Flying Free (MAC Security 2.50)

“He’s on the move,” one of the guys says, the line rustling from where he’s running.

“Where’s he headed?” I ask, searching the perimeter of the roof, looking everywhere for him.

I spot a figure rounding the corner and duck down, not wanting him to see me.

“Corner on Shepard,” I say through the ear piece as I get down into position, setting my rifle up again. I relax my breathing and center my core, taking a small breath and focusing.

Looking through the scope, I follow him.

“What’s he doing?” I whisper to myself.

He looks around in the alley that he’s in and leans against the wall, pushing down into a crouching position. Gripping his head in his hands, he says something over and over again, getting louder the more he talks.

My stomach swirls with an uneasy feeling. Something isn’t right here, something hasn’t been right since we started this mission.

He looks directly at me and I go to duck but the look in his eyes as they meet mine has me keeping still. He mouths something to me but I can’t make out what he’s saying and he shakes his head frantically and starts screaming, “I’m sorry!”

I shake my head, my brows coming together in a frown, trying to work out why he’s sorry. I’m so consumed with why he’s apologizing that I don’t see the gun he’s holding until it’s too late and he’s shoots it. He shot himself.

“Fuck!” I shout, jumping up and getting a grip on my rifle, running for the roof door. I pull it open, running down the stairs, jumping the last four steps on every set to try and get down as fast as I can.

I make it out of the emergency exit and run to the alley. I’m the first one there and I have to divert my eyes from the scene in front of me.

It’s one thing me having to shoot people when I don’t have an option but to see someone do this to themselves makes me sick to my stomach.

A car speeds into the alley and brakes hard. The passenger door flies open and Daley jumps out, his face red and angry as he looks at the guy lying half against the wall and half against the ground.

“What the hell happened?” he grits out.

“He shot himself,” I say, stating the obvious.

“I can fucking see that!” He starts to pace in front of me, mumbling to himself as he rubs his temples. “This isn’t good, it’s not good at all.”

I stand here and watch him freaking out as I tilt my head to two of the guys. “Cover him up.” They nod and open the back of the car and pull out something to cover him with.

“Explain,” Daley says, coming to stand right in front of me, his face the angriest I’ve ever seen.

I start to tell him what happened and he looks as confused as I feel when I say he apologized. He walks over to the where his body is and opens his backpack. I hold up my hand, about to tell him not to open it when he shakes his head and swears under his breath.

“It’s a fucking brick!”

“What?” Moving closer, I lean down and pull the bag open more. “What the fuck?”

“Something isn’t right here... we’re missing something.”

I nod in agreement, the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach’s just gotten even worse.

I push through the doors to the bar with Daley and all the guys following me. I’m glad that it’s Wednesday because it’s our quietest day and all I want is to have a beer and shoot the shit with the guys. Daley told us that we’re going to be based in the states now and that we all need to be near each other so that he can call on us at a moment’s notice.

I don’t like that he thinks we can just drop everything when he says but it’s the job and there really isn’t anything I can do about it.

“You’re home!” J shouts from the bar and jumps down, running at me.

Her arms fly around my neck and I wrap my arms around her and give her a good squeeze.

“Yeah,” I say, pulling back and nodding at Jackson who’s behind the bar.

“This your girl?” Chad asks from beside me.