Crisis in the Ashes by Johnstone William W

Author:Johnstone, William W. [Johnstone, William W.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2014-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

Claire Osterman was furious. She exited her command bunker in such a towering rage that no one dared try to stop her. She stalked over to Knoff, who was standing over the assassin’s body, smoke still trailing from his Uzi barrel.

“What the hell is the meaning of this?” she shouted, causing Knoff to turn and look at her.

“Madam President, you shouldn’t be out here until we make sure there are no others left,” he said, his voice muffled by his helmet and armor.

“Screw that! I want to know how this bastard was able to get so close, and who sent him.”

“He’s still alive. Would you like to ask him?” Knoff asked.

Claire used the toe of her boot to turn Sadallah’s body over onto its back. She squatted next to him and slapped his face, back and forth, until his eyes flicked open.

“Who are you?” she asked, her voice shrill in the night air.

“I . . . I am Jackal,” Sied mumbled though lips covered with blood.

“The Jackal!” Claire screamed. “Why you son of a bitch, I’ve hired you myself in the past. How dare you try to kill me?”

Sied licked the blood from his lips and bared bloody teeth in a grin. “Nothing personal . . . it was . . . business.”

She reared back and slapped his face so hard it made his eyes roll back in his head. “Who hired you? Who paid you to do this?”

His eyes cleared momentarily. “Your old friend . . . Ben Raines. He said . . . he was sending you a message about . . . breaking the rules.”

“Breaking the rules? Why you little shit! I’m the president . . . I make the rules.”

Claire stood up and held out her hand to Knoff. “Give me your pistol, Herbert.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, handing her a Walther P-38 semi-automatic 9mm.

She jacked the slide back and pointed it between Sied’s eyes.

“One thing more,” the assassin mumbled, motioning her to come closer.

She leaned over, and he spat a glob of bloody mucous in her face.

Rearing back, she screamed, “You bastard!” and fired at point blank range, the pistol bucking and exploding in her hand.

The bullet took Sied in the forehead, shattering his skull and showering Claire with blood and brains and tissue.

She took a deep breath and calmly handed Knoff his pistol. “I’ll show that bastard Raines who makes the rules,” she growled as she walked back toward her bunker.

“Herbert, get out of that suit and join me in my room. I have need of your services,” she said over her shoulder.

Knoff glared at Sadallah, thinking that if he wasn’t already dead he’d kill him himself for causing Osterman to order him to her bedroom. He shook his head. It was a lousy way to make a living.

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