Sword’s Edge Publishing

Continued from Thirty-two: En Route
Thirty-three: Station
Mads holstered his SIG. He couldn’t believe the action had ended. Everything had passed in a blur, like fast-forwarding through a DVD. Heather leaned against the SUV blocker she had driven, breathing hard, C8 carbine held loose. Mads slid over the hood of the wrecked sedan, mimicking Boyle’s slick move [...]

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Continued from Thirty-one: Cascade Effect
Thirty-two: En Route
Heather gripped the wheel of the SUV. Hastily acquired by Gurung and his network of contacts, it had only minimal upgrading and no armour. She felt vulnerable.
With the engine off, she waited on a small side-street. The target, so far, had revealed relatively good security instincts. He varied his [...]

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Continued from Thirty: No Delilah
Thirty-one: Cascade Effect
“Stop coddling me.” Cascade’s eyes narrowed to a sharp point, her anger and her frustration all there for those that could read it.
Scott could. That’s what he did. And he could understand both emotions.
“We’re not even sure what they were pumping into you or if you’ve been altered in [...]

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Continued from Twenty-nine: House Call
Thirty: No Delilah
The wall surrounding the estate did not matter. The many electronic baffles set to inhibit eavesdropping did not matter. The psychic shield so strong it gave pedestrians that passed the structure slight headaches or nausea—not even that mattered. Inside the white delivery van, two men watched and heard everything [...]

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Continued from Twenty-eight: Kitting Up
Twenty-nine: House Call
Willow watched the front of the building over the telescopic sight on her Knight’s Armaments SR-25 sniper rifle. She crouched in an alleyway while Rudi stood behind her. Rudi’s VSS—a Vintorez special sniper rifle—hung at his chest on his tactical rig. A suppressed sniper weapon using heavy, sub-sonic ammunition, [...]

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Continued from Twenty-seven: Hitting the Fan
Twenty-eight: Kitting Up
She hadn’t had a cigarette in almost ten years. How come she remembered it so vividly? Heather imagined the feel of it in her mouth, imagined lighting it, inhaling. The calm would spread. It would take her, relax her, get her down.
Heather really wanted a cigarette.
Mads’ chuckle caught [...]

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Continued from Twenty-six: Overt Sly
Twenty-seven: Hitting the Fan
Walker watched the exchange through binoculars. He crouched on a rooftop across the street from the alley mouth. He wasn’t happy with the location, but they couldn’t have gotten much closer without alerting the contact.
That contact apparently expected some kind of trouble. That, or he was compensating. Short [...]

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Continued from Twenty-five: Hard Driving
Twenty-six: Overt Sly
The first word that came to Rudi when he met the contact was unimpressive. Short, squat, with a patchy beard and missing teeth, Gurung had told him the contact wanted to be known as ‘Sly.’ Apparently, he idolized Stallone. Rudi decided he had better play the silent partner role, [...]

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Continued from Twenty-four: For The Count
Twenty-five: Hard Driving
Gurung had acquired some exemplary equipment. Alex doubted that Drift could have provided him anything similar if he had been operational somewhere like Nepal. Maybe in a few days, a week or so, but in a few hours? Not a chance.
While he had some facility with cracking encryption, [...]

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Continued from Twenty-three: Me and Yu
Twenty-four: For The Count
Yu’s death quickly followed the sound of the window cracking. It meant one thing to Heather. She wasn’t alone in that assessment.
“Sniper!” Walker dropped to the floor.
The room only had two windows, but they were large and uncovered. Yu’s body lay on the ground near Madison and [...]

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