A searing pain roared over Eve's left shoulder. Luckily, it was only a graze. Her muscle and flesh tore away, but her bone was untouched. Eve's hot blood seeped through her clothes, dying them a dark red.
She pushed past the pain and released Nia. "Ma'am, move! Inside—now! Everyone, take cover!"
Eve drove her handler up the stairs. The graze had been blind luck—Eve knew it. Now the sniper had their sights dialed in. The next shot wouldn't miss.
The instant they were indoors, she yanked Nia towards the left corridor of the cavernous hall without slowing.
Nia was already buzzing over comms as security scrambled to locate the sniper.
The well-trained marines by the door had taken cover, and once everyone had made it inside, the marines retreated, scanning for threats as they herded the crowd towards safe rooms without windows.
Unfortunately, they had the work cut out for them as the doors leading into the conference center were made of glass. Closing them wouldn't do much good, and the slight off chance of bullet refraction wasn't worth the marines risking their lives for.
In the end it didn't matter as the next round found its mark.
CRACK.
As they sprinted for the L-bend, a marine just behind Eve went down, the massive round tearing straight through his ballistic plates. He slammed into the floor with a heavy thud, his rifle going limp in his hands.
Shit.
Eve spun on her heel and dashed back. Grabbing him with both hands, she hauled the marine behind cover. A quick check told her he was still conscious, but the shot had messed him up badly. She had no medical kit of her own, but fortunately, he carried one.
She ripped open his medkit and clipped off his plate carrier.
"Ma'am, please call for a medic," Eve said calmly. The sharp agony from her shoulder helped her focus as she worked to get to the marine's wound. She'd been hit with much worse. This much pain she could easily work with.
However, she heard no response from Nia.
"Ma'am?"
Nia's voice quivered. "Yes, I got it."
Eve grit her teeth. She could tell that Nia was shaken. Even though she wanted to calm her handler, she needed to focus on the marine.
Her jacket was ruined, so Eve tore it off and rolled up the sleeves of her dress shirt. She loosened her tie so that she could breathe easier.
The man breathed heavily, panting. He couldn't speak, but his breathing wasn't the worst, which meant that he was still alive. In all likelihood, the round hadn't bit any vitals. Eve could save him.
"Excuse me, corporal." Eve grabbed the man's kit knife and cut open his BDUs.
Eve pushed Nia's shaking to the back of her mind as she examined the man's wound.
The bullet hadn't punched all the way through, and the man hadn't lost that much blood.
Then, the first priority would be to stop the bleeding.
Luckily, the standard issue quick-clot gauze patch was more than good enough for that. She gently eased the patch over his wound before using the bandages to bind the dressing in place. Looking through the kit, the marine didn't have morphine. This was, to the best extent, what Eve could do.
Letting the man rest next to the wall, Eve turned back to Captain Nia. "Ma'am, do we have any information from TOC—"
CRACK.
Another round snapped into the foyer. Luckily, no one was hit and the last of the attendees had moved to safety.
"They're still looking." Nia calmed down as her facade set in. "Stay still, sergeant. I'll patch up your shoulder."
Nia took the kit knife from Eve and unbuttoned Eve's shirt at the sleeve. The Captain pushed back her own tunic sleeves as she worked.
Even though Nia was an officer, she still trained and prepared for scenarios such as this. Her hands flew as she ripped through Eve's sleeve all the way up to her shoulder using the kit knife. Grabbing another wad of quick-clot gauze, she gently laid it on Eve's shoulder before binding it with more bandages from the marine's roll.
By the time Nia was finished, her hands were slick and warm with Eve's blood. Nia's hands shook.
Eve took a couple deep breaths. "Ma'am, are you okay?"
Eve was an on the ground operator. Nia, on the other hand, was a handler—an officer that usually took care of things and watched over them from the TOC. Whenever Eve or any other operators had gotten injured, Nia always visited them. However, by then they were usually patched up.
Seeing the fresh, vibrant blood on her hands was a new thing for Nia. Eve offered Nia her suit jacket to wipe her hands off.
Nia gratefully accepted. "I'm fine. It's just been a while since I've been on the ground."
The sniper had gone quiet.
That could mean anything from the sniper repositioning or simply waiting for someone to peek out. Eve moved to unclip the marine's rifle.
The man, barely conscious, tried to resist and clutched his rifle. Right now, Eve looked like a random bodyguard with a mask, and all soldiers were responsible for their weapons and every single round that came out of them.
"It's fine, Corporal. I'll take responsibility," Nia assured him firmly. "Stay still—don't waste your strength."
The corporal eased, recognizing the uniform and rank on Nia's sleeves and epaulettes. He let go, allowing Eve to take the rifle. Eve looked it over.
FLR series, LPVO, standard laser systems in front.
"Ma'am, do we have any intel on the sniper's location yet?"
"Not yet. Taeyeon's looking. They do have medics coming, though."
Eve snapped the LPVO over to 4x. She leaned against the wall.
Damn, I wish I had my BDUs and regular gear right now, Eve thought. For now, they needed to locate the sniper and get the injured marine to safety.
Eve shouldered the rifle and tapped the raised node on her tac mask near her cheekbone.
"Taeyeon, do you read me?"
- - -
{Taeyeon's POV}
Taeyeon's earpiece crackled with her squad leader's voice as she lay prone on the upper floor of a half-ruined building. Through a narrow peephole, her scope scanned the chaos below. In her hands rested a bolt-action sniper rifle—long, matte-beige, modular in design, with a suppressor fixed to the end. The weapon, built for special operations, was versatile enough to adapt to different calibres, though it was currently chambered in .338.
She had spent her time training in TRACE with both bolt-actions and designated marksman rifles, though her hands always felt more at home with the latter. Even so, her breathing steadied as muscle memory took over.
"Yes, Sergeant."
Beside her was a spotter who was racing through their paces. They were looking down at the pop-out screen from their plate carrier and back up to their spotting scope, trying to triangulate the sniper's position with ground units. Taeyeon was sure that information was flashing through their visor as well.
At this point, all ground traffic had completely stalled, and security was stretched thin as squads were sent out and requested for to evacuate civilians.
Sergeant Glen's voice crackled back over comms.
"What do you have so far?"
"Not much. My spotter's trying to pin them down."
"Roger."
Then Taeyeon heard her spotter speak up. They were a Royal Marine Spec Corporal who had a soft-spoken voice.
"Spec Corporal, I'm sharing the estimated location with you now."
A ping appeared in Taeyeon's vision.
She slid up her scope's zoom and focused in on the location. It was an open office building window, one amongst possibly hundreds that looked the exact same.
That's when she saw the sniper. They'd propped themselves up and were lying prone on a table. They didn't have many distinguishing features. Their face was hidden underneath a cap and they wore a comfortable business casual—nothing that impeded their concentration or ability to take shots while perfectly blending in with the office workers.
Damn, my spotter works fast, she thought.
Taeyeon couldn't make out the specifics of the rifle, but it looked like a domestic made bolt-action, with a suppressor and a killflash on the scope.
Her spotter soon spoke up again with the ranging and shot details to the sniper. "Stand by… range, 400 meters. Deflection, 1.2 left. Range, 400 meters. Deflection, 1.2 Left."
Taeyeon dialed in the specifics, lining the enemy sniper up clearly in her horus reticle. That's when she heard a command crackle over comms.
"All, this is GEPC TOC. If anyone has a shot on that sniper, take it."
Taeyeon spoke up.
"TOC, this is 2-1 Alpha. Requesting reconfirmation and sig[1] to engage."
She soon heard the reply.
"2-1 Alpha, this is Major Lin, commander of GEPC TOC. You are cleared to engage."
"Wilco."
Taeyeon steadied her breathing. Her spotter reported no changes in conditions as she slipped fully into her bubble where sound, movement, and distraction faded into nothing. Only her rifle remained, steady and absolute in her hands.
Through the scope, the hostile sniper shifted, starting to rise. Too late.
CRACK.
Taeyeon's rifle went off, the round snapping off sharply across the skyline. Whipping through the city, it slammed squarely into the enemy sniper's chest. They slumped over onto the table, unmoving.
Taeyeon slowly breathed out as she allowed the sound to render back in her brain.
"TOC, this is 2-1 Alpha. Splashed one hostile. Requesting kill check."
[1] Signature. To my knowledge, this is most common when calling in for CAS or an airstrike danger close to your own forces, but this means you're asking for the signature of someone in command there on the ground to take responsibility for your action. Taeyeon's doing so now since she's about to shoot in a civilian-populated area (city), so she wants a commander's signature authorizing her shot in addition to the order.