Line of Sight

9780373389728_PL.inddExtracted 1 threads from 9780373389728-exw.PDFUntitled Article 01: UntitledUntil she chose to die, Katie Rush wasnt completely sure she had the guts. Sure, shed considered it, shed trained for it, but in the end there was always a doubt: Did she have what it took to trade her life for someone elses? In that chaotic, oddly crystalline moment, it was very simple. She saw the gunman, she was out of rounds and there was a civilian being targeted. The calculations rose effortlessly in her brain: Given the angle of inci- dence, there was a seventy-five percent chance that the shooter would go for center mass, the safe shot. His ammunition wasnt armor-piercing. Of course, there were still decent odds that hed choose the head shot instead, which was an almost certain kill at this distance. It didnt even require a conscious decision. Her body just moved. She took a stunning blow to her chest, an impact that knocked her off balance and drove the breath from her lungs. She used the force in her favor, letting her weight fall against the boy whod been in the line of fire and pushing him behind a parked car to safety. oeAgent down! she heard someone yell, probably Special Agent in Charge Craig Evangelista; he was the one with the best vantage point of her position. She tried to take a breath but it was driven out of her by a second impact right over her solar plexus. Panic tried to smother her, but she grimly held on to her training, rolling on her side toward cover and ejecting the spent magazine of her Beretta as she did. Her right hand fumbled for the spares clipped to her belt and yanked one free, slapped it home with a precision built of hours of dry-fire drills, and completed her roll into a shooters prone position, elbows braced. She acquired the target in a matter of a microsecondwhich was good, because he had already acquiredheragainand got off the first shot. One was all she needed. She ignored the odds and went for the head shot. The boy lying next to her was wailing and shaking. Katie felt calm, which she expected was the inevitable adrenaline shock as much as any real self-possession. She scanned the landscape for additional threats as the rest of the team swarmed in to apprehend any kidnap- pers whod survived the firefight. There had been four of thema large crew, unusually so for such a risky crimeand theyd been more than willing to go out in a blaze of glory. Katie could only see one man alive and responding to the agents shouts and commands. It wasnt the one shed shot. He wouldnt be moving on his own again. She slowly got to her knees. The pain hadnt yet reg- istered, but she had no doubt that later tonight her body was going to hurt like hell. Shed never taken a round before, but shed seen the deeply colored bruises on other agents who had. Bulletproof vests saved lives. There was no promise that theyd do it painlessly. At least she could breathe again, though not deeply enough to speak. She put her arm around the boy Samuel Kaltoff, thirteen-year-old son of a prominent Russian politicianand tried to smCaine, Rachel is the author of 'Line of Sight ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373389728 and ISBN 0373389728.