"What's wrong?"
Teri quickly noticed the bike was slowing down.
Hunter didn't answer. The moment he stopped the bike...
Blocking Teri's view with his body, he pulled out the Armalite AR-15 he had bought in Boston.
"We're being watched. That plane has been following us the whole way."
Hunter got off the bike and placed the rifle case on the ground.
He opened it quickly, assembled the rifle, and attached the scope.
Teri's face went pale.
Her plump body trembled with fear.
"Is it Slavi's people?"
Having been controlled by the Russian mob for years, she had picked up bits and pieces of information about their capabilities.
Hunter ignored her. In the past few days, he had familiarized himself with the new rifle.
He expertly mounted the high-powered scope onto the rail.
"Alright, buddy. It's all on you today."
After spending over $20,000 on the weapon, Hunter didn't regret buying the scope and accessories that cost ten times more than the base gun.
He slapped a 25-round magazine of 7.62mm ammo into the mag well.
Holding the rifle, he looked up at the sky.
After leaving the Interstate, the backroads had poor lighting.
To keep tracking them, the Cessna 172 had dropped lower and lower.
Especially after Hunter swerved onto this secluded dirt road.
The plane dropped even further.
It was now only 30-40 meters above the ground.
Perhaps surprised by Hunter's sudden stop...
The plane, flying at a constant speed, overshot them by several hundred meters.
Realizing they had lost the target, the pilot banked hard, circling back to search.
"Go over there and lie down. Don't come out until I call you."
Hunter pointed to a shallow depression near the road.
Seeing the assault rifle in his hands, Teri was terrified.
She scrambled off the bike clumsily.
Glancing fearfully at the gun, she followed his order and crouched in the ditch.
Hunter watched her out of the corner of his eye but didn't correct her posture.
He raised the rifle, his eyes locked on the plane overhead.
With physical strength double that of an average man, he handled the AR-15's recoil effortlessly.
Safety off. He aimed at the sky.
Locking onto the plane, he peered through the scope set to 3x magnification.
The small aircraft was descending again, dangerously close to the ground—less than 30 meters.
He pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Three shots. All hit the plane, but none hit the fuel tank.
Second shot, third shot—same result.
Hunter frowned. With [Shooting Lv 4], he hit stationary targets within 100 meters with 100% accuracy.
Even at 200 meters, his hit rate was over 95%.
But hitting the fuel tank of a moving aircraft while tracking it in the dark proved difficult. He was hitting the fuselage, but missing the critical component.
"Not good!"
The gunshots startled the pilot.
The plane immediately pulled up, trying to climb to a safer altitude.
"Damn it!"
Hunter cursed silently. He gave up on the fuel tank.
Aiming at the cockpit windshield, he squeezed the trigger rapidly.
Bang... Bang... Bang...
Shot after shot rang out.
With the aid of [Shooting Lv 4] and his superhuman visual tracking...
Bullets slammed into the aircraft one after another.
Several holes appeared in the cockpit glass.
Finally, just as Hunter was about to empty the magazine...
The plane, which had climbed over a hundred meters, shuddered violently in the air.
Then, as if losing control, it nosedived toward the ground.
Moments later, the nose pulled up slightly—someone was trying to regain control.
But it was too late.
The plane wobbled, glided northwest for a few hundred meters, and crashed.
Boom!
An explosion lit up the night sky.
A smile appeared on Hunter's face.
"Lv 4 Shooting might not be enough to hit a dime on a moving target..."
"But hitting a plane-sized object? I can do that all day."
"Bad luck for you guys."
He quickly stored the rifle and case back into his Personal Inventory.
He looked at Teri, who was huddled in the ditch, trembling with her back to him.
He couldn't be bothered to explain the gun. If she asked, he'd lie and say he threw it away.
"Teri, come back!" he shouted.
Hearing his voice, Teri cautiously raised her head from the ditch.
She saw Hunter back on the bike, ready to go.
"Hurry up!"
"I shot the plane down. The people tracking you will definitely come to check the crash site."
"We have maybe 15 or 20 minutes. If we move fast, we can escape safely."
Teri stared at the flames in the distance and heard the secondary explosions.
She didn't know how Hunter shot down a plane in the dark.
But having such a mysterious and capable protector...
Teri suddenly felt a surge of confidence about escaping her hellish life.
She scrambled to get up. But trying to climb out of the shallow pit, she misstepped.
"Ah!"
She cried out in pain.
Hunter looked over, surprised. He noticed she was wearing high heels—terrible for running.
Teri had been intentionally ruining her looks by overeating to avoid clients, making her figure quite plump.
She wasn't exactly athletic.
Seeing this, Hunter got off the bike.
He pulled her out of the ditch and helped her onto the seat.
"Hold tight. I'm speeding up again."
Teri wrapped her arms tightly around him from behind.
The engine roared to life.
They sped away from the backroad, but didn't return to the highway immediately. Instead, they continued forward.
Following road signs, they drove for over twenty minutes before merging onto another Interstate highway at a different junction.
More than an hour later...
They arrived in Springfield, Massachusetts (not Illinois, context correction below), over 100 kilometers from Boston.
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