Chương 44: Chapter 41: Clearing the Sight-lines

With our final preparations made to the absolute best of our ability, the assault team quietly opened the side doors and stepped out of the van into the cool night air. Before slipping away, I turned back toward the remaining crew.

"Remember, you two call out every single detail you track with those drones," I instructed, looking right at Jace and Travis. Then I shifted my focus to Isadora.

"If anything goes sideways out here, you jump straight into that driver's seat and punch out." Pointing north through the rows of the almond fields, I mapped their escape route.

"Drive straight through the orchard. There's another dirt easement running right down the middle of the trees. Take a left when you hit it and it will dump you back onto the main roadway. From there, head straight for home and do not stop for anything. No matter what happens. And keep these doors locked." The boys gave me firm, serious nods, and Isadora offered a quiet, determined, "Okay." I took one last long look at my kids.

"I love you guys." I pressed the van door closed as slowly as humanly possible, making sure the latch clicked fully shut without a sound. Turning back to the rest of the team, I gave the order.

"Alright. Alex, Dog, and I are pressing out first. You three hit the corner of this development fence line and hold. The second we radio the all-clear, you move up. We'll start our sweep clockwise around the structures and meet you guys at the main entrance." I glanced at Alex.

"Ready?" Alex nodded, his jaw set.

"Nock an arrow," I whispered, reaching for my own string.

"If you keep one set ahead of time, it cuts your reaction time down if something dangerous jumps us." Activating my [Sneak] skill, I instantly felt the cool pull of the shadow camouflage wrap around me. I hugged the dark edge of the fence line with Dog tracking silently at my heel. Alex mirrored my posture perfectly, staying low in a tight crouch as he trailed a few paces behind my shoulder. When I reached the far corner of the residential fence, I paused, slowly peering out to ensure the asphalt was clear.

Seeing no movement, I moved forward on a sharp diagonal, slipping across the street toward the stadium fence where it connected with the student parking lot. From this vantage point, the entire western face of the school campus opened up. We crouched together inside the deep shadows of the stadium's concrete ticket booth, scanning the open space. I could easily make out the ground guard pacing back and forth in front of the large gymnasium doors, but from this angle, the roof sentry was still completely obscured.

There was a daunting hundred-meter stretch of exposed, wide-open pavement between our position and the nearest row of vehicles, with cars sporadically scattered across the lot. Waiting for the exact moment the ground guard turned his back to patrol the opposite direction, I took the gamble and sprinted silently to the cover of the first bumper. Alex watched my lead, timing his movement perfectly and crossing the gap the second it was safe to move.

With Dog anchoring our flank, Alex and I continued bounding forward from vehicle to vehicle, grinding down the distance until we finally slipped into range behind a sedan parked nearest to the first target. From here, I could just barely see the top of the roof sentry's head peering over the concrete ledge.

I immediately cast a pair of quick [Inspect] commands through the dark: [Target Profile: Human] Level: 5 Class: Thief [Target Profile: Human] Level: 6 Class: Bandit I looked back at Alex, giving him a sharp nod to let him know it was time to draw. He raised his compound bow, aiming over the trunk of the car we were utilizing for cover. I could see the heavy fiberglass limbs shaking violently in his grip, his nerves finally catching up to him.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I slid closer, leaning right against his shoulder to whisper directly into his ear.

"Easy, son. Just breathe. Take a few deep, steady breaths in and out. When you're ready, let half of the air out, hold it steady, and release your string." Alex swallowed hard, taking two long, deliberate breaths to settle his heart rate. I drew my own bow string back to my cheek, locking my top aim dead-center on the neck of the bandit stationed on the roof line. With a faint, metallic twang, Alex released.

His arrow cut a flawless line through the dark, slamming directly into the ground guard's upper back just as the man turned to walk away from us. The thief let out a muffled, agonizing grunt, his hands instantly clutching at the broad-head protruding wildly from his chest as he collapsed heavily onto the concrete. Hearing the sudden scuffle below, the bandit on the roof stepped right to the edge of the ledge, leaning over to investigate the noise.

Before he could draw a breath to raise the alarm, my arrow struck him under the chin at a sharp upward angle, severing his spine at the base of the brain. The bandit didn't even realize he'd been hit before he dropped flat onto the roof, dead before his knees buckled. With both western sentries neutralized, I immediately tapped my earpiece to ping the van.

"Guards at the gym are down. How's the view at the main office? Any movement in front?" There was a brief beat of silence before Isadora's calm voice crackled through the wire.

"No movement on our monitors. You're completely clear."

"Copy that," I murmured.

"Team two, you are cleared to advance to the gym. We're pivoting around the north face now."

"Copy," Joe responded. As Alex, Dog, and I melted into the deep shadows lining the front wall of the small gym, I glanced back and watched Joe, Pete, and Johnny slip out into the parking lot. They moved beautifully, bounding between the abandoned cars until they secured the structural cover of the big gym's entry doors to await the next phase of the breach. As we approached the far corner of the small gym structure, Dog crept forward, sniffing the edge of the brick line before rounding the bend.

When he didn't freeze or give a warning growl, we followed right behind him, keeping our shoulders tight to the walls. On this specific side of the campus, the moonlight wasn't doing our stealth attributes any favors. Since it was still early in the evening, the moon was climbing steadily into the eastern sky, throwing massive, deep shadows toward the west but leaving the northern walls exposed to the light. We just tightened our grips and worked with the terrain we had.

The moment we reached the eastern edge of the masonry, Dog suddenly came to a dead halt. Alex and I froze instantly. Dog threw his nose into the air, sniffing the crosswinds a few times, then looked directly up at the building flanking the teacher's parking lot and let out a soft, vibrating vibration from his chest. I made a mental note right then that once this entire operation was over, I was absolutely going to inspect the hound's stat sheet to see what level his tracking attributes had reached.

I leaned out around the corner of the brickwork as slowly as humanly possible, scanning the roof line of the Ag sciences building. Sure enough, I spotted a silhouette stationed roughly ten feet back from the northern edge of the roof. I drew my bow, stepping a few inches out from the wall to clear my line of sight and secure a clean, unobstructed angle on the target.

I didn't even bother wasting the mana to run an inspect on this one; the data from the first two guards told me everything I needed to know about the leadership running this place. If these guys were actively employing thieves and bandits to secure their parameters, we were far better off clearing the board entirely. Taking a quick half-breath, I locked my aim onto his silhouette and let the arrow fly. The shaft punched cleanly through the left side of the guard's chest.

He took two staggering, uncoordinated steps backward and crumpled silently onto the roof. I raised a hand to my earpiece, contacting the vehicle.

"Travis, the northern roof guard is officially cleared. Do you see any reactive movement in the central courtyard or along the eastern wings?"

"Negative, Dad. Everything is still completely quiet in the quad," Travis reported.

"Jace, status on your side?"

"All clear on the front approach," he replied instantly.

"Copy that. We're moving to clear the eastern fence line," I said, slipping back into the dark.