Sons of Abraham: Pawns of Terror by Joseph Ray Page B

sending shards of white plastic into the air. She swore under her breath and pulled the trigger again, but was awarded the mere click of the hammer on an empty chamber.
    “Fuck!” she cried as she turned and lunged towards Bear. Her thin fingers stuffed themselves into his pockets, searching for the next clip for the rifle. She found one as she ripped it through the pocket, widening the opening. She had just released the empty clip, preparing to jam the replacement into the chamber when a dark skinned face appeared. His rifle raised, his sights narrowing to Janys’ face. The Corporal felt time slow to a crawl as the clip missed its mark and refused to enter the rifle. The dark skinned soldier smiled as his finger flexed, preparing to pull the trigger.
    Janys was deafened, but the blast didn’t come from the open doorway. Her shoulder felt the empty shell smack against her skin as a shot fired from her right. The dark skinned man fell backward as the shot went through his eye. Scurrying footsteps told her that the second man retreated, giving her a moment to reload the assault rifle. She tried three times to get the clip to go into the chamber. A knot formed in her chest as her hands frantically slapped the metal clip against the metal gun. The rifle became heavier by the second as tears of frustration started to blind her.
    “Trade me,” Bear muttered, letting the pistol’s grip drop as he held it by the trigger guard.
    Janys slammed the clip against the ground, dropping it, as her freed hand brushed the tears away from her eyes. She reached out, feeling the shaft of the pistol slap against her palm. She placed the handgun in her lap as she lugged the heavy rifle over to the Sargent. The rifle pulled from her grip as she snorted, reached out, picked up the clip, and held it up. Like the rifle, the clip slipped away from her grip. She hung her head, her lips moving as she silently tried to calm herself down.
    “First firefight?” Bear asked, slamming the clip into the chamber.
    She stared ahead, her hand raising to her mouth to wipe the flow of fluids coming from her nostrils. She couldn’t speak, her lungs still heaving in and out, her body wishing to unload her emotions. She nodded, attempting to bury her head into her shoulder.
    One large hand grabbed her left shoulder and slowly drew her thin frame into a sea of warmth. She unloaded, sobbing freely into the man’s chest as her body spasmed from the pent up nerves. His fingers smoothed a few red hairs that strayed from the tie in the back of her head, then slowly continued to stroke well after the hair had been laid flat.
    “I nearly shit myself after my first one,” he groaned. “Didn’t sleep for two days afterward. Just kept seeing those eyes aiming for me. I didn’t even aim at the guy. I just sprayed bullets everywhere until those eyes quit looking at me.”
    Her body quit convulsing long enough for her to compose herself, pulling her head away from the warm chest of the massive man. She drug her forearm across her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears and dirt. She snorted twice, trying to clear her nose enough to allow air to pass, but the fluids were built up too heavily in her nasal passage.
    “Now you need to think,” he ordered. “Get on that panel and get us some eyes out there.”
    Janys nodded and pushed herself to her feet. Her body felt heavy as she slumped over the panel, her instincts kicking in as her fingers went to work accessing the cameras in the halls and shipping facility. With each press on the screen, her eyes became drier, her nose and head started to clear. After a minute, she’d managed to pull up the camera to the shipping room. The screen showed the two Cybers, clad in body armor, speaking to the man, she’d guessed had just run away from the gunfight. The man shuffled off-screen, heading towards the open bay door. The two Cybers looked at one another, but neither spoke. After a second, the pair headed towards the