From where Bevis sat in the helicopter, she could see a few skirmish groups. She could only hope that not many members of the protection force had lost their lives today. The sudden descent jolted her back to reality and what she was to face. Opposite her, sitting very still, her mother slowly opened her eyes.

  "We're here," she said, and it seemed strange to hear her usually happy mother speak with no emotion or very little. "Remember, I'm here to help."

  Nodding, Bevis pulled herself into a crouch, preparing to jump once the helicopter hovered. Looking at the device on her arm, she located where the central cluster of heat signatures came from, silently indicating it to her mother. The two women dropped to the ground, landing softly and running for the perimeter.

  "Sir, doesn't that perturb you?" a young officer asked.

  "What? Two Death Dealers behaving like a team?" he asked, seeing the young man nod, "Yes, it does, but I have to trust that the bond between them will keep them as a team."

  "Bond, Sir?"

  "The older woman is Bevis' mother," Nagid said as the helicopter rose, chuckling at the officer's stunned expression. We have a job to do, team. Let's make sure we do it and save these people. They've had enough drama, and it's time they were left in peace."

  A war cry rose as the helicopter moved them into place to take action.

  Rounding the corner of the house, Bevis met her mother's cold gaze and quickly scanned the area. Their gazes snapped to the left of their position. Suddenly, her mother threw hand signals in the air so fast Bevis had to focus on reading them. Nodding, Bevis moved around to the front of the building, noticing a movement inside. Meeting a startled, battered gaze, she winked and silently placed a finger against her lips. She waited until Caroline nodded and waved for someone out of Bevis' eyeliner to follow her.

  Bevis sighed in relief as Angie followed Caroline to a place under the house. They closed the trap door behind them, leaving a seamless floor that would be difficult to detect. That was one less thing to worry about.

  A scuffing sound was heard above her, and movement to the side had Bevis easing against the wall of the house, drawing a knife and a gun. The barrel of an automatic machine gun appeared, making her replace the knife and pull another weapon from her belt. Suddenly, a man dropped to the ground in front of her, a radio in his hand, muttering a code to breach. Bevis aimed her weapon without hesitation as his startled gaze met her steady, focused one. He was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt with heavy rubber-soled boots on his feet. The radio rose to his mouth again, but Bevis didn't wait for him to finish the sentence warning the others of her presence. She pulled the trigger. The body jerked and fell to the ground.

  The retort from her weapon brought the others around the corner quickly, and four men spread out in the clearing in front of the house. Aiming and firing, Bevis alternated her shots between legs and arms, returning in the same arc she had used but aiming lower, hitting her mark with deadly accuracy. The spray of bullets headed her way had her quickly ducking into the doorway of the house, belatedly realising a bullet was heading straight for her face, pulling her head to the side. She felt the hot metal graze her cheek and lodge into the door behind her. Quickly reloading her guns, she aimed at the clearing, but the bodies didn't move. Scanning the faces, Bevis realised these were four of the ten faces she had memorised, and according to the records, the termination order was still out on them.

  "Four down," she whispered, "six to go."

  Screams could be heard behind the house. Tensing, she focused on the noise, sighing as she realised it was too low to be her mother's cries. What was she doing to them? Did she want to know?

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "Nope," she sighed as she slowly moved from the cover of the doorway. It was too quiet. Breathing in, Bevis scented the air, and a male scent filled the air. There were a lot of them. The sudden sound of a chamber being filled and a gun's safety being slammed off came to her sensitive hearing, and her head snapped up, stepping back into the protection of the doorway and looking away. The wooden slats covering the porch splintered downwards and toward her position. The gunfire stopped as quickly as it started.

  Aiming upwards, Bevis fired through the wood, hearing the feet dance forward until they were near the edge. Pulling her weapon a little toward the splinted wood she had fired through, Bevis fired twice, hearing the cry before a silent pause. The body lurched off the porch roof and landed on an already still form before rolling to one side and remaining still.

  "Who are you?" Bevis frowned, staring at the unknown face until the sun glinted off a metal disc peaking from the neckline of his shirt. The emblem had Bevis sucking in her breath and feeling the ice of her cold blood in her veins, "Oh no, how did you get on this land?"

  Quickly, she pulled out a silver screen, opening and positioning it to cover the doorway. Kneeling behind it, she pulled out a motion sensor. She screwed it into the front of her automatic weapon before placing it on the tripod and attaching the magazine of bullets securely to the feeder. It was time to up the protection and ensure this house was not taken.

  Easing out from the screen, Bevis quickly tested the motion sensor as it tracked her from side to side. She disarmed it as she moved to the side of the porch and pushed her way into the undergrowth. Pressing the activation button, she eased out of sight and waited. The scene was set with a white flower on the top step of the railingless porch. Hopefully, it would be seen by her mother and let her know what to expect while attracting the attention of those the weapon would track and terminate.

  "Please know what that means," Bevis whispered as she waited.

  The ground vibrated suddenly, and heavy footfalls could be heard running. Jonoraja dashed around the far end of the house, skidding to a stop as she mounted the porch, her gaze on the flower. Bevis held her breath.

  Jonaraja's gaze scanned the surrounding foliage, returning to the flower and tracking a line from the flower to the front door. Quickly backtracking, she pushed herself into the undergrowth on the opposite side from Bevis and eased down as the thundering feet raced past her position and into the clearing.

  "Where did she go?" a tall, brawny, thick-beared man with a shaved head asked the men following him. "Find her."

  They turned in circles until one of the men faced the house and chuckled, "For a Death Dealer, she isn't very clever."

  "What do you mean?" the brawny man asked.

  "She brought us right to the house we're going to invade and destroy," the man said, walking toward the doorway and scooping up the flower. "She even left a flower for us."

  "A flower?" the brawny man asked, frowning as he scanned the shrubs, trees, and general undergrowth semicircle. Turning toward the man holding the flower, he asked, "What kind of flower and what colour?"

  The man turned toward the clearing, "Here ... see for yourself."

  "White," he sighed, "would that be a water lily or a ..."

  The sudden sound of automatic gunfire surprised them as they tried to either take cover or move out of the clearing. This was made more difficult as both sides of the house swarmed with gun-toting men, just as surprised to find themselves under fire and apparently, the assailant was shooting randomly.

  Bevis kept low, watching the bodies fall from under thick foliage around her. It was unwise to move just yet, as the gun would not discern who she or her mother was from those it was eliminating. The sudden silence was followed either by rasping gasps of pain or groans of immense effort. Slowly emerging from the foilage, she stepped onto the porch, scanning the bodies scattered on the grass; some slumped against the hedge while others hung over the surrounding foliage of the area.

  On the other side of the porch, Jonaraja slowly stepped onto the porch.

  "What on earth did you use?" she asked.

  "Motion sensor-operated automatic machine gun," Bevis whispered, looking down at her arm. "This is not over. More heat signatures are arriving."

  "Do we know if they are friendlies?" Jonaraja asked.

  "Unknown," Bevis said, "do you want the low or high ground."

  "High ground," Jonoraja said, swinging herself onto the roof as Bevis moved behind the screen and refilled the magazine.

  She placed two flowers on the top step side by side and slid under the porch with her weapons already drawn. Activating the gun above her, she inhaled, positioned herself more comfortably, and waited.