Free Liberation (I Am Margaret Book 3) by Corinna Turner Page A

for extra sentry duty, I trust not to play with the safety catch.”
    Most of the people in here were under orders of the military kind. Hyena was a layman, but the Foxes, the Fish, Gerbil, the Birds and Giraffe were all Swiss Guards, whilst Hippo and Elephant were Vatican Police. Like Alligator (Jack) and Snail (Jacques!), Grass Snake and Bumblebee were VSS, Eduardo’s men. Bane had rescued Jack from official re-Christening as ‘Unicorn’ by saying that mythical beasts must be kept in reserve as code names for a future team. Jack had promptly picked Alligator, probably because it was the least similar animal imaginable!
    “Let’s have them back, then,” Bane was saying. “And look in the next one.”
    The pistols were replaced, the lid forced down again, and Father Mark repeated his trick with another ‘can opener’. Again the Foxes dragged the lid up and removed the foam. A short, delighted silence from everyone.
    “Oh yes!” said Bane, “ These are the things!”
    Everyone reached for one at once, crowding forward.
    “Just pass them round,” urged Father Mark. “Or we’ll have to unpack the whole crate.”
    One arrived in my hands at last and I examined it. A rifle. A nonLee rifle. Very cutting edge. Very expensive. I raised the butt to my shoulder and looked through the sights – nothing far enough away for it to focus on.
    “These are the things,” I agreed. Actually, our whole plan rested on these. If there’d been none on the train, it would’ve been very, very disappointing.
    The gleaming rifles were eventually reclaimed from their admiring fans and we moved on to the second to last crate. This time the awed silence went on for several moments.
    “Oh yes!” exulted Bane, snatching up one of the long, elegant sniper rifles. “This is the thing for you, Brown Bird.” He deposited the small fortune of military technology in my hands.
    I looked it over. Much like the rifles, just longer and sleeker in every way. A much more serious telescopic sight on top. The range would be considerably longer. Hence why Bane wanted to give me one. Keep me further from the machine guns.
    “I’ll be happy to use one if I’m the best person.”
    “You are. Here, Pussycat, take a look.” He passed one to Sister Krayj, as well.
    I shot Father Mark an appealing look, afraid Bane was letting his heart overrule his tactical sense. But Father Mark just smiled slightly.
    “He’s right. You’re two of our best shots, neither of you would be here otherwise. And you certainly can’t go hand to hand with anyone, Margo, so until the guards are neutralised, you’re the logical choice to be far away with that thing.”
    I shrugged and passed the rifle on to Snail and Bumblebee, who were trying to look like suave Vatican Secret Servicemen and not hop up and down with eagerness. Certainly I’d no excuse not to hit the target with one of those .
    “Only half a carriage of those,” Eduardo told Bane. “But we’ve a good number.”
    The guys drooled over the sniper rifles for ages . Sister Krayj and I sat down on either side of Jon and began yawning. Father Mark joined us and helped me struggle out of the boa constrictor vest.
    “That one didn’t really feel much different from the one before.” Jon sounded bemused.
    “Oh, to be a fly on the wall when the EuroGov get that invoice.” Father Mark smiled rather less pleasantly than usual.
    “How much do you think this little lot’s going to come to?” I asked.
    “Goodness knows. Millions of Eurons.”
    “How much credit have we got?”
    Father Mark burst out laughing.
    “Drop in the ocean, this will be. They really, really owe us a lot of money.”
    “It’s going to be one gracious reconciliation gesture if and when we finally have peace and the Holy Father lets them off that debt,” said Sister Krayj.
    “You think it’ll never be paid?” I said.
    “How could it possibly be paid? They’ve spent it all. They’d have to wring it out of their innocent –