How Tree Huggers Fall Chapter 17

Hi there, folks! Okay, so I was back home in KL for more than a week and have not written since Fan Boy (which I'm sure all of you don't like very much, but I don't give a flying rat's ass). I hereby present: Chapter 17: How tree huggers fall. Will be in Calgary, Canada from the 14th of September till the 1st of October. Fancy that. Will definitely try to write a whole bunch of chapters for The Builder while I'm still around! Read older chapters of The Builder here: Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Leave me a comment... please? I am writing in the dark, here!

Also: all items used in the following chapter are actually still in use, and are mostly still the weapons of choice of certain governments. Disclaimer at the bottom.

Jake refrained from reminding her that he did not like being called “Jakie-poo” and waited till she gave some kind of signal that she was about to move. What was he supposed to do? Sit and wait, like the damned dog? He felt helpless, stupid and most of all, he was scared. Like a ten-year old. Like a baby. He did not know a thing about guns - had never held one in his life, he did not know how to fight – swinging a punch at a drunk in a bar does not count as being able to fight.

His eyes attempted to scan the darkness, almost as though he was willing the footmen to show themselves. He wished he was born with special powers that made him able to see in the dark or even sense enemies. But sadly, he was a regular guy, with regular strengths and unfortunately, regular weaknesses. There Jo was, in all her supreme glory, crouched and ready to attack anything that so much dared to move.

“Now’s not the time to feel sorry for yourself, Foster,” he thought to himself. “Get a grip. Help them. Grab the dog and make sure he doesn’t run out when Jo moves out of the room”. For a second, his eyes focused and refocused to adjust to the darkness, like a self-adjusting camera. Getting used to the darkness, he saw that the motel room was just as bland as the surroundings outside. The room was heated with excitement – only not the sexual kind.

“Jakie, pay attention. When I move, you grab the dog. Stay low and try not to look out the window. Big boys like you like to look out windows to watch what’s happening outside and usually end up dead. Don’t you worry. Once I’ve got the rifle and my own damned scope, I’ll let you play with it, okay?” she asked, patting him on the head like he really was a ten year-old school boy. He looked at her incredulously and merely nodded his head.

He gripped Hootch’s collar and pulled the excited dog close. She picked up her phone, pressed a few buttons and placed it on the wooden floor. It vibrated silently and she was out the door, her tall frame moved so fast and with such agility that he felt her, not saw her, leave. Instantly, multiple gunshots were fired and Jake thought his ear drums were about to burst. The dog had more sense than he did, and crouched under the bed. He knew the shots were being fired by James and Fallon, but did not know where Jo was, or if he should wait by the door for to help her in.

Figuring he was more of a liability than anything else, he decided to stay put. He wished he had been given a gun too, so that he could kill one of those people. The shots went on and on, like rain on a tin roof along with the sound of what he figured had to be the “flash bang” until suddenly, Jo burst through the door. She was not breathing heavily, but the perspiration that dotted her forehead was an indicator of how much she had exerted herself – and enjoyed it. She was smiling at him. The rifle she was holding was massive.

“Oh yes, this baby makes everyone purr, even grumpy kitties like you. It’s called a Barrett M107. It’s super fancy. The scope is a little shitty, but it weighs a little less than the average sniper rifle. I’ve only got one mag, so we’re going to have to do this in ten shots or less. God, this is one 14 kilo hunk of sexy,” she said easily, as if she were talking about baking cookies.

“You’re going to learn how this is going to go down,” she said as she flung what Jake thought had to be a night-vision scope at him. “We flash-banged the fuckers, but that’s all worn out. They prolly had to take off theirs, but you are going to wear it for me and be my eyes, okay, Jakie-poo? You tell me if anyone starts moving towards the room Fallon and James are holed-in or even where the shooter in the tree line is and I’ll shoot the mother fuckers. Meanwhile, let me concentrate on finding our tree hugging sniper with my own little PVS 4. One day, you’ll understand how beautiful warfare is,” Jo said, again, with no trepidation. She had to be referring to her own little night vision scope, which he assumed was called a PVS-4.

He picked it up, found a switch and peered through the lens. Almost magically, he saw the Hummer, U-haul truck and tree-line, washed in green paint. He looked systematically from left to right, from top to bottom and miraculously, he saw the movement of feet near the U-haul truck. It appeared as though whoever it was, crouched and was waiting for an opportunity to move.

Before he could say anything, Jake heard the loud, sharp, piercing sound of Jo’s sniper rifle go off, and what used to be two feet planted firmly on the ground was now replaced by half a body, an arm still gripping a gun and a head oozing blood. Almost instantly, Jo deftly rolled aside and took cover as shots were fired at the room they were holed-in.

“You see, we’ve given away our position by sniping that mo-mo fo-fo. Now, each time you snipe at something, you gotta move, you hear? Don’t get killed by staying and watching your target breathe his last breath. You gotta be sure you hit him, and you gotta be sure you move!” she explained perfunctorily. “Were you looking at where the shots came from? Tell me where the sniper is.”

“I, uh, I was, uh... distracted. Sorry. I have no idea where he is,” Jake said, feeling more useless than he ever had before in his life. Calling himself ten kinds of fool, he realised they had to move again, because the sniper would be watching the room and its entrance. And there was probably back up on the way, coming to finish the four of them off in one fell swoop.

Jo did not respond but instead picked up her mobile phone and sent what Jake thought was a message. As though she had communicated with Fallon and James telepathically, shots were fired from another location and Jo grabbed Jake, made a clicking sound at Hootch and the three of them were off – running towards the U-haul. All the while, Jake was sure that Jo was watching for the sniper, waiting for him to reveal his position. Jo crouched behind a wheel and opened the door to the U-haul and ushered Hootch in. Once
Hootch was in, she shut the door and returned to where she had left Jake.

“Let Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum handle the other foot soldier. That sniper has made a mistake of monumental proportions!” she said, now angry. She was holding what Jake noted to be a dark-coloured blanket in her hand – she must have gotten it when she put Hootch in the truck. Her phone buzzed and she checked it. “Hah. I knew it. Second footman dead. Now we’re going to have some fun. No matter how high, a bird’s nest is still a fucking bird’s nest and little birdies go ‘cheep-cheep’!”

Fallon and James were firing from yet another location and Jo took her time to set up - under the truck, covered herself with the blanket and got to a comfortable position. It was not easy to angle the gun at almost 45 degrees, with the weight of it purely borne by Jo, but she managed it with great ease. Jake found himself staring at her denim-covered rump and was surprisingly aroused at the sight of it. He would have found the whole situation funny if shots were not being fired around them.

As the flurry of gun shots flew from two different locations, Jo had managed locate the elusive sniper. Jake knew it was crunch time. She could not miss, if only because she would not be able to back out from under the truck to a safe location in time to avoid getting shot. Jake had the sense to point his PSV to the direction she was aiming and stood watch as she fired a single shot. Instantly, as if lighting had struck a tree trunk – shaped a lot like a man – he saw the sniper fall to the ground. He could not make out if he was alive, but he was definitely hit.

Jo was already out from under the truck and was standing close to James, behind the rear tyre. “Did I get
him?”

“Definitely. Don’t know if you killed him though,” Jake said, with a calmness that shocked him. Since when was he a professional “scout”?

“Let’s go get him,” Jo said as she signalled for James and Fallon to come out. Jo disappeared into the darkness and a few seconds later, a single shot was fired, piercing the silence that had fallen. If she had not killed him the first time around, she definitely had gotten him this time. James had dragged the second foot soldier to where the first lay and dropped him there. Jo and Fallon were dragging the sniper towards them.

“We have to go, and we have to go right now. I was not prepared and it was stupid. No one was jamming their radios. It’s only a matter of time before a whole fucking infantry descends upon us. Move out! Jo, raid that fucking vending machine!” James barked out, and just like that, sleep was no longer on the menu.

DISCLAIMER: This is a fictional story and serves with all intentions and purposes for entertaiment. Any concept, idea or person mentioned in the story of The Builder is completely fictional. Any similarities, apart from scientific facts and historical events, are purely unintentional.