A Daughter's Duty

Chapter 9

"Trespassers, eh?" said one.

"Well, look at 'em, with all their fancy clothing," said another. He pointed at me. "This one looks nice." He leaned forward, showing his one missing tooth as he grinned, leering. "Too bad we're gonna have to kill 'er. Such a waste."

"Ah, well," said the one of the people holding our spy. "I'm sure the boss'll understand. What are you two snooping around for, huh? Well, actually I don't care. Larry," her looked at the guard next to him. "Shoot the girl first. It'll be easier."

Larry, who had a thick, long gun in his hand, aimed at me. But he wasn't fast enough, because I shot him immediately through the sternum. The man yelled in pain, falling backwards, the gun falling out of his hand. And at the same time, Michael shot the man who had been ogling at me through the thigh, who immediately went down.

"Fire!" the first person screamed. The rest of them ran straight at us, starting up their guns and shooting, and so did we, dodging bullets all the way through. Just when those three fell, security guards from all around the building came. I did a quick head-count of them all as I ducked backwards to avoid being hit. Twenty-eight of them, all with huge rifle-like gun, all shooting at me and Michael. I don't know how we managed not to get hit. Maybe we had been given much better training than them. In any case, we kept running in a zig-zag manner to the other opening in the forest. Turned out that in emergencies, my reflexes and intuition were amazing. No bullet came even close to me. Instead, I shot down five guards, the bullet skewering each of their shoulders. I had spare bullets in my satchel, but it would take time to insert them into the gun, and the one thing I didn't have was time.

I occasionally glanced at Michael, skillfully rolling around on the ground and ending on one knee, firing bullets at the guards who were stupid enough to take him. When a bullet came close to him, he'd duck, and use his instinct to shoot at whoever fired at him. I promised myself that I'd ask him to give me lessons.

The number of security guards seemed to be increasing as I took them down. Many came from inside the building. There weren't many people near the scene, thank goodness, so nobody came and disturbed us. And even if they did, they must be smart enough not to get killed.

"Eve!" Michael called. "I need to reload! Cover me!"

He hid behind me, as I shot guard after guard. But there were too many.

I yelled. "Use the pager!"

He understood, and recited he typed. "S.O.S.... Prospect Gardens."

He reloaded his gun, given me time to get behind him and reload mine.

That one second - I could not believe it - that one second I put my guard down, a bullet pierced my left shoulder.

I remembered the day I had been stamped with my organization's emblem. I remembered that it had hurt so badly that even ice could not help. But the pain I felt now was twice as agonizing. I barely heard Michael screaming my name as I staggered backwards. I was afraid to look at the wound, because I thought that I might actually pass out.

But the man wasn't done. He shot another bullet towards my stomach. But, even in my muddled vision, I was able to throw myself behind Michael, and with a wobbly hand, shoot at the guard's leg. He fell.

"Evangeline!" Michael said. "Are you alright?"

"Hurts..." I managed to get out. "Really hurts... bullet in... shoulder..."

Michael grunted in anger. "Where is the agent?!" he yelled. And he yelled again, when a bullet went through his leg and he toppled down.

Almost as if on cue, we heard a series of gunshots from the left. Half of the men went down.