At least, I thought it was what I wanted.

Reaching out, I slid my hand down the barrel of the Barrett and wondered if I could be completely satisfied using it only for target practice at a shooting range.  It was what Lia wanted, and I understood completely.  I mean, what woman would actually choose to live with a guy who was a killer?

If I stopped shooting people, would that mean I wasn’t a killer anymore?

I wasn’t so sure.

Eleven o’clock.  I scanned the entire area using the night-vision scope and saw nothing out of the ordinary.  This area of town was becoming more and more run-down, and not a lot of people were around this time of night.  Even the condos beneath me were mostly empty.

Across the river, there was a large building in the center of a huge concrete slab that served as a parking and storage area for a large power substation.  There were a few other outbuildings around, a handful of vehicles, and the substation itself.  Around the edge near the river were a few short trees and shrubs, as well as a fence that lined the property but didn’t disrupt my view from up high.

For good measure, I spun the Barrett around and checked out the area behind me.  There were a few homeless people wandering around, but no one close enough to hear me shoot with the silencer attached.  Once I confirmed there was nothing of concern behind me, I repositioned the rifle and scanned the area across the river again.

Movement.

I saw Jenna and the two goons who usually accompanied her step out of a van at the far side of the parking area near the substation.  They crossed in front of the building on foot.  I focused my scope on Jenna’s face as she looked up in my direction.  I knew she couldn’t really see me from where she was.  Like Gavino and the rest of his group, she knew where I was going to be.  I had only deceived Trent on my location.

I moved the scope away from her and scanned around the building again.  Each side was clear of people and trucks, which gave me a clear view of the drop-off area.  I checked the other small sheds around but saw nothing.  There was a small grouping of outbuildings to my left with a pickup truck parked next to them but nothing else.

As I began to scan the top of the main building in the lot, something caught my eye.  Next to one of the air conditioning units, there was a slightly darker shape that had not been there earlier.  I watched for a full minute, but it didn’t move.  I narrowed my eyes and waited just a bit longer before I decided I must have missed it before.

That was when the slightest of motions brought me to full attention.

I focused the scope carefully on the shape I had seen.  It was slightly rounded and black.  It moved to the left, improving my viewpoint.  With the night vision on the scope kicking in fully, I knew exactly what it was—another sniper.

He was setting up a rifle behind the air conditioner on the building across the river from me.  It was the same building on which I had told Trent I would be located.  Would he have sent a SWAT sniper to the same location?  It would have been a shitty move if he had.

The sniper’s upper body became visible as he laid out his rifle and got into position behind it.

I shifted my stance to make myself harder to spot from my vantage point before I focused my sites on the other sniper.  Male, Caucasian, setting up a Dragunov rifle—a nice, Soviet-made one that dated back to the sixties but was still a powerful gun.  From what I could tell, it only had a five-bolt magazine on it, which would put him at a disadvantage from the one I used.  Though Barretts usually held ten-round magazines, mine held twelve.

As I watched him closely, I knew something wasn’t quite right.  He wasn’t wearing a flak jacket for starters, and all feds wore them when they went after someone.  His position wasn’t quite right, either.  He was on the south side of the roof, which gave him cover but not the best vantage point, considering where I told Trent the exchange would take place.  It was like he didn’t know where they were going to conduct business and was going with the position that gave him the best view of the whole area.

No flak jacket and doesn’t know where to aim.

Definitely not a fed.

Who then?

There weren’t that many options as far as I could tell.  Did Gavino hire another sniper?  Unlikely. I was the only well-trained one in the city, and he’d have to go out of state to find someone trained on the weapon in this guy’s hands.  Had the feds hired an independent from somewhere or maybe recruited out of the military?  Also unlikely. Marines and Army alike preferred Barrett rifles.

Russian?  He was using a Russian weapon though it was a common enough one.  Was he one of Andrey’s men?  Andrey and Rurik had definitely been at odds about this activity, and either one of them might have decided to send a little added insurance, but I didn’t quite buy it.  If either of them had another sniper, they would have had a lot more fuel against me when we first sat down to make a deal.

It wasn’t right, and all my instincts told me to get the fuck out.

I couldn’t do that though.  I had to make sure this went down the way it was supposed to so I could get Lia out of Chicago.  Instead of listening to my gut, I scanned the rest of the area with the night scope and found a few other figures who were not with Greco’s organization and definitely not part of a SWAT team—six of them altogether and four of them positioned in places that didn’t make sense.  They couldn’t have known enough about what was going to happen, or they would have been in better positions.

Not feds, not with either Gavino’s org or the Russians, so who?

It was the seventh that eventually made me realize what was going on, but I didn’t see him until a half-dozen SUVs were pulling up.  By the time I had focused the scope on his position, one of the vehicles parked in my line of sight.  If I had managed a good look at him earlier, maybe things would have gone differently.

“Fucker,” I muttered.  “Couldn’t you move over three feet?”

I tried to get a glimpse through the windows of the SUV, but it wasn’t working out very well.  I could see a human shape, but that was it.  The tint on the windows wasn’t dark enough to block my vision entirely, but it interfered enough to make it impossible to get any detail.

Gavino, Craig, Andrey, and a half-dozen others exited the vehicles and walked toward Jenna.  The drivers stayed in the cars in case a quick getaway was needed.  Words were exchanged, but I couldn’t hear any of it from where I was.  I could see the demeanor of my faux coworkers though.  Andrey danced back and forth between his feet, showing how nervous he was about this, even from my view.  Jenna was incensed because she didn’t want them evaluating her work in the first place, and Gavino just looked as cocky as ever.

I wasn’t going to miss him.

With a rumble and screech of airbrakes, a semi with a long trailer pulled into the area.  Jenna and her crew moved to the driver’s side door as a guy with a long ponytail exited the cab of the truck and handed Jenna a clipboard.  Gavino and Andrey joined them, looked over the paperwork, and then Gavino motioned to the back of the truck.

They all followed the driver as he opened up the back and grabbed a girl out of it.  He shut the door again before yanking her over to Gavino and Andrey.  She was quite obviously terrified as she was questioned by Gavino and fondled by Andrey.

Jenna had her hands on her hips and was obviously not happy with whatever was being said.  She tossed her hands up in the air as Andrey led the girl over to the SUV he arrived in and pulled her into the backseat.  I moved the scope away from the scene when I realized what he was planning.

I didn’t need to watch that shit.

Jenna was pointing a finger and speaking quickly to Gavino, but it obviously didn’t matter what she said.  He turned away from her and talked to the truck driver for a minute before motioning to Craig, who was still by the vehicles.

As I moved my scope to Craig’s area, I saw the person I hadn’t gotten a good view of before as he moved a little closer to the building to get out of Craig’s line of sight.  He was a big guy, dressed all in black and had a dark cap on his head.  The clothing didn’t matter, though, because I got a clear view of his face.

Mario Leone.

Mario was Rinaldo’s bodyguard and was never far away from his boss without a damn good reason.  There was absolutely no reason for him to be here at a cargo drop-off for Gavino’s organization—none whatsoever.  He certainly wouldn’t be here without his boss knowing about it.

As my muscles tightened, I checked out the whole area again.  Back behind the main building was another smaller structure right next to the substation.  There was a familiar car beside it—one that had not been there before.

If I had been on top of the main building where I had told Trent I would be, I probably would have seen it pull up.  From where I was, the scope’s vision was narrow enough that I missed it.  Beside the car were three more people.  Two I didn’t recognize, but one I knew very well.

Rinaldo.

“Oh fuck, no.”

I immediately reached into my jeans and yanked out my phone.  I hit his number and watched him through the scope as he glanced down, pulled his own phone out of his pocket, and glared down at the display.  His eyes looked up to the closest building—right where the other sniper was located—and then started scanning the other tall buildings within view.

Through the vision in the scope, it looked like his eyes found me, but I was too far away for him to see.  I watched him turn away slightly and touch his hand to his ear.  Then he pressed a button on the side of his phone and shoved it back into his pocket.