12 Minutes (#2 in Military series)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The grenade detonated a short distance behind his left shoulder.

His body remembered his training and he turned away, shielding himself from the debris and smoke which were tearing through the open doorway that lay on his right.

A short burst of gunfire sounded a few moments later but as far as he could tell only a few of those bullets had found themselves imbedded in the wall opposite him.

He wasn't prepared for the way the smoke clung to the inside of his mouth and throat, making it difficult to breathe.

His tongue felt as rough as sandpaper.

Once the sporadic gunshots had died away, he managed to hear the distant but unmistakeable sound of foreign voices.

He couldn't understand what they were saying but one of the men's voices sounded sharp so he risked a glance outside.

This was his first time seeing the devastation from the grenade. A bit further up the street, less than twenty feet away, one vehicle had been consumed by flames.

A thick cloud of angry grey smoke was already filling the sky as it burned through the fuel, blocking his view of the building across from him.

He focused his eyes but he could see nothing except the outline of the building. Swallowing his uncertainty, he turned back to the men.

The second car had been abandoned and its occupants were huddled in the street. He saw a young man with a rifle aimed directly at him. Panic flared in his chest but then he realised that the man wasn't looking at him, he was talking quickly over his shoulder at someone else.

Raising his own weapon as the man kept talking, he peered through the scope and set up the shot.

As his finger hovered less than a millimetre from the trigger, no quarrels going through his mind that he was about to kill another person, a sudden small gush of wind displaced the smoke that had been lingering near the two vehicles.

As it did so, he caught sight of the building across from him as well as a large, horizontal metal tube resting on one of the men's knees.

Frowning, he watched as the man tilted it up towards the same building which had been blocked from his view moments earlier.

Realising what it was, he re-settled his rifle into his shoulder and took the shot. He saw the man's body drop suddenly but he did not wait to see it hit the ground before he turned to the next insurgent. He had to stop them.

When another round of bullets travelled towards him he ducked back behind the wall and saw a small convoy of military vehicles heading up the street towards them.

But they would be too late.

Raising his hand he clicked on the headset and dispatched with all types of professionalism, his heart pounding inside his chest, "JULES! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!"

He didn't hear what, or if, she replied as a large exchange of bullets occurred outside. The terrorists had spotted the military convoy.

Under the cover of bullets, he got to his feet and ran out into the street. Keeping the building on his right, he sprinted as fast as he could down the street and raised his rifle when a man appeared from behind the second vehicle.

He shot him instantly. The others had moved into the middle of the street to fight the convoy, leaving him free to deal with the last two men. He was nearly there when they adjusted the weapon onto their shoulders and took aim.