Steele Sniper

➳Chapter☯One➳

The man looked around him, searching through the night for any sign of movement. His eyes narrowed in a dark area, looking around him for anyone who might be interested in his business, luckily, he saw none. He turned back to the building and walked inside, nodding to the security guard stationed outside the door. He nodded slightly to the receptionist and turned to the elevator.

Rina Steele watched him through thermal goggles. The red shape of a man climbed up the floors. She sat on the roof of the building across from the business building, waiting for the elevator to stop at the top floor. She watched him patiently, laying on her stomach, her cheek pressed to the M1903 Springfield, her finger laid loosely against the trigger, her grey eye placed directly behind the scope, her long red hair was pinned up in a ponytail.

The red shape finally stopped at the top floor of the business building. He walked in and stopped at a desk in front of another red shape. She waited patiently before the other man walked around the desk and stood directly next to the man behind the desk, their shapes morphing into one.

Rina released a breath, slowing her breathing down and relaxing her muscles. Without a second's thought, her finger flexed onto the trigger, releasing a silent shot into the air. Smoke leaked out from the silencer as she watched both figures collapse to the floor and a group of men running in from a side building.

At an impressive speed, Rina quickly disassembled the Springfield and placed it back in its case, closing and locking it. She picked up the plastic sheet she was laying on quickly rolling it up, placing it in her bag. In a matter of minutes, Rina had ran down the stairs of the building and jumped into the awaiting van behind the alley.

"Good work, Steele." Mack Dawson greeted her as she sat back in the chair of the van. His brown hair falling over his blue eyes. He was focused on driving out of the alley, shooting only a glance through the rearview mirror and making sure she made it into the van. The dark shadows gave them cover as they maneuvered in and out of the alleys. The engine was specifically designed to make barely a sound, and the windshield was made with night vision technology. They saw everything, and nothing saw them. "Any problems?"

"No, Sir." Rina muttered but made her voice sound clear and strong. She wasn't one to exchange commentry, her likeness towards people never extended beyond those found in her books. She leaned back and closed her eyes, resting from the easy escape.

The targets were two businessmen who had cheated the government. They had been stealing money from their company and providing the government with half of what they owed. They were accused of working with the Mexican Cartel and had been using their high level security to keep out of the police's radar.

Rina was in charge of taking down the head of the American association of the drug Cartel. She never really cared about who she had to kill. She just went out and did it. Whether the targets were a raping, murdering drug lord, or if they were an innocent old lady who forgot her taxes for a couple years, she felt nothing.

Her numbness made her the best. The best soldier, the best shot, the best employee. She was at the top of the agency, and no one dared touch her. Obviously she had to show respect to the higher ups, but even they weren't very strict with her out of fear. She kept her anger on a tight leash, making it impossible to rouse any sort of emotion from her, though her reputation kept people cautions around her. "I see you're as jolly as ever..." She heard Mack mumble under his breath. Choosing to ignore his comment, she let the silence take over them on their drive back to the Striker, the government agency she worked for.

The cold metal seat felt as uncomfortable as the floor, but she didn't complain. She never did. The van shook back and forth as they reached the rough, gravel road leading into the forest. The van held no windows so that was her only sign that they were nearing their destination.

The sides of the van had PC's and shelves mounted on them, holding varying tools like grappling hooks, mini-microphones, micro-cameras, wires, etc. It held anything they'd need for a mission.

A few more hours later they reached the border of the agency. Rina's eyes flew open as she felt the van slow to a stop. She turned her head and looked out the windshield. As she saw the men walking up the driver's window, Rina stood up and went to sit at the passenger seat. As soon as the dark, tinted side window rolled down and the guard saw Rina's face, his face paled and he nodded slightly, walking away and raising his hand in the air.

The tall, electric fence rolled back, letting them through. After they past the gate, it was another thirty minutes before reaching the actual agency.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt to smile every once in a while." Mack said to her. Rina simply grunted in acknowledgement before looking back out the window and leaning back in the seat. Mack sighed before focusing back on the dirt road.

Soon enough, they reached the entrance to the underground base. They neared a small opening in the ground and stopped the van, stepping out and kneeling next to a small hidden box, where he placed his thumb over a pad and entered a code. A few seconds later, the pad turned green and Mack stepped back into the van.

Suddenly the ground shook as it split, revealing an underground ramp leading into the darkness. Without a moment's notice, they rolled down the ramp and into the base, stopping on a platform that began its descent.

Rina looked out the window bored as she rested her head on the glass. She eyed the yellow lights illuminating the tunnel and watched them spin around them.

The platform came to a stop and they got out of the van, stepping into a large hanger where helicopters, jets, and other vans sat parked and ready for use. Men and women in jumpers came to her and started taking off her uniform. She stood with open arms and an expressionless face as they raided her clothes and removed her of any hidden weapons and protective clothing.

They took over the van and drove it to another parking place where the rest of the agency's vans were. When they were done stripping her, she walked through the hangar and into a white hallway. She pressed her hand to a pad hidden in the wall and the sounds of locks and gears clicked in the empty hall.

Part of the wall shifted over, opening the entrance to the base. She walked through the door, welcomed by the other assassins. They all stopped what they were doing to watch her as she made her way to the Log Files.

Around her there were chairs, sofas and TV's. This was the lounge, where the assassins would hang out. At the end wall there was a large screen television where the assassins would log in their kills and put them on the scoreboard for all to see. Rina walked to the screen and stopped in front of it.

"Rina Steele. Shot head of Mexican Cartel, Jose Rodriguez and right hand man, Pablo Hernandez. One bullet off a M1903 Springfield sniper. No casualties. No witnesses. Successful. End of Entry." She spoke clearly with a bored tone. Her eyes slightly droopy as if the action were so familiar she could do it in her sleep.

The screen filled in the information and created a chart, adding it to her file and opening the scoreboard. Her name laid first with 476 successful kills, while others had around 40s or 60s. The only other name was left blank with 420. No one knows whose file it is, since the file automatically fills itself up from another location. The person's identity has remained hidden for all her 12 years working at the agency, and only the top dog's know who it is.

After her file was updated, Rina turned to look at the other assassins, observing how they watched her, how they followed her every move throughout her entrance and her log entry. She simply blinked uncaringly and turned to walk back to her room.

The white hallways were long and winding, creating a maze so intricate, even with a map you'd get lost, but Rina had made the walk so many times the muscle memory worked itself as she zoned out.

Seconds later Rina appeared at her room. She placed her hand on the pad on the wall and the door slid open, revealing a small, near empty room. The blood red walls was what you'd notice first. Her white bed laid in the corner with a large closet next to it. A desk lay against the adjacent wall with a PC sitting on it and a large screen tv was mounted on the wall opposite to the bed next to the bathroom. Rina took a step into her room and let the door slide shut behind her before falling onto the bed and curling up into a ball, letting her tired muscles find rest from staying stiff for near 6 hours waiting for Pablo to show up.

Sleep easily overcame her as her lids slid shut and her body relaxed into the bed.