Rock Her(30)

Annie nodded quickly. She did not intend to move from that spot.



“Hero” By Skillet



Kip stopped just outside her door and when he downloaded enough courage he shouldered through it, breaking it open. Then he dropped and rolled through the glass and debris until he stopped behind the kitchen counter. From there he spied around the edge through to the shattered window, surveying the windows in the building across the street. Most of them were drawn open but there were a few that had the curtains closed. But in only one of them could Kip see the curtains moving, being blown by the slight breeze. This told him that the window was open, but the curtain was pulled. Exactly what he would do if he wanted a concealed place to shoot from.

Just then a flash between the curtains and the countertop pinged as a bullet ricocheted off of it. It impacted into the cabinets above his head.

The shooter was still there. And a really bad shot.

Kip wished he had his M-16 in his grip. I could take this clown out in one shot. And he could. Kip had qualified expert on the range every year in the Marine Corps. His marksmanship was legendary. He had been invited to sniper school out of combat training, but he chose not to go. He wanted to stick with the friends he’d trained with.

It was just a matter of zeroing in on the flash from the last shot of the assassin across the street. But I don’t have my M-16, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do now that I am pinned down.

Then Kip heard sirens getting louder from the outside. Someone must have called the police. Suddenly a burst of fire erupted from the window across the street and wood and glass shattered all around him. He covered his head as debris rained down upon him as multiple shots were fired at him. Then the gunshots stopped and Kip peeked around the edge. He saw the barrel of the rifle jerk to the side, disturbing the curtains, then disappeared. The shooter is running.

The sirens were so loud, it sounded as if they were right below the window at the entrance of the building. Knowing he was out of immediate danger, he jumped to his feet and bolted toward the door. Annie was on the other side about to go in, despite Kip’s order to stay put. She heard the gunfire and thought Kip had been shot. The door burst open and knocked Annie back against the wall.

“Get down against the wall,” Kip yelled. Then he ran down the three flights of stairs. He threw the doors of the main entrance open and ran out across the street. Police cars and rescue vehicles were pulling up, and he dodged them in the road and disappeared into the building across the street. The building was the mirror image of Annie’s building. He ran up the stairs to the third floor, knowing that enough time had passed that the shooter was no doubt on the run.

Kip tried to picture the building from the outside as he tried to figure out which apartment to invade. Fortunately, the building was not complicated, and the apartment in question was fairly obvious. As he reached the third floor a quick look down the hall showed him that the door to the apartment he wanted was open. He walked quickly, hugging the wall in case the shooter was still anywhere nearby. When he reached the open doorway, he used his military training to eyeball the room. He squatted low and made a quick scan into the doorway. Then he stood high and looked again. He confirmed that the open living room was empty.

Of course, the shooter could have been hiding in the bathroom or bedroom. But Kip’s common sense told him that the shooter was on the run. The police sirens outside would have guaranteed that.

So Kip bolted down the hall. Clearly the fuck hadn’t come down the main stairs or Kip would have passed him on the way up. He didn’t know the building but he was sure there had to be a back stairwell at the end of the hall. And when he arrived there, his assumption was confirmed.

The door was ajar, and Kip nearly forgot all of his training and burst through it. But at the last second he remembered himself. This was a classic set up. Leave a clue to follow, and then set an ambush. Kip had handled situations like this countless times but always with a weapon, his rifle, or a grenade. He cursed at being empty handed.

Without anything to defend himself, he stepped aside and pushed open the door. Immediately a burst of automatic weapons fire shattered the wall opposite him. Kip hunkered down against the wall letting the dust from the drywall coat him once again. Then the fire stopped and Kip heard footsteps pounding down the stairwell. Kip jumped to his feet and followed, listening for the echoing of his quarry’s feet slapping the stairs. If he heard them stop he would be in dire straits. He was in a closed area with him, and he had nothing to protect himself. But Kip heard the stairwell access door to the ground floor open below and the sirens from the emergency vehicles echoed into the stairwell. The shooter was making his way outside.