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"Not too tight or loose?" Highly doubtful of the latter, considering how I cinched her in good, but I had to be sure.
"Nope, perfect, thank you." It was almost easy to miss how her breath hitched ever so slightly with how well she covered it with her confidence.
"Guns ready? Extra magazines stocked? Knives where they should be?" Fretting over her was second nature.
After all the years of looking over my brothers, it had become instinct for me to always ensure they were ready and to double-check their status before anything went down. It was a trait my father had drilled into me at a young age that never left. At least it was something good and not bad.
Being the second oldest meant I had to look out for Nikolai and my younger brothers. I had to have Nikolai's back and protect the others by being their cover. At least, that's all my bastard of a father ever drilled into me, along with making sure I would be one of the best snipers out there.
"Yes dad." Hanna snarked playfully with a roll of her eyes.
Keeping my mouth shut for both our sakes, I only offered my rolling eyes in response to her. I wanted to tell her to keep up the attitude so I'd have a damn good reason to bend her over my knee like the petulant brat she was.
Yeah, that would not have been good to say out loud, considering where we were right now and our standing with each other. I'd run her off before getting a chance at her.
"Bolt action? Wouldn't a semi be more faster and efficient?" She questioned curiously with a nod at my rifle.
"Typically, yes, but I prefer the accuracy of bolt actions, and it's what I was trained on. Never could switch over to semis after the bolt actions became ingrained into me. As for speed, I've got it down to milliseconds." More like I had to get it down to milliseconds to avoid getting my ass beat.
The phantom feeling of pain in my hands made me curl and uncurl them a few times to shake the feeling away. No matter how long it's been, memories of my father standing over me and beating me for not being fast enough always made my hands ache.
My hands and fingers would be shaking so badly because of my exhaustion, but he didn't care. Anytime I'd drop a bullet, it was a stomp to my hand. Couldn't pull the pin fast enough? Kick to the shoulder. Didn't hit the target good enough? My head would be in the ground.
No rest until everything was perfect to his standards.
Reluctantly, I started to shift my body away from Hanna. "Well, I'm going to head out with the other sniper and get into position. Be careful and safe out there."
"Always am, but knowing you're up and out there watching me makes me feel a hundred times safer."
Oh little tigress, I'll never take my eye off of you. Ever.
Chapter 14
Hanna
"Team Alpha is in position. What's everyone else's status?"
There was a brief pause over the communications system following my question before a wave of shivers washed down my body.
"Snipers in position." Hearing his deep, smooth voice flowing through my earpiece was almost as good as having him beside me.
"Beta team in position." The familiar voice of my friend Greg was like a bucket of cold water, snapping me back fully to the situation at hand.
"Team Delta, status?" I asked tensely.
I had put Lev in charge of Delta, and he was usually pretty good with updates. The fact I've had radio silence from him since the teams have split was a little concerning.
"C…py…" The response was staticky and choppy.
"Looks like there was a small dead zone, hold on, let me try to correct it." My concern didn't die down one bit from Bao's response.
It only fully washed away with relief when I heard Lev's voice loud and clear. "Team Delta, does anyone copy?"
"This is Hanna, we can hear you loud and clear now." The worry about this simple raid going off the rails from the beginning was mute now.
It would have been a horrible impression on Stepan and Lev if shit hit the fan so quickly like that.
"Good. Well, Delta is in position." Lev's confirmation made my chest deflate from the large breath I had been holding.
