Lady Death

fast craft. Schrader used it for fishing. But with the cars destroyed, he had no other means of escape.
Schrader waited until Speidel reached the halfway point. He took a deep breath and climbed over the rail. His stomach lurched. He was two stories up. It wasn’t as if he was descending the side of his skyscraper office building. He’d practiced the escape many times, but never attempted the effort under stress.
Raven was out there with high-powered weapons.
Schrader would be a fly on a wall as he made the trip down.
Raven could swat him without breaking a sweat.
“Hurry!”
Schrader blinked. Speidel had reached the patio. He was still standing in the open. He was trying to show Schrader it was safe. He was being stupid. He should have taken cover.
“Sir, come on!”
If I slip, I’ll break a leg or worse...
Schrader inhaled deeply and reached a leg out for the nearest step. Then his other leg. Holding onto the adjoining bar installed beside the steps for stability, he started down.
Nobody fired at his back. His confidence surged. Resolve replaced doubt. Drifting smoke stung his eyes, but he ignored the discomfort. Another step. Another. Almost...
His right foot slipped. Schrader let out a cry as he shuffled for a hold, but gravity took over. He plunged to the concrete below and screamed.
Sebastian Speidel knew a broken ankle when he saw one.
The boss landed on his right foot, the ankle snapping. Rolling onto his side, Schrader tried to stifle another yell. He batted Speidel’s assistance away.
Speidel ignored his boss and grabbed him under each arm, hauling the older man upright.
“Lean on me!”
Schrader put his weight on Speidel’s left side, holding his right foot off the ground. He used his left as best as he could as the pair crossed the patio to the grass. The lake seemed so far away...
Speidel almost stopped as something buzzed over his head. Another buzz behind him. Suppressed gunfire! Speidel surged forward. Schrader yelled in protest.
And then Schrader’s body jerked and the older man fell from his grasp. A hammer-blow struck Speidel in the shoulder and he fell too.
Nobody exited the garage.
Raven looked up from the IR optic mounted on top of his carbine.
Where was Schrader?
A scream from the patio caught his attention.
Raven peered through the sight and swung the M4 Commando to the right. He laughed. There was Schrader on the ground, Speidel helping him up. Raven didn’t take the time to figure out how they reached the patio.
His finger tightened on the trigger.
A twig snapped behind him.
Raven rolled left. He stopped on his back and brought up his weapon in search of targets.
In the dark, his mind racing, he felt disoriented. But moving shadows presented themselves. He fired. The carbine stuttered. A gunner’s clipped yell signaled a hit. Raven shifted and fired again, another gunner dropping. Still on his back, he buttoned out the empty magazine and slammed home a loaded stick. He looked left, right, twisted his body in another direction. No further threats.
Rising, he re-acquired Schrader and Speidel. They were halfway across the patio. Heading for the lake? Raven didn’t care. He braced against a tree and fired single shots. Two missed. The third scored. Schrader dropped. The fourth took down Speidel.
Men shouted nearby. Gunners closing fast. Raven bolted across the field to the patio. He had to be sure. Even if he caught a bullet, he had to know he’d killed Hugo Schrader.

15
Sebastian Speidel rose to hands and knees. Pain filled his body. His eyed watered from the smoke and strain. Blood drenched the side of his suit.
Raven let him get no further. The M4 Commando spit twice. The 5.56mm tumblers ripped open the back of his head and he remained a motionless heap.
Schrader lay on his side. Low moans escaped his mouth. Raven used a foot to push the older man onto his back. He stared into the man’s pained face.
Schrader’s eyes looked blankly at Raven.
“Guess you’ll miss your party,” Raven said. “Sucks, don’t it?”
Raved fired once. Schrader’s body spasmed, then lay still. The man’s face relaxed. He’d met the end he’d caused for so many others.
Raven felt no remorse.
But now he had to escape.
Gunfire nicked at Raven’s feet as he ran.
Men shouted as they pursued. From behind, and on his right.
Darkness was his friend, the smoke from the burning house hanging thick in the air an ally. Raven was exiting the way he’d arrived. He needed to shake the gunners and get back to the hidden Audi.
Raven dived into the tree line. He had one grenade left and tossed it at the nearest gunners, those converging from the right. The other set was at the patio now, and both units would soon form one.
The grenade blast flashed brightly. Men screamed. Gunfire snapped. Raven ran. He had two enemies, the gunners and now the terrain. A fall like the one Schrader took would doom him same as it had the terror master.
Branches reached out like bony fingers. The uneven ground made balance critical, Raven sucking breath in surprise at the rise and fall of his sprint. He leapt over a fallen log only to land on slanted ground. He fell hard. The ear bud from the stolen radio popped out of his ear. Rushing boot steps and shooting told him all he needed. As shots nicked foliage around him, he knew they’d zeroed on his position.
He braced on the fallen log and fired into the shadows, shifting the muzzle, shooting on instinct. He couldn’t see any better than the enemy. No yells indicated hits.
Somebody yelled to cease fire. Raven reloaded. The new boss kept shouting instructions. Raven had an idea. The boss didn’t want his guys shooting at themselves. Fair enough. But if Raven could trick them into shoot each other...
Raven unscrewed the suppressor from the end of his weapon and slipped it into a pocket.
He stayed low. The searchers were not being quiet. Raven scooted back from the log, rose to a crouch, and squeezed the trigger.
He let one