12 Minutes (#2 in Military series)

Chapter 15

He looked around them, "Where is Julia?"

"I have a good idea," Carlos sighed as he heard the gunfire again.

Marc frowned as he began to join the dots together.

"Come on, we need to hurry," Carlos dragged Marc to his feet.

*

Walking backwards towards cover, Julia felt the rifle recoil into her shoulder as vibrations tingled through her fingers and up her arm. She wasn't sure if she hitting anything but she could hear the metallic pinging as her bullets hit the vehicles.

Somewhere, she heard a tyre pop.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as bullets whizzed past her head and exploded in the walls behind her, turning brick into dust.

Retreating out of the alley and into the street, Jules knew she was outnumbered and the feeling was almost paralysing.

Kneeling behind a garage, the rifle resting just above her knee, Julia tried to steady her breathing and clear her thoughts.

Peering around the edge, she spotted a man approaching the alleyway. She had to keep them at a distance.

Lining up the shot, Julia fired a single round into his kneecap and watched as his blood decorated the jeep door behind him.

As the man collapsed to the ground, screaming profanities in his native tongue, Jules ducked back behind the garage as another hail of bullets descended upon her.

When there was a pause in the firing, Julia stuck her rifle back out from behind the wall and fired a small burst in their direction, hoping to keep them at bay. A few seconds later, they returned fire.

Julia needed to get across the opening and head back to the apartment. She needed backup and-

"-Marc?" Julia frowned when she glanced up the street, looking for a way to get across, when she saw Marc and the others hurrying towards her in single file.

Motioning with hand signals as they neared the opening, Carlos and Twitch were about to break off and find a better vantage point, when someone ran out from behind Marc and sprinted for the alley.

A second later Julia saw that it was Hasan and she felt as if her stomach had dropped.

"Hasan, stop!" Jules pointed her rifle directly at him, afraid of his intentions, but Hasan kept going, "Hasan, stop or I will fire!" Her finger hovered over the trigger, the rifle aimed at his chest.

"Darya!" Hasan shouted, nearing the alley.

Julia had to make a split second decision. She did not know what Darya and Hasan had planned and she had to protect her team.

As Hasan's hand gripped the corner of the wall to propel himself into the alley Julia shot at the space next to his fingers. Brick blew up into his face, knocking Hasan back into the street next to Carlos who was waiting to take him by the shoulder.

"Hey!" Carlos exclaimed when he saw how close her shot was, "You could have shot me!"

Jules gave him a wink as Hasan held his hand against his chest. Jules saw Carlos beside him giving her an unimpressed look.

Julia shrugged but kept her rifle trained on him as she spotted Kazeem trying to move past Marc but he had a hand on his shoulder, keeping him back.

"Julia, we can explain!" Kazeem called from far away, "They're not hostiles! You don't need to shoot."

"Hostiles?" Hasan looked back at his brother in shock as he realised why they had been shooting.