But there were three more out there, the ones smart enough to know not to get close to him. One of the men caught in the blast was on the ground a small distance behind him. Reaper streaked across the dense, mossy ground, his heart pounding slow and steady in his chest as he embraced the adrenaline pumping through his veins. The fallen soldier’s hands were wrapped around his stomach as he lay on his side panting, waves of pain practically rolling off him.
Like a ghost, Reaper ran through the smoke still lingering in the air, put a bullet in the man’s head, and disappeared into the tree line behind him.
There was a whistling sound a split second before a bullet whizzed right past Reaper’s ear and thumped into the tree beside him. He hit the ground, forcing himself to breathe silently. He’d known there would be snipers out there, and his tactic had revealed the position of at least one of them.
They already knew his location, so he didn’t have to worry about hiding right now. Still on his stomach, he pulled his pistol around in front of him and took out the other guard that had survived the blast. Easy as pie, his bullet found the guard’s head and the man stopped groaning.
Two more bullets lodged into the tree directly over his head.
Stupid. They should know better than to give away their positions by firing at him. With a lethal grin, he tucked his pistol into its holster and pulled his knife from its sheath. He put the blade in his mouth and bit down. Then, using the soft, spongy jungle floor, he began crawling backward from his location. He kept his movements too silent for the human ear to detect. Careful not to give away his location by accidentally brushing up against any tall plants, Reaper silently made his way across the jungle floor in the direction of the snipers.
His front half was soaking wet from the moisture on the ground in the plants that were a permanent position in the hot humid air. He ignored the giant multicolored bugs crawling across the ground. A snake slithered beside him, but it soon took off in the opposite direction. The howler monkeys went silent. It was like the jungle sensed the threat from the man on the ground.
As he drew nearer to the snipers, Reaper paused and listened. He could hear their hearts pounding in their chests, the heightened rhythm revealing their fears. They knew they had missed him, and they knew their chances for survival were growing slimmer by the second.
Reaper craned his head back and stared hard at a giant hardwood tree twenty feet away. The branches started low and disappeared into the top of the thick canopy overhead.
Highly trained and skilled snipers would know how to camouflage themselves in any situation. On the ground, they’d cover themselves in the local foliage, blending their bodies into the bushes and grass and whatever other vegetation grew around them. Perching in a tree, they’d be sure their bodies didn’t stick out too much. And the sniper overhead was doing exactly that. There was no telltale body part poking out, not even a leg hanging down.
Despite that, Reaper’s hawk-like gaze narrowed in on the sniper’s rifle, which extended a few inches beyond his perch.
The sniper was scanning his surroundings, his breathing coming faster now. He hadn’t spotted Reaper.
Whether the guy knew it or not, he was already dead.
The other sniper was harder to find. His gun wasn’t hanging out and he was much farther up. But he couldn’t stop himself from shifting his weight just once. And that one time was enough to seal his fate.
With his sights homed in on the nearest sniper, Reaper took a breath and then pulled the trigger on the exhale. Without hesitation, he shifted his aim two inches to the left and pulled again. A gun blast sounded, not from his gun.
He felt a dull thud in his left shoulder as he was tossed over onto his back.
Adrenaline crowded into his system, numbing the immediate rush of pain. He pulled his hand away, dark and sticky with his own blood. Fuck. He should’ve taken out the farthest sniper first.
