Story 2: Just Seconds Ahead

by ~rebel28

The wind swept through my hair. Making me feel a bit more comfortable, but I was a still a long way from feeling relaxed. I had been laying here for about 15 hours, which is long to the normal man. But not to a professional assassin.

In front of me was a huge plain, with a small oil refinery ruining the scenery. At a glance it looked normal. But if you looked carefully, you'd see the armed guards lurking around, or the officials carrying sidearms.
I wasn't concerned about them, I had been sent to take care of a man that was coming to oversee the running of the refinery. When I say take car, I mean kill. That's my profession, I was in the business of killing.

I did it because it's what I was best at. I had earned medals serving in the army. And now I had turned my eyes to a more profitable area of work.

So here I lay in wait, I had holed my self into the hill, and covered to blend in. A person would have to get quite close to even notice the little bump in the ground. All I did to get here was get a ride with some travellers. Then I got dropped off in seemingly the middle of nowhere. Then I had made my way towards the refinery. Upon sighting the refinery, I didn't waste any time looking at the scenery. I looked around the area for about half an hour when I found what I was looking for. Nestled in a bush, a large bag lay. I opened it up to reveal my weapon, the NTW 14.5. I hadn't brought it myself, because it was too heavy to be carried by one man, and would raise suspicions.

Then I looked for somewhere to bunker down before carrying the weapon to it. I could have brought a M82A1 easily, but I had wanted to test the NTW for quite a while. It was heavier than the M82A1, but would achieve the same distance, and it carried a higher calibre. I had also brought high-explosive incendiary rounds, I wanted to make sure my target wouldn't survive, even if I somehow missed.

So now, as I sat there, and the day started to drift away. I heard a distant sound, immediately recognizing it as a helicopter. I quickly got my rifle ready to fire, putting the three round magazine in on the left, and pulling back the safety catch on the right.

The helicopter approached from the West, to my right. As it landed, I looked through my sights. I didn't have long before he would be back in the protection of the buildings, not that he would be very safe anyway. As the helicopter landed, I saw a man step out of the helicopter, he matched the description of my target.

I was disappointed, I had hoped he would wear some sort of armour. Requiring me to make an interesting shot between it. All he wore was a suit.

After he'd taken three steps, I fired. Just like that his life was taken.

The results were literally explosive. I would describe it if it hadn't been so gruesome.
I didn't waste time after that, I had to get out before everyone in the refinery came to their senses again.

I lay a three minute time-bomb on my weapon. I couldn't carry the weapon, and I couldn't leave evidence. Then, getting up. I ran back the way I came, hearing alarms sound in the distance.

I was about a mile away, those must've been very loud alarms.
Within half a minute, I heard the helicopter approaching. I had trees above me head so it didn't concern me.
I realized that the escape may be harder than the job itself. They had probably planned for an attack.   
Running through the light forest, I heard voices shouting behind me. Then right after that, a bang. My time-bomb must've gone off, I smiled at the thought.

I was lucky I had kept myself in good condition, because all this running was very demanding. I saw the road ahead of me. I was nearly there.



Just before I reached it, I heard a shrill yell from my right. Someone leaped into be, driving me onto the ground. I quickly spun to see a man holding a knife, just about to stab me.
As he drove down the knife, I moved my head to the right. I couldn't really move, he was on top of me. I had been trained for situations like this, but I was a rather worn out from the running.
He raised the knife to stab a second time, then I lifted my legs around his head, and yanked him backwards. I took advantage as quickly as I could. He was recovering fast, reaching behind me, I grabbed my knife. I always kept it on me.

He leaped furiously again, but I was ready this time. I dodged to the left, before turning around, and grabbing the man from behind. I disarmed him easily, as he was unbalanced from the leap. I pushed him onto the ground, and with a sharp strike from my hand. I knocked him unconscious.
Then I ran for the road again, I wondered how close the others. They must've been close if this one had arrived so quickly.

Then I saw why he had. On the road, sitting idle was a car. It was just some small white piece of junk. Not wanting to waste more time, I ran back to the man and searched thoroughly through his pockets. I found what I was looking for, his car keys.

When I got back to the car, I threw open the doors, and quickly got in. As I started the car I wondered if the man had been foolish enough to try and cut me off on his own. Otherwise there would be others following be vehicle soon. I wondered where the helicopter had disappeared to.

I drove down the road, constantly looking behind me for cars, and above me for the helicopter.
There was a small town, not too far from here. Maybe I could make it without being followed, but that would be the first place they searched, so I couldn't stay long. After about half an hour of driving, I began to wonder if they were actually following me.

I heard the heli approaching in the distance, I looked for somewhere to lay low. There was an area I could drive into, with tree cover. It wasn't far ahead. I got to it, and parked the car. After about a minute, the helicopter passed overhead. I laughed to myself at the amateur attempts to find me.

I knew I mustn't get to sure of the situation, that was how things went wrong.

Then after a few minutes, when the sound of the helicopter had faded slowly away.
I got back in the car, and continued to drive down the road. I needed to find a place to put them off on the search. What if they had spotted me already, and were just laying a trap ahead. I couldn't let that happen.

When I reached the town, I was surprised to find nothing awaiting me. The town seemed to be running as usual. I parked the car, and began to look for another I could use, they would probably have found the body now, and be looking for the car.

On the next street I saw a inconspicuous blue car parked further down. When I got to it, I picked the lock on the door, and got in. I knew how to hotwire a car, but I first wanted to check around me. I looked slowly at my surrounding area. It looked normal.

When I was certain that there were no traps and no one was following me. I hotwired the car, and drove out of the town. It was a constant drive of looking in the rear-view mirror. Parking the car when I heard a helicopter.


By the end of the journey, and after I was back home, and safe. I wondered how I had got away so easily.

I sat on a chair, and looked out at the sea, was I truly safe.

Just then, the phone rang.