He’d already disabled two patrols with a tranquilizer dart to the neck and a chokehold that left no marks. The third guard, however, was different. He’d turned a second too early, his flashlight beam slicing through the mist like a scalpel. Jones didn’t think. His hand moved—a clean, suppressed burst. Three rounds. The guard crumpled into the mud without a sound.
“Change of plans,” he said, pointing to a fuel truck parked near the south wall. “We’re leaving loud.”
Jones allowed himself the faintest smile. “Still alive. That’s the only score that counts.” He’d already disabled two patrols with a tranquilizer
Inside, the prison smelled of rust, sweat, and burnt coffee. He moved through the corridors like a ghost, pausing at every corner to peek with his tiny fiber-optic camera. Two guards at the end of the hall, one smoking, one complaining about the cold. Jones pulled a flashbang from his vest.
They reached the rendezvous roof just as the alarm finally blared—someone had found the first body. Searchlights cut the rain into white knives. A twin-rotor helicopter was supposed to be waiting, but the pad was empty. Jones didn’t think
Jones’s blood turned cold. Compromised.
“Damn,” Jones muttered, dragging the body into the shadow of a decommissioned radar dish. One stray body. That was all it took for a mission to spiral. He checked his wrist-comp. Nightshade’s signal was flickering from the east wing, second floor. The guard crumpled into the mud without a sound
Nightshade’s cell was a reinforced door with a keypad. Jones didn’t have the code. He had something better—a portable bypass tool he’d “acquired” from a disgraced MI6 quartermaster. He pressed it to the panel, and the lock clicked open in twelve seconds.
The main gate was suicide. Too many cameras, too many heavy-caliber nests. Instead, Jones went vertical. He scaled the drainage conduit with his fingertips, pulling himself up hand over hand until he reached a ventilation shaft. The metal groaned, but the rain swallowed the noise.
Here’s a short story inspired by IGI 2: Covert Strike .