To the heart

Chapter 7: A Mistake too Many

After inspection of her rifle, she went over her escape plan one more time, and boy was it dangerous. The plan was to crash to chopper into the river and use the scuba gear onboard to escape while the authorities attempt to recover the wreckage. She would swim from the crash zone with her pilot and be retrieved out of a nearby stormwater runoff, once it was clear. Should it not go to plan then they are to wait underwater until nightfall when they would be retrieved, in any case, they were given high-capacity tanks and emergency rebreathers. Lily went to sleep that night and felt a sense of strength and masculinity. She felt like she was finally going to be okay and get back in the groove.

In the morning, Lily woke up early, got dressed in her wetsuit, ate a protein bar, and prepped her rifle. Thirty minutes later, a different car arrived behind the motel and picked her up, and put her gun which was in an ambiguous case as to not draw attention. The car took her to a news building where the fake chopper was waiting to take off and everything went smoothly. Lily, now dressed as a reporter with her wetsuit underneath, hopped into the plane with her "equipment" and they took off. The time was now nearing 11:50 and it was just a matter of blending in and waiting. Within ten minutes, the ceremony began, and out came her targets. The mayor stepped onto the podium as his 3 district managers were seated in 3 chairs behind him to the left.

She would have to be quick enough to get all 4 targets before they could flee or be covered up. As he began his speech, Lily lined up the sights and fired, shooting the mayor right in the head and spilling his brain matter everywhere. However, the bullet kept traveling and unbeknownst to Lily, there were a group of children behind the stage who were hit, waiting for pictures with the politicians. The 3 district leaders were covered up and attempted to be removed but lily prepared for that. She switched to her thermal scope and took the 3 men out as if it were nothing, but unfortunately for her, she hit another group of children who were hiding behind the vehicle but in her haste, she ordered the pilot to take off and head for the Hudson river carefully.

It was too late though, there were cameras on the ground and in the air focused on the helicopter, just like she planned. Upon nearing the target area, she shot straight through the roof several times, hitting the rotor and severely damaging it as planned. The helo's rotors began to slow as it fell towards the river while her and the pilot suited up. Seconds before it hit the water, the pair jumped out of the plane's right side as it slammed into the water on its left side. They dove a bit deeper, before swimming for 39 grueling minutes to the sewer drainage pipe where they hid and used their rebreathers since the smell was horrible. A few hours later, a boat arrived and took them shoreside where her and the pilot shook hands and got into two different cars that drove in opposite directions.

A few hours later, Lily arrived at an airport and took a rickety propeller plane from a private airfield back home, and drove from there. It was now 4 Am as she headed into the house and turned on the television to admire her work. It was her first time seeing the aftermath of her job since she carried it out and she was not ready for the horrors that awaited her. As she turned on the channel and listened in, her body immediately trembled as she fell to her knees and burst into tears loudly. The bottom of the screen read; 6 children wounded and 2 killed. It turns out that the caliper of bullets she was provided penetrate well, but they have a tendency to ricochet due the the material.

When she fired, the bullet went through the targets, ricocheted, and hit the first group of kids and the same happened with the other 3 she fired. They ricocheted off the limo's armor and hit the children and others caught in the crosshairs. Jude came darting down the stairs having been startled awake. He immediately sat next to her and pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair without saying a word. He already knew what was wrong as he had seen the news all over the Internet. He understood that she needed him right now and that it wasn't time for lectures, questions, or anything else...she needed a shoulder to cry on and that's all that mattered. Still, there was something about seeing her all vulnerable like this that made his heart skip a beat. He shook those feelings off and focused on the task at hand and only that...he would figure out her side of the story later.