Page 22 of Double Shot
“Can you give me a read inside?” I asked.
“Three heat sigs, but the sigs are blurry. The walls are thick and I’m getting the readings through the roof.”
“I’m taking the north entrance,” I said.
“Bird in motion, you’re clear.”
I shouldered the AK and broke from the meager cover I had and made a line for the north door. It was a heavy thing of pale wood and banded with black metal, and it was open. There were two people standing in the center aisle of the building, one facing me, the other distracted by his phone.
I trembled to squeeze the trigger, spray them both with bullets and find the third sig. That should be Roan. The person facing me went pale. The tray they were holding fell from their hands and clattered against the stone floor.
It was a woman and she spat out a river of panicky French. She was unarmed, and the other person with her looked up from his phone. “Merde,” he said softly.
“Hands on your head, don’t make a sound,” I said, brandishing the AK at them.
“Eloise, faites ce qu'il te dit, mettez vos mains sur votre tête. Il ne te fera pas de mal si tu n'es pas armé.” I knew that voice, and a tremor ran through my arm. The woman looked to the cell she was standing in front of. She put her hands on her head, obvious fear written on her face. The younger man with her hesitated, he was also unarmed. I saw it in his eyes, he was going to bolt.
I was faster and put a burst from the rifle into his legs.
He gave a scream and collapsed.
“About time, mate,” Roan said as I walked up to the door of the cell. “Cles,
S'il vous plaît.” The woman moved hesitantly, but pulled the keys from a chain around her waist, and opened the cell. Roan was standing and stepped out.
I don’t know who was more surprised, him or me, when I hugged him.
“C’mon, not in front of the help,” he said. I could feel knots in my chest. Someone else was speaking in my ear, but at that moment, I didn’t fucking care.
“I’m sorry it took so long.”
“Kyle? Is it him, is he there!” Her voice was quivering and shrill. “Do you have him?”
“Hang on, Shady,” I said. I dug into my pocket and pulled out a second earbud. I gave it a squeeze, and then the small red light blinked on. I handed it to Roan and then passed him the folding stock AK I had slung over my back.
“I hope I remember how to dance.” He gave a laugh, popped the bud in his ear, and racked the AK.
Chapter Seven
Roan…
“Merci pour votre gentillesse et le pain, restez ici et vous vous serez en securite,”I said, giving Eloise a polite nod of the head. She nodded in wide-eyed understanding. I knew she wasn’t a part of the Escadrille. We had spoken enough that I knew she lived here, and had always lived here, and had almost no knowledge of what the Chauvignons did for a living, and she had no liking for thatputainKaijin. I didn’t want anything to happen to her.
“Hello, Poppet, are you there?”
“Sorry, my dude, this is DJ Raditz,” the voice in my ear spoke.
“Raditz, Grant, are you really here?” I asked. “And where is Sadie?”
“She’s right…” There was a crackle and scuffle sound.
“Conan! Conan, are you okay?” Her voice was going from shrill to thickening with emotion.
“Hello, Poppet,” I said, feeling a crack in my voice. She let out several sobs, and then I heard Grant take the mic from her.
“Bogies inbound, my dudes.” Grant was in my ear again, and I assumed, Lach’s. I looked at him, and he nodded, two fingers to the north door, and then two fingers to south door. I understood and headed toward the south door. I was slower than normal, but the replacement prosthetic they had given me was a poor one, quickly made and compared to my old one, it might as well have been a wooden pirate leg.
“Three inbound south, one north,” he said. I could still hear Sadie making noises in the background.
