Shay flipped her AR goggles back down and turned on normal binocular mode. Her magnified vision revealed the Alpha Explorers didn’t appear to be digging in the existing pit hole, but instead had started their own sloping tunnel nearby. The hole was massive, easily ten feet in diameter, and the large cable running down the tunnel suggested they brought serious equipment with them.
The cables connected to a massive array of batteries sitting in the back of a large military-style flatbed truck. After thirty seconds, the awful grinding yowl halted, lingering in the forest echoes.
They must have a good reason to do that. Like they know exactly where to look.
A buzz sounded above Shay. They have drones.
The six mercenaries suddenly were gesticulating wildly, pointing in her general direction. The two treasure hunters fled into the hole without looking back.
That ends the major stealth portion of tonight’s program. Knew I should have used the jammer sooner.
Shay gave a hard tap to a silver bracelet on her wrist, turning on the jammer. The buzzing stopped as two drones fell from the sky and crashed to the ground and the lights were doused. She whipped out her 9mm and darted toward one of the nearby buildings.
Shouts filled the night air, along with heavy footfalls on the gravel. Several shots rang out and bullets whizzed into the forest near her position.
Shoot first and search pockets later, huh? If that’s the way you want to play it, let’s do this, bitches.
Shay pressed her back up against a wall, her gun ready. Six opponents, well-trained and well-armed, but even if they did spot her with their drones, they didn’t know what kind of backup she brought with her.
An important fact of human battlefield psychology Shay learned from her time as a hitman was that most people make the obvious mistake of assuming their tactics, strategies, and beliefs will be reflected by their enemies. Commanders in battle situations tended to assume their enemies have similar sized forces, if not more. After all, it only makes sense for someone to attack six men using six men.
It was old school training, tried and true and easy to exploit.
It would make the mercenaries cautious, and as she finished them off, she could all but depend on them to panic and overestimate the level of opposition.
This was progressing nicely.
Shay yanked out two frag grenades and tossed them in opposite directions, away from the path of charging mercenaries.
A chorus of shouts erupted. “Grenades!”
A smile was on her lips as the loud explosions cut through the night.
More heavy footfalls followed, as the men broke into two groups, just as Shay expected. She jerked around the corner and fired off several rounds. An unfortunate mercenary needed to work on his point-to-point movement. Two of Shay’s bullets caught him, and he went down with a yelp.
Shay tossed one of her two remaining frag grenades toward the man. Her two smoke grenades would be saved for when they could be more useful. Another scream signaled she had wounded another man. Four left.
Shay ducked low and ran in the opposite direction, standing upright and firing as she cleared the wall. Two surprised mercenaries fell back, blood blossoming over their chests. Shay hit the ground and rolled, quickly springing back on her feet. A third mercenary made the mistake of charging, spraying his gun on full auto, hoping suppression would save him.
Shay downed him with a single shot between the eyes. One left.
She swapped a new magazine into her pistol.
“Need to hire better quality mercenaries,” she murmured. The thugs had gotten lazy with unarmed treasure hunters. They weren’t making the ex-killer break a sweat.
Shay jogged to the side of the building, listening for footsteps or gunshots, but not hearing anything. A crack of a branch sounded from behind her. She spun around and put three quick rounds into the final mercenary as he turned a corner. He fell to the ground, his eyes wide in surprise.
“Sorry, pal. Just business. You were trying to kill me and I got the job done first. Better luck in the next lifetime.”
Shay kept close to the wall. Just because she’d only spotted six men didn’t mean more weren’t out there. A quick sprint to the end of the wall and a dash between the last two buildings left her convinced she’d killed all the defenders.
The Alpha Explorers didn’t have to die, provided they didn’t get clever. She kept her gun raised and jogged toward their new hole. Movement near the edge of the large metal pipe leading to the older pit caught her attention, and she pivoted.
A single pale hand gripped the edge of the pit. Another hand followed.
Shay groaned. “And here comes the damned Japanese ghost. Fuck.”
No Japanese ghost presented itself. Instead a beautiful long-haired platinum blonde woman with crystal blue eyes crested the pit. She wore a white leather jacket, white jeans, and white boots. The anti-Shay.
Something familiar about the outfit tugged at the edge of Shay’s memory, but she couldn’t quite place it.
“Got no beef with you, sister,” Shay shouted, her gun up. “Just put your hands on your head, lie down, and I’ll zip tie you. I’ll go on my way, and you get to live.”
“You killed all those men,” the woman said, her voice soft and tinged with a noticeable Russian accent. The accent combined with the outfit only poked at Shay’s mind more.
Should I recognize this woman?
“To be fair, they tried to kill me first.”
“It’s impressive, I must admit, for anyone to take on six men.”
Shay shrugged. “Just a normal Wednesday. On the ground now, before my finger gets twitchy.”
The woman shot a faint smile at Shay as she noticed the blue crystal wand in her right hand and the six tiny blue stones orbiting the woman’s legs.
“Oh fuck,” Shay groaned.
“You know who I am, yes?”
Shay took a step back. “Yulia Solokova. Sometimes you go by
