Free Ultimate Power by Arno Joubert

pulled the pistol from the basket and fired two shots, splattering the dirty brown walls with their blood. They didn’t looked bored anymore, their eyes were wide open in surprise.  
    "Imagine that, a woman that can shoot, hell, a woman with a gun!" she said, then hitched up her dress and kicked at the door. It was made from solid wood. She kicked again and the frame ripped from the mud walls. Kids ran down the road, screaming as they went. A young girl stopped, turned and stared at her, her mouth agape. Alexa shooed her away.
    One more kick and the door crashed to the ground. She entered the room, swinging her Glock in a wide arc. Cushions lay scattered on the floor, and a plate was placed next to them with what remained of a half-eaten meal. She pulled the Burka off her head and slipped out of the robe.
    She shuffled to another door which stood wide open and cautiously entered the room. It was dark and smelled of sweat and stale cigarettes. A robed man turned around. He held a rifle and took aim, but Alexa dispatched him with a bullet to the head before he managed to fire. She scanned the room, wishing that her eyes would adjust to the dark already.
    “Alexa?” she heard from a dark corner.
    She spun to her right, saw the outline of a shape on the ground. She ran to the man. “General, are you all right?”
    Laiveaux was in a bad state. His eyes were swollen shut, blood dripping from his nose. He managed to force a weak smile. “Good day, Captain,” he said in a cracked voice.
    She surveyed the room. Another man lay dead in the corner, she recognized him as the agent that had been kidnapped by al-Qaeda a couple of months ago. Shit. Probably tortured to death.
    “We need to get out of here, my girl. They’re sending snipers in, they know that you’ve managed to track me down.”
    “Affirmative, General,” she said and put his arm around her shoulder. She hoisted him to his feet and started dragging him towards the door.
    A bullet thwacked into the wall and a small hole appeared, letting in a sliver of sunlight. Laiveaux fell backward, dragging Alexa with him. He groaned, clutching his shoulder, blood oozing from the wound where the bullet had struck. He pushed himself up on all fours. “They’re using thermal imaging scopes, get out of here, Captain.”
    Two more holes appeared in the wall and thumped into the ground, spraying dust in their face. She jumped up and grabbed Laiveaux by his collar, started dragging him out of the prison cell. She needed two walls between her and the shooter.
    A bullet zinged through the wall and thudded into her hamstring and she went down for a second, but she managed to prop herself upright again, putting all her weight on one leg. The general did his best to help her, crawling on all fours towards the doorway.
    They made it through the door as two bullets ricocheted off the floor, spitting up splinters of stone and dust. Alexa leaned against the wall and sucked in deep lungfuls of air. She had never been this slow to react in her life. She knew they had to keep moving, the sniper would change position and move to a location where he had only one wall to shoot through.
    Alexa pulled the two way radio from her belt. “Someone’s shooting at us, Neil. I need covering fire.”
    The radio crackled and hissed. “What?”
    “Someone shot us through the wall. They’re using thermal scopes.”
    “Shit. Okay, get out of there, I’ll cover you, over.”
    “Get us a Medivac, Neil.”
    “You injured?” he asked, his voice cracking.
    “Yes, both of us are wounded.”
    “Aw shit, Alexa. Okay, I’ll get the Medivac, but it’ll take them at least half an hour to reach us.”
    Alexa sighed. She swallowed and looked down at Laiveaux sitting cross-legged on the floor. A pool of blood had formed between his legs. “Okay, but you better take out that sniper.”
    “Affirmative.”
    “Please Neil, hurry.”
    She heard the radio click once.
    Alexa ducked as another shot exploded through