Friends With Shadows – Chapter 13 (…continued….)

Writer’s Note: For you new readers that just happened to stumble across this… This book is being written as you’re reading it. It’s an experiment. I don’t think a book has been written this way with the ultimate goal of being published. Upside, you can participate, share, and comment on what I’ve written. I do read your feedback and I do take your comments/criticisms seriously. Downside: this is a rough draft, so you’re going to get bad grammar at times, punctuation mishaps, and a plot hole here and there. By the time this book is done being written, I’ll have a completed piece of literature that you can be like a hipster about and say, “I read the book when it was a blog.” Cool, right! So, here is the continuation of Chapter 13! Get reading, my friends!

Chapter 13 (continued)

Again, irritated at having to look after this guy while Big Rich takes a siesta, she shoves his body back into the car and does her best to lift Big Rich’s hulking carcass onto the seat next him. A brief pause to catch her breath and she moves to the other side using the vehicle as a crutch. Cherie falls into the driver’s seat and starts up the 383 cubic inches of old fashioned Detroit steel, hits the gas and drives off to rendezvous with Command.

Arriving at an unsuspecting building, Cherie makes a call on her phone and gives todays code word with the all clear signal. She makes contact with the Security Chief and requests assistance with the two men in the backseat that behave like trash bags full of water in their unconscious state. The Security Chief sends out a half of a dozen armed guards to keep watch and assist with the two men in the car.

As the three of them entering to the building, a young girl with hair pulled back and dozens of frizzy fly-aways, gives a quick visual analysis and takes vitals to ensure they are relatively healthy.

Cherie shoos off the young girl repeatedly telling her, “I’m fine. Worry about them.”

The girl stops the caravan inside the main building hallway facing Cherie, closes her eyes and then starts reciting medical vernacular. Cherie is hypnotized and amused watching her eyes move behind the closed eyelids as if she were reading a book. The girl continues to recite medical words and facility policy with eyebrows raised and hands at stomach level palms facing out in a “stop” position. Cherie yields and tells her to make the check-up quickly, she has more important items to deal with.

The girl with the textbook behind her eyelids tells the guards to take Big Rich and the new guy to the second floor, room 207 and 208. The guards, not used to taking orders from anyone but their direct commander, looked at each other and at the tiny lady snapping off directives, not moving. Two of the bigger guards flinched when she lurched forward at them with her shoulders raised, feet arches flexed on her toes, and voice lowered but forceful, “Now!”

Cherie smirked, “You heard her, gentlemen!”

The guards starting moving, double-time, as if they had a flashback to boot camp. The young girl, clearly proud of herself, smiled and fixed one of the frizzy fly-aways unaware there were dozens more that need attention. Cherie patted the girl’s should and then took a set of stairs going to debrief with the Commanding Officer.

…TO BE CONTINUED….

Friends With Shadows – Chapter 13

Writer’s Note: Ok, so I decided to move on to Chapter 13 after a good amount of the dreaded and very real writer’s block. I can always go back and fix and add later, right? I think you’re in for a real treat, this chapter is developing the character “Cherie” – we’re going to see more into her personality and who she is what she does and how she handles business. Enjoy the beginning of Chapter 13 my avid readers and generally curious audience!

Chapter 13

Cherie dumped the useless pile of flesh into the backseat of her 1964 Chrysler New Yorker; she still wasn’t certain why Big Rich believed this guy could be of use. Annoyed she has to be the caretaker, she slammed the trunk of the car, she racked the slide of her vintage M4 Colt Commando. Clearing the entrance of the warehouse she stayed in the shadows looking for Big Rich, cautious the attackers were nearby.
She saw a target at the far end of the warehouse and began firing. Cherie pulled out her phone and sent a message to her contact requesting an evacuation. Bullet fragments flew by her face, peppering the area – there must be another unseen target. She stepped closer firing suppression rounds and using the remaining crates and pallets that were standing as cover. She realized her only cover lead her into the light making her an obvious target for the second shooter – and also where Big Rich was lying, moving, but unconscious. Checking for a pulse, Big Rich appeared alright. Cherie moved the boards and splintered wood that were on top of him and began dragging him back to a more secure position – aware the other shooter could be moving in.

Response came back from her contact advising evacuation personnel are en route and had been dispatched before she made contact. Contact advised there was a shooter on the roof that will be neutralized as priority as long as she can maintain her position on the ground. Cherie advised that there were unknown number of assailants, two that she was aware of but she’s not sure if there are more. Contact notified her they just completed a scan and the rooftop assailant has been removed as a threat and there is only one left. Cherie began to back away from her position towards the front of the warehouse. More shots were fired from the shooter aimed at her last known position. Standing behind a pillar, Contact let her know she was clear for exit and stepped out into the street, dragging Big Rich, headed for her New Yorker.

Cherie didn’t look back to see what happened next but could feel the heat at her back and the splinters from the building zip by her face. She closed her eyes for a moment, praying a stray piece of shrapnel doesn’t find itself embedded in a lethal place against her skin. She opened her eyes in time to see the snitch had got out of the car and then slam his head from the force against the frame of the car door leaving a dent in her otherwise pristine vehicle. Cherie and Big Rich both received an extra stumbling push from the explosion, moving them closer to the vehicle.