target, but couldn’t find one.

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