PROJECT SPARTA

CHAPTER 46

WASHINGTON, DC

2016

The fireworks were in full show - thunderous pounds almost shook the foundation of the Washington Monument as Ashton, bloodied and bruised, was thrown to the ground and mounted by the Skeptic on top of her. Ashton was losing the battle and she knew it, but Project Sparta had forged Ashton from fire. She could take more of a beating than most and she knew how to wait to pick her points in a fight. Similar to her skills with the sniper rifle, she awaited the chance for one incredible shot to pull the trigger. She continued to wait for her moment as bloody fists smashed down on her. The Skeptic had her straddled and pinned under his weight as his hands raised to her neck. His thumbs pressed hard down on Ashton's windpipe, shutting off any flow of oxygen. Ashton knew her move would have to happen quick. She began throwing punches up at the Skeptic who leaned back to keep his head out of arm's reach. Ashton didn't want to punch him though – she wanted him to lean back.

In one quick motion Ashton's legs came up from behind the Skeptic and wrapped around his neck, prying him back off of her. The Skeptic, locked between Ashton's legs, gasped for breath as his face turned a deep crimson and the veins in his forehead bulged with a thumping pulse. With a quick jerk, a snap sounded through the nape of the neck and the man fell limp.

Ashton gathered her feet and spat a wad of blood down onto the lifeless figure before her. Huffing and puffing, she heaved each leg up each stair back to her rifle, perched at the window looking over the Mall. She hitched the sniper rifle to her shoulder and her eye came to the scope. She could see the onlookers change colors as the explosive light from the fireworks flashed down over the crowds. Most people remained in their halcyon stance, necks cocked up and mouths gaping slightly. But commotion was stirring by the American History Museum. She swung her barrel to the North and noticed many formally dressed people running out of the building in all different directions. It looked like someone had stepped on an ant hill and all of its residents were scurrying every which way.

Her sight fell on Tobias's crazy nest of a head of hair, bobbing up and down as he hurried down the gravel path toward the AHM. Ashton read a distraught expression, wondering what she had missed since the Skeptic had beaten her to a pulp. Ashton followed Tobias as he found someone in the crowd.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tobias grabbed Hardy's arm, who had left the party. He was walking away from the museum before the stampede. His pace and aloof demeanor suggested that he was completely oblivious to the hunt for him.

"What the hell, Tobias!" he barked a mumbled slur.

"We got to get you out of here! Now!"

He started practically pulling Hardy alongside him toward the street where the van was parked.

"Okay, okay ease up. What's the problem?"

"The Skeptics are here, you were the target." Tobias tapped his ear and spoke up his sleeve.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ashton's scope climbed the edifice of the building and reached the outdoor terrace to the West side. There she saw the fifth floor terrace had emptied except for a few people. One was Xander. She was able to notice his mop of dirty blonde hair. He appeared unharmed but engaged in a standoff.

"Xander this is Ashton, shift your feet if you can hear me." Xander rocked back and forth in his stance as his feet found a new foundation.

Ashton traced the aim of the gun to two figures. One was Jooles held across the neck being used as a human shield by a person behind her. Ashton saw a red and blue wire come from the back of Jooles out to the captor's hand. A trigger mechanism was clinched between its fist.

There's our bomb.

The figure shifted as it spoke over Jooles shoulder to Xander. His face came out from behind Jooles revealing a slightly familiar face that Ashton hadn't seen in years. She squinted through the scope and to her shock deciphered the threat.

It was the defector from Project Sparta.

The traitor who was now wearing a suicide vest.

It all clicked in her head immediately along with her jaw as it dropped to its next joint.

But he's dead! He died in the Project!

She realized something instantaneously, as she recalled her old friend – Agent Zero wasn't just a name, it was an anagram.

AGENT ZERO

EZRA GONET