Killing Me Softly - Teenage Assassin - aka Young Love Murder

KILLING ME SOFTLY - Teenage Assassin - Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31:

ANNABELLE’S  POV:

“Here’s the dealio, sexy boyfriend.  Since you insist on coming along, you’ll be up on the hill above the house with me.”  I inform Gabriel matter-of-factly.  I give him an unhappy frown, “I’d really rather you stayed at the hotel.”

He scowls at me, “I’m not a little kid, Anna.”

I let out an exasperated breath, “I know you’re not a kid, Gabriel, but you’re also not trained for something like this.  Some time spent at a shooting range and a dojo doesn’t make you an assassin.”

Looking at the weapons laid out in the trunk of the car, I grab a MGP-14 Micro submachine gun and hand it to Gabriel.  Then I grab the waistband of his cargo pants and slip in a Tisas Zigana T automatic pistol.  Opening the side pockets of his pants, I slip in extra cartridges for both guns.  Once I clip a sheathed M9 Bayonet knife onto his waistband, I’m satisfied.  He looks annoyed.

When I hear laughing from behind us, I look back to see Jackson and Brent with their heads together, looking back at me and Gabriel.  Let them make fun of Gabriel, at least I’ll know that he’s protected. 

Having already chosen their weapons, Jackson and Brent are just waiting on us.  We are currently parked about a half-mile down the dirt road leading to the sprawling house that our targets live and work out of.  We’ve been unable to do much surveillance, Jackson and Brent scoped out the place last night while Gabriel and myself, um, had the hotel suite to ourselves.  I so refuse to grin right now.  That would lead to questions I don’t want answer. 

These criminals are constantly locked up inside the gated house a little ways outside of Sydney like they’re expecting an attack at any moment.  Well, I guess they’re right.  Cause today is the day.  From what we've been able to find out by bribing a maid who comes in a few days a week to clean, there are no children in the house.  Besides our targets, we expect to come across a few hired minions and a couple girlfriends of the targets. 

The information from Simon on the girlfriends only confirms that they're no innocent victims.  They’re the count-the-dirty-money, carry weapons of their own types of criminal girlfriends.  If they have to be taken out along with the targets, then so be it. 

I pull the strap over my head for a M249 machine gun and let it fall to my back.  I hand Gabriel a pair of gloves to slip on, like my own and then I lift out of the trunk a XM25 grenade launcher.  This should make the boys’ job down the hill much easier.  I hand Gabriel a M25 sniper rifle, for anyone who I spot getting away from the house.  He's kind of handy to have around, carrying my sniper rifle for me and all.

However, I still feel really nervous about taking Gabriel with us.  Maybe he isn’t completely helpless, but neither is he in the same league as us, or even the targets. 

Probably sensing my worry, Jackson calls out, “Hey don’t worry Annie.  Gabriel can probably handle any of the girlfriends we run into.”  Brent starts laughing and nudges Jackson like he’s the funniest guy ever.  So annoying.  And Simon thought I was the one who needed babysitting?

Gabriel looks both annoyed and uncomfortable.  “I’m not really comfortable with us killing women.”

I give him a look of disbelief.  “These aren’t normal women, Gabriel.  They condone what their men do, which includes murder.”  I touch his forearm, “Don’t worry, you won’t have to deal with what goes own down below.  You’ll be up on the hill with me.”

He points to the grenade launcher in my hand, “And you’ll be using that up on the hill?”

I heft it from one hand to the other, “Yep.  This and, most likely, the sniper rifle too.”

He grimaces, but stays silent. 

All of us are wearing bullet-proof vests.  I tried to put a combat helmet on Gabriel, but he refused to wear it if no one else was going to wear one. 

Jackson is eyeing my XM25 enviously.  I hold it up in the air towards him, “Jealous?”

He gives me a dirty look, “I haven’t gotten the chance to use one of those yet.”

“No one has, Jacks.  This is state of the art, secret military technology.  I don’t know how Porky managed to get his hands on one of these.”  I taunt him some more by laying my cheek against the barrel of the weapon. 

Brent sighs dramatically, “Porky works in mysterious ways.”  Brent looks thoughtful, but is smiling, “I wonder if Diana used any torture techniques on him yet.”

“Diana is hot,” Jackson grins, “I’d let her torture me any day.”

I still feel bad about letting Porky take off the other day with Diana hiding in his SUV.  Maybe we should drive back to Newcastle tomorrow and check on him.

“Let’s do this!” Brent shouts out.  I totally concur, the sooner this job is over and I have my Gabriel back in the hotel safe and sound, the better. 

As we part ways, Jackson and Brent going down the beach to get in position to enter the compound and Gabriel and me trekking up to our point on a hill that both overlooks the house and is conveniently adjacent to the ocean. 

The sun is just about to set and I tell Gabriel to put on his Smith & Wesson sunglasses.  I pull my own pair out of my black cargo pants and place them over my eyes.  At 4:53pm, as planned, I launch the first grenade.  It hits the gate on the side facing the beach.  It’s dim outside, but I see two dark figures enter through the hole I just opened up.  That would be my partner and my big bro.

Next, I aim at the back door of the house.  I launch the grenade and the entire doorway is blown away.  I can’t really see at this point, but I’m sure Jackson and Brent make it inside, especially when the gunfire starts.  It’s a good thing this house is isolated. 

Jackson and Brent know to keep clear of the prearranged areas of the house that I plan to hit.  I am about ready to hit one of the side windows when it opens and a woman starts crawling out. 

“Wait!” Gabriel shouts and grabs the weapon out of my hands. 

“Dammit, Gabriel!  Give it back!” I yell at him. 

“I won’t let you kill that woman, Annabelle.”  He starts backing away from me. 

What the hell?  I wasn’t going to.  I was going to wait until she cleared out of the way.  I take a step towards Gabriel, about to tell him just that when he turns around, throws back his arm and hurls my $25,000 favorite new toy into the Pacific Ocean. 

“God dammit, Gabriel!  Do you realize what you’ve just done?  Jackson and Brent are counting on me to take out certain parts of the house.”  I can hear the sound of shots being continuously fired down the hill.  I point a finger at him, “Stay here or go back to the car!”

I then ditch the sniper rifle and move my M249 to my front.  Pulling out the pistol in my boots, I move it to the front waistband of my pants and start sliding down the steep hill. 

I hear Gabriel call out, “Where are you going, Anna?”  I ignore him. 

When I get down the hill, someone has opened the entrance to the gate and I’m almost on top of the guy before I see him. I bring up my machine gun and put a few rounds into him.  I see no one else around, so I cautiously edge towards the front door.  I keep my back to the wall as I quickly reach out to the doorknob to fling it open.  Thankfully, it’s unlocked.  Not that I wouldn’t have just shot the door open if it wasn’t.  But, it is nice when things work out my way. 

I pull the pistol out of my pants and wait for the first unlucky motherfucker to walk through that door.  As I see a balding head pop through, I start to extend out my arm to line up with his shiny head.  Before I can get off a shot, a shot rings out and the guy slumps to the ground in the doorway. 

I whip my head around and see Gabriel with a smoking gun in his hand.  He still has it raised and his face is pale with shock.  I take a few steps forward and grab ahold of his arm, pulling him against the house with me. “Don’t just stand in an open doorway waiting to be shot yourself!”

“I shot him,” he says roughly.  “In the chest.”

I smile mischievously at him, “Yeah, I know.  Thanks for saving me the trouble.”

“He was a bad man?” he asks and I can feel him shaking. 

“Yep.  One of the worst.  One of the main targets actually.  Good job, Gabriel.”  I reach down and squeeze his free hand in a gesture of comfort. 

He looks at me seriously, “I’m sorry about throwing your grenade launcher into the ocean.”

I peck him on the cheek, “I forgive you.  But, I won’t protect you from the teasing you’re gonna hear from Jackson and Brent.”

He makes a sour face, “I guess I deserve it.”

The shots inside start to quiet down, more and more time passes in between firing.  When a whole minute goes buy, I pull out my cell phone and call Brent’s number.  He should have his phone on vibrate.  He picks up, “Annabelle?  What happened to the rest of your launches?”

I glance at Gabriel, “I had technical difficulty.  Gabriel and I are at the front of the house.”

“We’re sweeping the house now.  Why don’t you clear the front rooms?”  Then he sounds irritated, “Why don’t you send Gabriel back to the car, he’ll just get himself hurt.”

“He took out one of the targets,” I whisper into the phone. 

“Whatever, don’t shoot me on your way back here,” he says and hangs up.

I tell Gabriel to follow closely behind me and we slowly make our way into the entryway of the house.  This house may be big, but thank god it’s only a one story.  I wouldn’t want to deal with people shooting down a staircase at me. 

Gabriel and I clear the front rooms.  I feel like I might be showing off a little in front of him, teaching him how to do it.  Making sure that he keeps his back to the wall and his gun pointed at the room.  Once we’re halfway through the house, we come across the body of a woman.  Gabriel looks like he’s about to throw up. 

“She’s no different than the men,” I remind him. He just swallows convulsively and lightly nods his head. 

“Found him!” I hear my brother shout out nearby and I rush into the next room with Gabriel at my heels.  Just in time to see Jackson place a boot on a guy’s chest and a bullet between his eyes.  Over his shoulder, I see movement and red hair.  Without thinking twice, I lift my pistol and put two rounds into the woman about to shoot my brother. 

Gabriel finally loses his lunch.  In the corner, behind a chair. 

Brent stalks into the room. “The house is clear.  Let’s torch the place!”  Then he notices Gabriel heaving in the corner and looks amused. 

Defensively, I say, “He just made his first kill tonight.  Like we didn't all do the same thing our first time!"

Jackson shakes his head, “Told you to send boy toy back to the car.”

Brent laughs, “Should have tied him up in the hotel room.”

Just because they’re pissing me off and because I want to annoy them back, I smirk, “Gabriel and I already played that game last night.”

Jackson makes his own barfing sounds.  Brent grabs two plastic bags filled with gasoline out of the backpack he was carrying.  He hands one to me while Jackson and Gabriel make one final sweep through the house, working their way back to the front of the house. 

Brent and I start in the back of the house, first lightly dousing the kitchen.  We make a line of gasoline going all the way to the entryway, branching into different rooms, stepping over bodies on our way.  Finally, at the front door, Brent lights a match and the line of gasoline flares up, quickly disappearing into the house.  Jackson has already grabbed the guy that was laying halfway out of the front door and pushed his body further into the house. 

Spinning on my heel, I start to walk away. 

The others follow. 

I wonder if Porky would be willing to give me another one of those grenade launchers. 

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