Extraordinary Mistakes

24. Last words

Immediately, as they face the assassins, Rachel teleports herself and Megan to behind some desks. Alex does the same with Ánh, and right away teleports to the back of one of the shooters and hits him. The man turns around and punches him.

The other assassin is going to shoot Alex, but he teleports near Ánh again.

"Sis, please distract them, so I can kindly tell them to shoot each other," Alex tells Rachel inside her head.

Rachel forms a fog around the shooters. Alex tries to focus on one of them. He goes through everyone's mind, but Megan. As the shooters continue to fire, he loses focus and has to start all over again.

Ánh tells him that nearby one of shooters there's a massive fish tank. One of Madeleine's extravagant purchases, probably. 

"Burst the fish tank," Alex's voice echoes inside Rachel's mind.

A first crack appears on the glass. No one hears it. Rachel keeps controlling the water inside the fish tank until it bursts and hits the back of one of the shooters. The other fires indiscriminately.

Alex takes the opportunity and puts them one by one into a deep sleep state.

Megan and Rachel approach the deviants hurt and their right hands turn blue. They cry, beg for mercy. The bleeding stops.

"Aren't you the terrorist group?!" an instructor asks.

He touches his stomach, realizing the blood stopped pouring.

"Not today," Ánh smiles.

She recognizes him from her grade when she studied there. Realizing that if he knew who she was before, they wouldn't picture her with the terrorists.

"Today as well. You are welcome!" Alex smiles.

Ánh gets closer to the assassins, uncovers them and takes photos of their faces. Alex skims the mind of one and realizes that Emily Roberts is the primary target.

"Come. Hide in that room." Rachel leads the instructors and their students. "Block the door. Don't open it, no matter what."

"Rachel Moore... thank you!" He smiles.

The group puts their hoodies back on again and walk slowly through the main hallway.

"Emily Roberts is the target. They aren't here to kill anyone else," Alex says softly.

"We have to find her," Ánh says.

The silence threatens them, being fully aware that any mistake can make a difference. There are no gunshots, no one's screaming, and that's scarier, the anticipation.

Rachel heads the group. She and Megan walk forward while Ánh and Alex backwards, securing the rear. No sudden moves, silence only.

They pass by Ánh 's memorial photo hanging on the wall. She stops and stares at it for a second, she was 22 back then, and the fakeness on her smile is obvious.

A gunshot ruptures through. It hits Rachel's leg, she falls to the ground without screaming, holding the pain in. Blood pours out of it, and the worse is that they can't understand where the shot came from.

"That was a warning shot. Next one's straight to the heart!" a woman's voice says from the inside of one of the rooms in front of them, "don't come any closer. I have time and weapons. Leave if you don't want to die!"

Ánh recognizes it and shouts in Vietnamese welcome!

Megan and Alex look immediately at Ánh, while Rachel holds her wound tight and Abigail Parker freezes.