Chapter 139
“How will we find out?”
Another check of his weapon, and Adam swung around the corner again. He aimed his weapon at the window, waiting.
If she was smart--and alive--she’d wait. She’d wait until he started to come around the corner, and then, when he was too far around to duck back, she’d spring up and shoot him.
He had to hope that she was stupid.
Or dead.
Adam ducked back around the corner,
There was no glimmer this time. Adam waited, gun at the ready. Nothing happened. He took a few cautious steps out, keeping his rifle trained on that window but scanning the rest of the building as well.
He needed to make a decision. If he brought the men around the corner, and the sharpshooter was still there, she could take out several of them before he could get her. For that matter, other shooters could pop up from anywhere inside this building or another one.
It was a lot of responsibility, and if he stopped too long to think about it, he’d never be able to make up his mind what to do. He’d have to let his gut take over instead of consciously thinking about anything, or else he’d become immobilized.
He didn’t see anything--no movement, no signs that there was anyone left alive in the building. Adam slipped back around the corner. “All right. Listen carefully. We are going to move. We have to get around this building to the front of it. We are going to come around the side of this building and then run straight across the opening to that building and stay along the bottom of it where it’ll be more difficult for anyone in that building to shoot at us, got it?”
Once again, it was clear just how petrified the men were. Some of them looked like they were about to cry again. It occurred to Adam that these men probably didn’t participate in the Rebellion because they were too scared.
“What if she starts shooting again?” one of the men in the back asked.
“She won’t. She’s dead,” Adam assured him.
“How do you know?”
He let out a hot breath and said, “Just keep your heads down, and let’s run straight across the gap, all right?”
“Out in the open?”
Time was of the essence here, and they were wasting a lot of it. “Listen, I need to get you to our camp so I can go back and help the others. Now come on. You’ll be all right.” He couldn’t completely guarantee that any of them would actually be all right, but he needed them to think that it would all work out.
Most of them gave him a nod of some sort, and then, Adam started to move again.
He went out from around the back of the building first. No flicker of movement in the top window. “Come on!” He ran out, waving his arm, and the men followed him. He stopped midway between the two buildings, twenty yards or so behind him, the same distance in the front. He had his rifle at the ready, in case the sharpshooter or another sniper appeared. The men were running as fast as they could in their weak, naked condition.
Just when the last man was behind him, Adam saw movement on the second-highest floor, only three windows over from where they were standing. The Military Mother raised her rifle, and Adam opened fire. She managed to squeeze one shot off, but it went high and wide. He hit her right between the eyes. Even though she was quite a distance from him, he saw her blue eyes, wide and lifeless as red began to trickle down her forehead.
The men were shouting, panicking. “I got her! I got her!” Adam assured them. The young blond tried to run back in the other direction, but Adam caught him and pulled him along rushing all of them until they were back together again, huddled against the building where the sharpshooter had been. It would be nearly impossible for anyone inside this building to aim straight down and shoot at them since there was a slight overhang on the windows on the bottom floor. “Let’s go!” he urged, getting them to move their feet in the right direction as they ran toward the front of the building.
Adam ran ahead, hoping he could scout out any threats before the rest of them got there. Once he reached the corner, Adam took a moment to breathe and then looked around the edge of the brick building.
What he saw had him swearing under his breath.
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