Viper: A Thriller (34 page)

Another gunshot exploded
through the air and echoed.

Avery froze and
tensed, but he never felt the bullet strike.  

It was the Viper
giving Mirsad Sidran one more 9mm round of armor piercing tungsten. A red hole
materialized between Sidran’s eyes, with a larger one opening in the back of
his head, exploding blood and brain across the van.

Avery’s fingers
fluttered over the Glock. His hand was numb, and he could barely feel the
contact, but he saw his hand on the gun. He dragged it toward him across the
sand.

The Viper turned
around, bringing her rifle to bear on Avery, who, sitting partially up on his
back, had already drawn a bead on the Viper.

She screamed,
“No!” and her finger took up first pressure on the VSS’s trigger, but Avery had
already fired first.

The single shot
cracked through the air.

The Viper’s head
jerked abruptly and violently back. Blood sprayed through the air. Her hands
lost the VSS when the deadweight of her body collided with the ground.

Avery’s eyes
stayed on her as she thrashed and jerked fifteen feet away. She clutched the
hole through the side of her throat through which dark blood rapidly drained. She
gagged and choked on it. Her other hand slapped around at the sand and dirt, feeling
for her rifle, which was just out of reach. Her unblinking eyes, brimming with
hate and anger, stared right back at Avery.

He watched her
until she bled out. It barely took a minute.

Soon he heard
the steady braying of approaching helicopters. As he waited for help to arrive,
he rested his head back and shut his eyes.