––––––––
Bree placed the crosshair directly over the guard’s forehead.
Tate didn’t say one in her ear.
She fired.
The guard’s head snapped back. Blood splattered the control panel of the pirate ship ride behind him. He dropped an instant later, collapsing to a heap on the pavement.
Just as Bree’s shot found its mark, Huxx dropped the man beside him with a three-round burst to the chest. The second guard took one shaky step away from his fallen comrade before sprawling face-first to the ground. As he lay there, the man slowly slid his arm along the pavement, moving his hand close to his mouth.
Bree aimed at him, looking through the scope to see what he was doing.
A small, white object was attached to his wrist, a cable snaking inside the sleeve of his jacket. It was a communication unit similar to what Bree had seen Secret Service agents use. The man was trying to radio for help.
Bree shot him in the top of the head.
Echoes from the high-powered rifle reverberated through the park, the forest.
“Clear,” Huxx said.
Everyone else radioed in the same.
Bree had just shot two men in cold blood. She was a police officer by trade, not a soldier. The others might be used to that sort of non-defensive killing, but she wasn’t. Cops were meant to protect people, not kill them. Soldiers were bred for war, not peace officers.
The dead men hadn’t even known they were being engaged.
“Moving,” Tate said.
“Moving,” Drew replied.
Huxx glanced back at her. He motioned toward the Ferris wheel.
Bree nodded.
He slid from his hidden spot in the grass and advanced in the direction of the large ride. The former Navy Seal paused behind a tree to scan the area before him, and then kept moving.
Bree closed her eyes for a moment and struggled to remove the image of the man’s head popping like a balloon from her mind. She kept seeing the blood splatter, the lifeless way his body had collapsed.
She knew the men she’d killed were responsible for countless deaths over the past year, but she wasn’t prepared for the visceral reaction overwhelming her. With a deep breath, she suppressed her emotions as best she could and refocused.
Her eyes popped open, and she looked through the scope again. Regardless of her feelings at the moment, Huxx needed her cover. She would deal with everything else later.
Bree scanned the area, searching for other hostiles. None were visible.
Into her mic, she said, “There is a building by the Ferris wheel with a new-looking door. It’s a possible entrance into the facility.”
Gunfire from the west was the only response she received.