Page 2 of Crossing the Line

The reality of our defeat cut so deeply, I physically felt it in my chest. The pain it would inflict on my family, the fear such an outcome would instill in my co-workers loved ones…

It was all too much to contemplate.

The distinct click of the weapon being reloaded stole my breath. The fury behind the lead storm that followed paralyzed me all over again.

The sound went on so long, it almost became normal. I forced my thoughts to slow and tried to focus.

The apartment wasn’t as empty as I thought it would be. There was a table beside me, overflowing with filth and moldy food. I made a snap decision and flung a poorly upholstered kitchen chair toward the nearby window.

“No way,” a pleased, younger voice laughed and trotted toward the shards that remained. “He fucking threw himself out? Are you serious?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He is an educated man; he did not leap from this height,” Damien scolded.

The sirens turned into an overwhelming chorus and tires screeched outside.

“Come.” Damien kept his commands short and didn’t wait around to see if they were followed.

From my crouched position, I watched as the younger man smirked and took a few steps toward the window to see for himself.

Once he moved, Al’s nearly lifeless body was exposed to me for the first time. His whole chest heaved with each pitiful breath that he took. I’d hunted long enough in my youth to know what the bottomless, strangled breaths meant.

Suffering.

The kind that wasn’t curable.

I blinked.

Stood.

Aimed.

Squeezed.

The loud and final bang dropped the menace. His body flailed, the window catching his leg at the bottom, leaving him impaled and dangling. A cracking sound made me flinch, when the bottom of the windowsill gave out and the coward’s lifeless body plunged toward the ground without warning.

I cared more for the people I’d endangered below, than I did about the consequences of pulling that trigger.

I wish I could say I felt bad about it, but it just wasn’t the case.

The truth was I didn’t give him a second thought.

I moved on self-preservation alone to a better vantage point.

Damien’s footsteps grew more faint even as they turned hurried. When the doors clicked at the end of the hall, I finally accepted that he was gone. All was silent for a heartbeat or two and then a multitude of boots shuffled and squeaked as the stairwell door on the opposite end loudly burst open. Radios were screeching and commands were being shouted.

I ground my teeth against the screeching in my ear, fingering at the device until the compact headpiece came free.

I put my hands on my knees, and forced my breathing to slow.

The cavalry outside sounded nearer.

My voice still felt trapped in my throat, before I could clear it and call out, another relentless round of automatic gunfire caught me off guard. It took a moment to discern that the sound had been distant and muffled.

Outside, I dismissively thought, before focusing on the situation at hand.

“Blue! Blue! Blue!” I cried before lunging toward Al’s gurgling body.

Chapter One