Chapter 26

Shannon did not scream. She did not cry. She did not even fall for cover. She was stuck. Her body would not move as the red light over the barrel came on. Shannon had been around enough guns to know what that meant. The man in black reached out with the weapon, took aim, and Shannon’s eyes were glued to the end of the barrel when he pulled the trigger.

She was still looking at the man as he lowered the weapon, peacefully turned, and walked away. Then Chuck came running down the hall from Ops. He practically slid in on his knees and stopped right beside her. Chuck put his arms on the girls shoulders and looked her in the eye, “hey kid, are you all right? Shannon? Say something?”

Slowly, Shannon looked over her shoulder and saw ‘Uncle Al’ laying in a pool of his own blood. There was a bullet hole right between his eyes. They were both still wide open too. Shannon gazed into those lifeless orbs and she saw surprise and fear in them. He might be dead but his face had frozen his last thoughts for posterity.

Chuck pried the man’s grip loose and gently helped Shannon to her feet. He was definitely hovering and Shannon was not in the mood. She began slapping away his hands and then ran into the Ops center. She saw the guy, the one that had been at the bottom of the stairs with ‘Uncle Al’ laying on the floor just as dead as his partner. It looked like he took his shot to the back of the head though.

Shannon’s head snapped around towards the stairs and she saw this shadow man walking calmly away. A second later it was like he had never even been there in the first place. Shannon quickly forgot about it though. There was Danni, slumping in a chair, alive and well! Shannon ran to her and grabbed the girl in an embrace so tight that Danni felt almost like she was in another fight!

“I’m OK Shannon!” Exclaimed Danni. The kid still did not want to let go. Danni had to work herself free and it felt like she was fighting an octopus doing it. Danni’s voice kept softening though. It was having an effect on the teenager. Every time Danni said, “I’m ok, I’m ok,” Shannon believed it a little more.

The sounds of footfalls on the staircase made Danni tense up one more time. Seeing a man completely dressed in black slowly walking up the stairs, once again, almost set Danni off in a panic. It took Chuck, running in between them with his hands out, saying over and over, “it’s ok he’s a friend,” before Danni or Shannon would start to relax. They never completely could and that was even when all this new stranger did was nod to Chuck. On that signal they began collecting the bodies and dragging them away.

When Chuck came back up, finally by himself, he was busy with a towel. He had blood on his hands and chest. Danni forced a few more breaths and with all the calm she could muster, “who the hell was that?”

Chuck tossed the towel into a pile of junk, leaned over counter that faced the sea, dropped his head, and then shook it as he replied, “you don’t want to know darling. Trust me, I don’t even want to know.”

A subdued squawking noise snapped Shannon out of her daze. She ran over to the radio and picked up the headset. After she slid it on she said, “It’s Tony! He needs landing instructions. He’s bingo fuel.”

Chuck was still trying to recover from his experience when he waved for the girl to give him the headset. As Chuck relayed the needed information to Tony, Shannon started to think about what was going on before the attack. She shivered and then exclaimed, “oh my god! Kent’s still in the water!”