Age of Blood

16

Walker was the only one doing something. He’d seen them earlier, but had written them off because they didn’t seem to be moving in his direction. But while he’d been paying attention to the show below, they’d managed to inch closer and closer until they were half a block away. There were five of them. Gangbangers. In their teens. Each had a piece tucked into their pants, revealed only when they turned, their shirts flaring to show the weapons nestled at their waistbands.

He moved low across the roof to the Stoner, got prone, and examined them through the scope. It was immediately obvious that they were trying not to look directly at the building. Using a series of sidelong glances, they kept their eye on it, though.

Walker decided that they needed to know a little about what they were about to do before they did it. He could just put a round through one or all of them, but would probably lose good guy status if he did. So instead, he sighted and slammed a round through the bottle the lead boy was carrying. The sound of the glass breaking in the street was louder than the sound of the suppressed round leaving through the silencer screwed into the end of the SR-25’s barrel.

The bangers scattered, three running full-speed back up the street. The other two, including the one who’d held the bottle, ducked into doorways.

Walker waited a second for one to poke his head out and look. When he did, his large brown eyes went wide as a round tore into the stucco mere inches from his head. He took off after his friends.

“Walker, report,” came Holmes’s voice.

“Five potentials. Four scattered. One left. They know something’s going on here.”

Walker listened as Yank was ordered to the roof, and then they were both commanded to secure the perimeter. When Yank arrived, he reported what he’d seen. They each took an end of the roof, switching to infrared when the sun had set, all the while listening to Laws take the mafia men to school.