Lisa ducked behind a crate, bullets stitching the wall just above her head. During a brief lull in the gunfire she popped up and squeezed off a few shots, seeing one of the gunmen grab his shoulder and drop to the floor. Then she ducked down again as more bullets flew overhead. The situation didn’t look good. She was surrounded and almost out of ammunition. How did this operation go so badly wrong?
Special Agent Lisa Palermo was given a routine assignment; monitor the warehouse where a gang of drug-runners were supposedly storing their cache. She was not to make contact with any of the occupants of the warehouse or let them know that she was watching them. A simple surveillance operation. It had gone relatively well for the past few days. Then this morning she had received a call that summoned her to the warehouse. Something big was about to go down. She had feigned a migraine in order to leave her cover job at an IT recruitment firm early and headed straight for the warehouse. She had just parked when the first bullet hit her car.
Now, as she crouched behind the crate, she could hear them moving towards her. By her count there were about 9 gunmen left. The odds were definitely not in her favour. A squeak of rubber on concrete drew her attention to the left. One had managed to get in very close without her noticing. She quickly leaned back and fired off a shot, catching the thug by surprise. As he fell she quickly ran from cover and grabbed his automatic rifle before diving behind another crate, her movement drawing another round of gunfire. Even though she had taken out another gunman and gained additional fire power, it was still her against 8. She could hear the leader barking out orders to surround the crate the was hiding behind. This time there was nowhere to go.
Every time she risked a peek a barrage of bullets would force her back down again. This was hopeless! She was desperately trying to think of a way out, coming up with one scenario after another and rejecting each one. Finally, she did the only thing that she could do, the one thing they were not expecting. She jumped up and starting spraying the area with automatic gunfire, strafing from side to side until the gun clicked empty. In the process she managed to take out another 5 gunmen who were too slow to react to her volley. The others dove for cover. The odds were now a lot better.
“Your situation is hopeless!” she heard the leader call out. “You may have brought a few of us down, but now you are out of ammunition, and there are still more of us than you!” As she mulled over his statement, she knew he was right. She quickly popped the magazine out her pistol. She had 5 shots left. “Give it up! Come on out and we won’t hurt you!” “Yeah right,” she thought. She had a better chance of winning the lottery and marrying Leonardo DiCaprio. She was about to try and take out the last of the gunmen when a familiar voice echoed in the warehouse. “Lisa, I know you are there. I know you’ve been watching our activities. We’ve been watching you as well.” It was the voice of her employer at the IT recruitment company!
“Come on Lisa, you are in a situation that you cannot hope to get out of alive. Toss your weapon out where we can see it and we’ll let you live. I just want to talk to you.” Lisa sat in stunned silence behind the crate, mulling over this latest development. She had nowhere to go, was still outgunned and now the CEO of her cover job was aware of her true vocation. She was about to toss her pistol out from behind the crate and stand up when she noticed that the back of the crate was slightly loose. She quickly went to work on prying it out further and clambered in, pulling it shut again behind her. She sat in complete darkness, listening to the footsteps getting closer. Suddenly a voice cried out “She’s not here! She’s gone!”
Complete chaos ensued as the remaining gunmen and her employer ran around the warehouse desperately trying to find her. When she couldn’t hear footsteps any more she quickly clambered out of the crate and, after a quick look around, ran towards the exit. She flung the door open and was confronted by three gunmen, all with very surprised looks on their faces. They quickly raised their weapons but she already had her pistol out and took them out in short order. “Don’t move!” came the voice of her employer directly behind her. She heard footsteps and then felt the cold barrel of a gun pressing into her neck. “Drop your gun.” She let the pistol fall to the ground and raised her hands. “I’m disappointed in you Lisa. You cost me a lot of money. I had to hire additional resources to try and get my shipments out without you noticing. But in the end, it still wasn’t working. I had no choice but to take you out. Pity, you were a good recruiter. But now, I’m afraid, you’re fired!”
Lisa quickly dropped to the ground and grabbed for her pistol in desperation. She managed to grab it and rolled away, expecting bullets to hit her at any moment. But her employer was too slow to react, being surprised by the unexpected move. Lisa’s gun barked once, and her employer slumped to the ground, a hole between her eyes. Lisa got up and walked over to her employer’s body. “You can’t fire me, I quit!” she said with a smile.
“Lisa. Lisa!” Lisa jerked her head up, momentarily confused by her surroundings. Instead of the cold warehouse she was at her desk in the office. Her employer was standing next to her. “Lisa, are you okay? Were you sleeping?” Lisa looked up at her employer’s face, noticing the annoyed look and the overdone make-up. “Yeah, sorry. My migraine medication probably made me fall asleep. It won’t happen again.” Her employer glared at her and coldly remarked “See that it doesn’t.” before turning around and clacking off on her high heels. Lisa was momentarily annoyed but then remembered her employer’s face with a hole in her forehead, and she smiled.
–END–
