Page 21 of Double Shot
“Left or right, north or south, nine o’clock, three o’clock, those are directions,” I almost hissed.
“Fine, go left. No! The other left.”
“I only have one left,” I said.
“My left, not your left,” she huffed.
“Put Grant on the line,” I said and then I waited. Ahead I could hear the rustle of leaves, and the crunch of someone walking not ten yards from my position.
“I need better direction.” I was calm, the lull before a storm.
“Do you have any guild raid experience?” he asked. “Run any FPS?”
“Definite no to the first, I don’t recognize the second.”
“First-person shooter games where you play what you’re doing right now.” He sounded annoyed.
“Yeah, you can safely assume the answer to any video game question is no,” I whispered. There was someone approaching my position.
“Horse, eleven o’clock, three meters,” Grant said.
“A horse?”
“Yes, big four-legged animal, suitable for riding on. You know what those are?”
“A comedian,” I said and looked where he indicated, and there was a large gray horse who had wandered over to where I was. It had large eyes and seemed to be inspecting me. It came closer and gave me a large sniff, and I seemed to pass whatever test that was. It moved on.
“How do you feel about walking cover?” Grant asked.
“You want me to follow the horse?” I asked.
“No, I think we canMetal Gearthis situation. There are at least a dozen horses, and it looks like your buddy there is wearing a halter. He’s been turned out, so if you grab him by the halter, you can lead him where you want.” Grant seemed pleased with this.
“How do you know about horses?”
“Mounts are a part of the MMOs, dude. I raised and bred them in one of the realms I play in. I sold an epic mount for a few hundred dollars last month.”
“Youbreda horse in avideo gameand sold it for real money?” I asked.
“Yeah, I did, so grab the nose band of the halter in your left hand and walk in a leftward sweeping arc. There should be an outbuilding to your left, and a fence to your right,” he said.
“I’ve got it.” I took the noseband of the horse and it seemed to be okay with this. “You seem alright,” I said to the horse.
“Thirty meters, you’re going to make a left-handed turn,” Grant said. I could hear the whirr of the drone as it passed over me. “There is an open barn on the left, then a flagstone path, and what looks like an orchard to your right.”
“Got it,” I whispered.
“There are two heat sigs in the barn. You should be fine though.”
“Thanks.”
I wished I had more gear, something more than the bulletproof vest and AK. I could have done so much more with a set of night vision goggles, my actual combat armor, and a real rifle with a scope. I could have rained death down on them from afar, like a gunship but with much better hair.
We kept trading information – Grant throwing out distances in meters, where important things were, picking out potential ambushes, spotting cover, and using his drone to make sure that I never ran into anything unexpected. It was a tense fifteen minutes, moving through green fields, and through collections of old stone buildings and new wooden ones.
I felt a little tug when I turned the big horse loose. I kind of liked him.
Then I could see what I was looking for. The old jailhouse was a long low building made from age-worn stones. As I approached, I could make out the black iron bars set in the narrow windows. If those walls were thick enough, a few men could hold it against a much larger force, provided they didn’t have any explosives.
