First Light

Rica giggled and pinched his tight abs, he took her rifle bag. "Give it back!" she commanded, but he raised the bag over her head.

"Here, take it if you can!" he teased. She grabbed his waist and felt his bare chest ...and snapped herself awake.

"Oh!" Rica awoke startled in her resort bed. Her dream went further than touching his chest. Embarrassed, she sprung out of bed and crept into Reyna's room.

"Mom?" she whispered, then climbed into Reyna's bed and buried her face in Reyna's back.

"Hunh? What time is it?" asked Reyna, half asleep.

"Five in the morning," answered Rica.

"Yeah? So why are you up? Were you dreaming about that killer you met at the pool last night?"

"What? Mom, how did you know?"

"Baby, I’m not deaf nor blind. I saw you with him in the hot tub. I only yelled your name to give him a running start," said Reyna, rolling over to face Rica.

Rica hid her red face in Reyna's belly, "I was gonna tell you-"

"Silly child, I'm not mad at you," Reyna squeezed Rica’s cheek, "Now, that boy seemed smitten with you, was he not?"

"Maybe."

"Then I'm sure he told you something useful, boys are braggarts that way, hee hee!"

Rica sat up excited, “Oh yesh, he said many things! He told me his target was Andre's head bodyguard, and that he was one step ahead of me."

"Did he now? Do tell," said Reyna curling in the sheets.

"He told me what kind of rifle he fires, and that he's an Aries. So now If I put two and two together, I'll know his next move!"

"Of course you'll know his next move baby, because he's a silly boy, and you're my clever girl!" Reyna rubbed her hair.

"Oh nyaaah!" she replied, adoring Reyna's praise.

Gauntlet

Eight am, Laurent met Reyna and Rica in the resort lobby. Reyna laid her plan.

"Laurent, it's a five minute drive from here to the French embassy. We'll stay on Boulevard

d'Moulines, the straightest route." Reyna informed him.

The mission: Boss Andre needed to reach the French embassy with certain documents at a certain time. Documents beneficial to the French government, and for Andre's immunity from prosecution.

However, Andre has enemies who don't want the documents reaching the embassy, and will Kill Boss Andre. That's why Andre hired the Rifle Girls for protection.

Laurent protested, "But Reyna, we're sitting ducks on the street, are you sure this route-?"

"Easy handsome, it's daytime, only a fool would try anything out there. And if they did I'm sure you boys can handle it," said Reyna, winking at Laurent. He blushed.

Rica saw the gesture and shook her head, "You called him handsome and you winked, you're so lame," she joked.

"Shut up child!" Reyna pinched Rica's belly.

"Ow!"

"Laurent, get Andre and your crew to the cars, we'll catch up to you!" said Reyna exiting the resort.

8:10 am, Boss Andre's Suite

Boss Andre's phone rang. "A'lo, ok!" Andre hung up and turned to his bodyguards and Laurent.  "Where's Reyna, hanh?" Andre asked.

"I saw her and the little girl leave the back of the resort, she said she'd catch up!" Laurent answered.

"Ai, that woman! We don't have time!” At that moment casino security arrived and handed Boss Andre a steel briefcase and handcuff, old school.

"Ha, like the movies," Andre laughed as he accepted the case and put on the handcuff. His documents safe inside he led his five man crew out the resort.

8:15 am

Andre's men inspected their two Mercedes for bombs. Once cleared they began their one mile journey to the French embassy.

8:16 am

Half a mile from Boss Andre’s and the Casino, Rica rode a cute red scooter to a fountain roundabout on the embassy route. On her phone app she clocked her distance in meters from the fountain to a six story building.

"Rica, where are you going?" asked Reyna in Rica's earpiece.

"Two hundred meters north of your position. The perfect spot to zero in on you, nya!" Rica answered.

"Hmm, you'd better be right," Reyna answered, and crawled into a building roof space, overlooking the same fountain.

Reyna positioned herself and aimed her M40 rifle, Jezriel, down the main street approaching the fountain. A direct firing line to Andre's soon to arrive Mercedes. Click! Clack! she loaded a round in the chamber.

"You won't see this coming Andre, hee hee!" a villainous laugh from the villain Reyna Rai.

8:18 am

Rica climbed to her own roof top position two hundred meters away from Reyna, and aimed her rifle directly at Reyna.

"Mom, I see you and I'm in position," said Rica into her earpiece.

https%3a%2f%2flh3.googleusercontent.com%2fm2eNYn...69-h662-no [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/m2eNYnpxIlMBVL6-fkcOCJ3MF3rn7fq89C6-Fkcy0kUUKKwSl6NZjRiwCE43YtE8_ouQR4v5gNV9aOMO3D7ziBhPKKsHqtv49Rv-ihnVd95o7nEK-tn33hvXEbXkWQ9sOeLV6sGcs2nwsCu2JBAz0s0M3ztAbMwrv3sTtF7L4hOfuiyYjnRGyrEuoLfX6piaPFVa_ahPP8aJdLzfZlICloEMWwcgl4gtPu59RsHONVAdzThY36ahRGC2OmUJngfov8scSeB4QguoIXmqg0qAfTekilRhrgHWQ5Q3patZ-e4jC66RvYWTvX4LRm_7uYcFvKRDGUZ2CB7A-3aRV8mH6E4NRyzlimbYQM_hlgxpPmrtuybhPa84DvsHu71cOR11c4J_cJSO4amDvkmSlpXDF8hAAoa9Nzd8KS-rf4b63NQnbwMYQcdyj6Hc320Inh4Q0ubL9bQrZWgnkxNDfjxfe6GbH4gi3l_YKJmvQrbmXwHS400733jfOpa-lupVSScBi-4vUJbp3jhxnntckzh5PJsFG0nCFtPgBPhZLRFZyZQ=w869-h662-no]

"Rica, The Mercedes are in sight, I'll lose my window!" yelled Reyna checking the street in her scope. Reyna couldn't take a shot without crawling forward out of cover, and exposing herself on the roof.

"I'm on it!" said Rica, scanning south of Reyna's position.

"Dammit Rica, nine, no, seven seconds, hurry or I can't take the shot!"

Rica scanned Reyna's six o'clock, "Come on, I know you're here you cocky bastard."

"I'm taking the shot!" yelled Reyna crawling out of cover with her rifle aimed at the fountain, and Andre's approaching Mercedes.

Rica kept scanning, "Come on, I know you're-" Then Rica saw it. The flicker of a rifle scope, she found him.

"Ma! I got him!"

Reyna also found her target, "Good baby, take him out!"

Both girls fired. One round south, the other round north.

Rica's round struck first. Her target, the glimmering rifle scope of a third shooter, hiding in a building, prepped to shoot Reyna. The third shooter’s name, Ko.

Rica’s shot blew Ko’s rifle scope to pieces.

Surprised, Ko tossed his rifle on impact avoiding the shrapnel. He recovered, knowing who fired the shot. Exposing his position he stared two hundred meters in the distance, directly at Rica. And she stared back at him.

Still 8:18 am

As the Mercedes passed the fountain, a white van drove up next to it in the right lane. The van’s passenger wore a ski mask, and brandished a submachine gun, ready to murder Boss Andre. The man would never fire his submachine gun, as Reyna’s rifle round struck the van’s windshield.

The shot entered the driver's nose and exit the back of his skull. The van lost control, struck a double parked car and flipped on its side.

https%3a%2f%2flh3.googleusercontent.com%2fVaE7s_...69-h662-no [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VaE7s_OkmhxMqZXnoKuicMPnQAn8eaXCKxeiI_sh7a1Rijk2akifQTxgSOqJI5wX1Hktw2f0CBE1hrxGXJjAM6gFe5QxFVUe1Bkx6QQEXupQfs4DR4V4pnERHYT1vmMOAj_LTi3nipSihp66xxmEEt5DJknkcqRkhbXmuh7MnySzUgiKD05osqReqfD-db6ljtpjtiiRMYjSiutcXpnjSVbHk4R_I1Vl8KzExkZZ7VJ1eyK00vD_7wbhX0PGFO08isoG1vQEYpgyLHoY3b-cQQSDioh-gevb9VXzKV0AREsrUhS3ZT9iMUWacxQIgz3yolKETxJJbAPiWsCXqpuIck-zRrXXsU3HGmFf4Y450CEGgNJu23gCnCqfWogK65TMzfD6BzlYqxTnd3xnEhve2_TyF3nd7BV8QeU9Srt6CvE-cH-xGHn3NVObUgxgbpQKEmE_ikEgy2pK1Ye377p77c0aOfUCGuSBTMCAaMXexIQM-KScdj7zL4bUFSpSz-Egj-nxQxykCceXJXkjzihrKQx6-9ZO9yJ9udrw3k6eYEI=w869-h662-no]

The van’s passenger flew out the windshield and landed on the street dead. His submachine gun still in hand.

Andre witnessed the crash then pulled and pointed a gun at Laurent in the back seat, "Laurent, you fucking traitor, I'll skin you alive, hanh!" shouted Andre, firing one shot.

But the bodyguard saw the gun and blocked Andre's hand, forcing the shot through the roof, Andre’s driver turned and punched Laurent while steering. In trouble, Laurent leapt out the back door and rolled into traffic, losing his gun in the tumble.

Cars veered every direction as Laurent avoided Andre’s second Mercedes and sprinted toward the Monaco coast.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Boss, he’s going for the harbor! We go after him?" asked Andre's driver.

"No, keep driving to the embassy!" Andre pulled the rear door closed and sat down, "Don't worry, Reyna will find him, hanh!"

8:20 am

Reyna watched Laurent jump out of Andre's Mercedes on to the street and take off.

"Jeezis Andre, do I gotta do everything for you?" Reyna muttered and moved out in pursuit of Laurent, "Rica, I’m going after Laurent, where are you?" she barked in the earpiece.

"Mom, It's Ko! He's on the move!”

"What? You said you got him!"

"...I did..."

“Dammit Rica,” fussed Reyna, hopping on her own scooter to chase Laurent.

Rica, still on the roof, watched Ko parkour down six stories off the side of a building. That blew her away.

"Wow, he can do tha-"

"Rica?" yelled Reyna.

"I'm on him!" Rica shouted back, she couldn't move like Ko, but if she could get to her scooter and- A black motorbike raced toward Reyna’s position. It was Ko, with his rifle bag on his back.

“Damn he’s fast!” Rica yelled, then zipped down the side of the building, hopped on her scooter and chased after him.

In her heart Rica laughed at the comedy of the four way chase. Rica chased Ko, Ko chased Reyna, Reyna chased Laurent. All on cute scooters and motor bikes in Monaco, bonjour~  

Reyna and Laurent

Laurent evaded Reyna by running through back streets toward the harbor. He needed to catch a ferry boat back to France. Only French citizens and those with visas could board those boats, he had to hurry.

Reyna abandoned her scooter and pursued Laurent on foot as he climbed over a fence near the harbor. Reyna wanted to catch him and torture him to find out who hired him. That'd be fun, she thought as she hopped over the fence.

When she landed, Laurent lay in wait, and charged her with a pipe in his hand. Whoosh! He swung it at her face, but Reyna dodged the blow. 

Reyna shouted, "Fuck you!" and threw two kicks at Laurent's midsection. He blocked one strike and dropped his pipe, but stayed dangerous. He countered with a three punch combo at Reyna, with one hard hit to her chin, knocking her back. 

"Ptui!" she spat blood on the ground.

He charged her again with a front kick and she blocked, but the force hurled her backwards, battering her. Seemed Laurent could fight.

The Roof

Rica chased Ko as he leapt off his bike and parkoured up a three story building facing the harbor. 

He’s trying to get a clear shot at Mom from the roof! she reasoned and parkoured up the side of that building, almost as good as Ko.

Nyah! she beamed, making it to the roof top. She saw Ko standing fifty meters away on a second's roof’s edge, aiming his scopeless rifle at Reyna below him.

“Not today!” she swore and whipped her rifle to her cheek yelling, “Do it Strongbow!"

Fwap!

Rica's screaming bullet missed Ko's head by an inch. Undeterred, Rica charged toward him. She fired two rounds as she closed the gap on him. Ko, ducking her shots, gave a shocked look when she reached within one meter.

"Kiyaa!" she cried, thrusting her rifle butt at Ko’s face. He blocked her attack with his own battle rifle, an M110 A2, a beast of a weapon.

Rica spun three-sixty and struck Ko’s hand with her rifle barrel. He flinched from the blow and thrust his rifle at her with one hand, but she blocked and positioned for another strike.

“Hmph! You’re good!” he growled.

“I’m not done!” she yelled charging at him again, and he charged at her.

The rifles clashed as the teen killers thrust, blocked, parried and engaged in a brutal Rifle Kata. But Ko was a stronger and better fighter than Rica. But that meant nothing to her.

“You won’t beat me! Raaaah!” she cried and charged him again, ready for a drop spin. But Ko struck first, and landed a solid kick on her hip. He followed with a body punch, knocking the wind out of Rica. She dropped to one knee, and dropped her rifle.

"Aaaah!  Damn you!" she shouted, holding her bruised hip.

With Rica down, Ko aimed his rifle at Reyna below and whispered, "You win." Before firing one shot.

"Nooo!" Rica screamed and leapt up kicking Ko’s gut. He grabbed her arms to stop her.

"You fuck!" she screamed and kicked his legs until he let go and fell backward on his rifle. Rica dropped low, recovered her rifle and chambered a round, ready to shoot Ko. Then her earpiece crackled.

“Rica, report!" It was Reyna, she was alive.

"Eh? Mom?" Rica answered, relieved.

"Rica disengage and get out of here!"

"But, Ko didn't kill you?"

"What? No! But stop talking to me and run, before he changes his mind!" screamed Reyna. 

Rica scanned below and saw Reyna running to her blue scooter, and Laurent dead on the ground, with a hole in his chest.

Ko shot and killed Laurent. Rica turned to Ko, still down.

"Why did you kill Laurent and not my mom?" she asked him, aiming her rifle at him.

"My contract was to kill Laurent if he failed to retrieve the documents," answered Ko.

"Yeah? but you were gonna shoot my mother earlier?" she accused, tensing her rifle.

"No, just ruin her shot," his tone changed, "But I failed because you found me."

"Hell yeah I found you cause you talk too much, you cocky bastard!" she boasted. "You said you were a step ahead of me, that meant you had an insider, and my mother figured it was Laurent after you killed Andre's head guard.”

Rica spoke the truth, and ko smirked. She had him.

“Then you told me you were an Aries and about your awesome battle rifle and that meant you wanted to show me an awesome shot that could take out my mom and Andre from one point!"

"And I figured out where that point was, and there you were, Hmph!" she bragged, dancing with her rifle in front of Ko.

Then she sang, “That’s why ♫ I foouuuuuund you, and ♪ Strongbow foouuuuund ♪ you! Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyaaaah, nya!”

Ko grinned and lifted himself up displaying the shattered scope on his rifle.

"You found me and made an impossible shot," he said with a laugh, "You Rifle Girls are amazing."

"You damn right we are!" she huffed.

Ko chuckled at her bratty arrogance, then placed his rifle in his bag and walked away.

“Hey! don’t walk away from me!” she chased him.

He stopped in front of her at the edge of the building and touched her face, "You said you’d beat me, and you did. Also, you didn't kill me when you could have!"

"You mean when I should’ve!" she corrected him.

He smiled a Kpop-pretty-boy smile at her and told her, "Tell your Mom not to worry, we're even!"

“Eh? You're even? What does that-"

He kissed her. No, he stole a kiss...and she let him, until he released her.

“Hey, you're not allowed to.. kiss me-"

"Why didn’t you stop me?" he asked, caressing her face.

“Oh? Well, I,” her guilty eyes turned way, and Ko had her.

“Hm!” he smirked, and cupped her chin to face him and whispered, "Rica Reyes.”

“Nyah?”

“I like your name...and my name is Echo, Echo Lee."

Her eyes flickered, "Eh? Echo? What a lovely na-"

He shushed her lips with his finger, and spoke softly, "I'll see you again, Rifle Girl." 

Then he jumped, smiling at her as he dropped two stories, survived, and rode away on his motorbike. Never looking back.

As Rica stared at the fleeing young assassin yelled a final goodbye, "You cocky bastard!"

And Ko vanished.

...