Free (2013) Shooter by Jack Parker Page B

breaths to calm herself.
    I just hoped that I was right.
    The scuffling noise got closer, and I was finally able to see what the source was. The Asian was dragging a chair along the floor.
    It had someone on it, bound, with a black hood over his head. The bag rustled, he was grunting something. He must have been gagged as well.
    Who the hell is that?
    Julia subconsciously scooted closer to me.
    I couldn't utter another word. What were we supposed to be doing? I didn't like the errant thoughts that bubbled up.
    Jason walked right up to the chair and took the hood off the man's head quickly.
    I saw his face, one I'd never seen before.
    Kendall walked up beside me, holding a gun, and I tried not to flinch when he put a hand on my shoulder. "I want you to kill this man."
    I'm not even sure I realized what I heard the first time. "You want me to…"
    "
Take this man's life." He finished with a grim tone.
    I blinked several times. "I… I can't…just…
kill
someone!"
    I didn't ask why he wanted me to kill somebody. After all, nothing else about this made any sense, why would that?
    "
Both of your lives depend on this. You can, and you will." His voice went frigid again, and something cold and metallic pressed into my right hand.
    A gun. To kill a faceless stranger in front of me.
    My heartbeat quickened. "I cant just kill him." I shook my head, as though that would make it all be over. I pleaded silently to all the people here. I can't do it. "Please."
    The Asian man slipped the hood off of the man's head.
    The man glanced around the room, terrified utterings periodically escaping the gag. He was shaking his head hysterically, and fighting his bonds with extreme effort. His face was red and veins stood out on his forehead. He looked like an older man.
    "
Who is that?" I croaked lamely.
    "
It doesn't matter." Kendall answered smoothly, and I felt my wrists fall free. I was still holding the gun.
    I raised my arm and looked at it for a moment, trying to come up with a way out… I could fight, couldn't I?
    No. I would be shot before I could do anything. I'd never even held a gun before. And the three in the corner looked like badasses.
    The pistol was custom, ivory handle etched with the image of a skull and crossbones. The barrel was longer than most, made for accuracy. Someone put a lot of love into this gun. Did they know what it was being used for?
    "
Graecia. Do it."
    I stared away from he gun and met Julia's eyes. She was watching me with a mixture of horror, pity, and pleading.
    I met Keller's cool gaze and pleaded silently, shaking my head slowly. He shook his immaculately groomed head and nudged me toward the stranger.
    "
Do it." Sinclaire added from somewhere off to my side.
    I felt all eyes on me as I waged a mental war with myself.
    I not only held my own life in my hands, but those of two others as well. And the enormity of the 'task at hand' truly set in.
    Could I become a killer?
    Even to save my own life? Someone else's?
    Would I? Was it truly worth it?
    If I don't, they'll just kill all of us. Surely there wasn't any need for
everyone
to die?
    But I'm being told to commit murder.
    And how did I know that this wasn't all a sick game and they weren't just going to shoot me in the back after I did the deed?
    One hot tear rolled down my cheek, and I watched the helpless stranger ahead of me.
    "
I can't just kill someone." I was on the very verge of a hysterical crying fit, my self-control hanging by a thread.
    Kendall snapped his fingers, and two of the black-suited figures sauntered over and grabbed Julia and dragged her away from me. He snapped again, and the last figure, the female, came over and shuffled to a stop right behind me.
    I heard a barely discernible 'click', and chilled metal pressed against the nape of my neck.
    I froze.
    Another click, farther off, and my eyes danced over to Julia, who stood with another gun against her temple.
    She looked closer to hysteria than I was, and silently mouthed just one