Authors note: - This is a follow on to the previous episodes of Becca XXX Dangerous Cargo. Please read them before reading this or you will not understand the plot or characters
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KNOCK -KNOCK....
The sound of a man's fist banging against my door was almost as deafening as my own heart pounding in my chest.
Lexa and I stood still and silent in the darkness of my hallway. After our blissful lovemaking, this was a bad end to a beautiful night. We were both still naked. Lexa had a kitchen knife in her hand and I had my trusty Russian nine-millimetre silenced pistol.
I held my hand up to Lexa to tell her to keep quiet. We had to make this look natural and it was my flat we were standing in, so I took charge.
Having already peered through the spy-hole, I knew that the guy at the door had a pistol in his hand. Three of his friends were with him, knocking on other doors in the tower block. They were all looking for me and they were all armed. One had a sawn-off shotgun; one had a pistol and the last guy had an MP7. That told me that they were The Lees. Only The Lees had that model of weapon.
At this time of night, anyone knocking on doors would expect the occupant to be in bed. That meant that there would be a brief delay between his knock and the door being answered.
KNOCK -KNOCK....
It was louder this time as he became impatient.
I pictured myself being woken from my bed in the early hours of the morning. I'd be bleary-eyed after being woken from a deep state of sleep. Sleep patterns run in cycles of light and deep sleep throughout the night. At two o'clock in the morning I'd have been away with the fairies so I had to make it look and sound convincing. I would have woken up and then trudged to the door to switch the light on.
I stomped my feet on the floor to fake the sound of my footsteps. I then nodded at Lexa who switched on the hallway light.
"Who is it?" I asked tentatively, trying to sound sleepy.
"Open the door. It's the police," he lied.
I peered through the spy-hole as my act continued.
"You don't look like the police," I said. "What do you want?"
"Just open the door, lady."
"Show me some ID. first," I replied. "This is a bad neighbourhood. I don't open my door to strangers."
"I'm an undercover police officer. I don't carry ID. Now open the door or I'll have to force entry."
He wasn't very good at lying. All police officers were made to carry ID. His act was paper thin.
I looked at Lexa and she put her mouth to my ear and spoke quietly. Contrary to popular belief, the sound of a whisper travels further than a quiet voice. A whisper is at a higher frequency and higher frequencies travel further than lower ones.
"We need to take him out quickly and quietly before he alerts the others," she said. "Open the door and control his weapon. Drag him inside and I'll do the rest."
I nodded.
"Just a minute," I said through the door.
I undid the chain and took a deep breath as I visualised what I was about to do. After seeing him through the spy-hole, I knew that the guy was right-handed. I also knew that the door opened inwards from my left to right. That meant that his weapon-hand was going to be nearest to me as I opened the door. I practiced the movement required in my mind and finally opened up.
As soon as the gap was large enough, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the room. Lexa kicked the door shut and I rolled the guy's wrist up and around as I pushed down on his shoulder to control him.
Lexa moved in and stabbed the kitchen knife straight through the back of his neck, killing him instantly. His spinal cord was severed within a split second of me opening the door and I doubted he even knew what had happened. We controlled his descent to the ground, to keep the noise down and Lexa pulled her knife out of his neck. Surprisingly, there was very little blood. She hadn't severed an artery; it was a clean, silent kill.
"Take his weapon," I said softly. "I'll check the corridor."
As Lexa took the guy's pistol, I switched the lights off and peered out into the corridor again. His mates were still checking the other flats and they seemed oblivious to what we'd just done to their friend.
"There's still three of them left," I said. "They seem unaware."
"Good. I need to go for the MP7. This
will be too noisy. Stealth is our best weapon right now."
She was right and she was definitely on my wave length. Going out there all guns blazing would be a suicide mission and it would endanger innocent people. Tony had once told me that the greatest victories are the ones you never have to fight and he was right. If we could stay silent, maybe the rest of The Lees would walk on by without even realising what had happened.
Lexa disappeared into my bedroom and I heard her moving the blanket out of the way and retrieving the sub-machine gun. Ironically, I now wished that I'd kept them both in my flat instead of hiding one for my own protection at my storage unit.
She was back in a flash and I watched her check that the weapon was made ready. She pulled the cocking lever back and checked for shiny brass in the breach. I'd already told her it was made ready, but it's always best to check. I'd have done the same in her position.
"Only shoot if we have to," she said quietly. "The walls in this place are paper thin and we don't want any collateral damage."
"I know, but let me do the shooting. The MP7 is quiet, but not as quiet as this," I replied, holding up the Makarov.
"Ok. Keep watch on the corridor, I need to get dressed."
She placed the weapon on the kitchen counter and moved back to the sofa. Within seconds she had her short skirt and shirt back on without bothering with any underwear. She just needed the bare minimum to cover her naked flesh so she left her bra and panties on the floor.
She slipped her boots on and then looked out of the window to check the courtyard below. She wasn't at all happy by what she saw.
"Shit," she said.
"What is it?"
"We've got more visitors the we thought. It's not just the three assholes in the corridor we've got to worry about."
"How many?"
"There's two vans parked up and nine or ten guys, all armed. Plus, the three left in the corridor. You've certainly pissed off a lot of people, Becca," she replied, turning back towards me.
"I try my best," I laughed.
"Hurry up and get dressed," she instructed. "We've not got long before they realise their boyfriend's gone missing. The others are on their way up and we need to be out of here before they arrive."
Lexa picked up her gun and took over at the spy-hole as I rushed to the sofa and pulled my T-shirt and yoga pants back on. My shoes followed and in less than a minute I was ready to go.
"Bring the grab bag," said Lexa. "We're going to have to take these three guys out and then make a run for it."
I ducked into the bedroom and picked up my bag containing my laptop, iPad and other sensitive equipment. There was no way I was going to leave that behind; we had to leave this place sterile. I also picked up two black hoody's and threw one in Lexa's direction.
"Put that on," I said. "You're practically glowing in the dark in that white shirt."
I slipped one on too as more shouting and screaming echoed down the corridor outside my door. I heard a male voice asking questions to a petrified neighbour.
"Where is she? Which flat is she in?" he bellowed.
Lexa was watching it all unfold only metres away from our side of the door.
"They've got your neighbour," she murmured. "They're showing her your picture."
"She lives at flat fourteen-G," she shrieked. "Please, just let me go. This has nothing to do with me."
She'd given them my flat number and I knew they were now heading our way without Lexa even having to tell me.
With my rucksack firmly over both shoulders, I moved to the front door. We were going to have to fight our way out after all. Lexa had the MP7 pulled into her shoulder and two spare mags stuffed into the pocket of her hoody. She looked sexy as hell in the darkness.
"Move behind the breakfast bar," I said to her. "I have a plan."
She nodded, knowing that I was fully capable of taking charge of the situation. My plan was to remain stealthy for as long as possible and pick them off silently one by one with the Makarov. Lexa moved behind the breakfast bar. She positioned herself in the corner behind the cast iron oven which would offer good cover from fire. Once she was in position, I looked through the spy-hole one last time.
I speed read the corridor and tried to anticipate what was going to happen next. The guy with the sawn-off was staring in my direction and his two friends weren't far behind him. One had an MP7 and the other had a pistol - probably a Glock like his friend. They gave each other a nod and Sawn-off approached with purpose. I tried to tune in to what they would be seeing and feeling. They'd be worried about the absence of their friend, but thrilled about finally knowing where I lived. They'd see my door shrouded in darkness with a small spy hole in the centre. That was going to be my trump card.
I flicked the light on, counted to two and then switched it off again. Human nature is a marvellous, but predictable thing. Sawn-off would have seen the flicker of light in the spyhole; on and then off. It gave me two advantages. One, he would know someone was in here and that he'd have to come and investigate. It would make him a little more apprehensive which gave me the upper hand. Secondly, the spyhole could be viewed from both sides of the door. He wouldn't be able to resist looking through it to see if he could gain a tactical advantage over me. Unfortunately for him, I was standing to the side of the doorway and he'd see nothing but darkness.
I waited.
I heard his footsteps getting closer.
I waited.
I saw his shadow in the light which shone under my door from the brightly lit corridor.
I visualised him pressing his eye against the spy-hole and peering inside. He'd look like some sort of pervert trying to see a woman undressing through a keyhole.
I felt his movement stop as he took a good look around and I knew it was time.
I placed the muzzle of my silenced pistol against the spyhole and squeezed the trigger.
Phut.
One round was all it took to end his life in an instant as my bullet entered his brain through his eye socket. There would have been almost no resistance to the bullet's path as it passed through his optic nerve and out of the back of his head.
I didn't hang about for the retaliation which I knew was about to come. I leapt across the hallway and into the bathroom. The cast iron bathtub would protect me from the hail of bullets which I knew was about to thump through my front door like angry wasps.
I dived into the bath just as they let rip with all they had.