Member-only story
The Grey Player
Old age and guile, my boy!
Infiltration
Winter light. Everything monochrome except the yellow flashes on the guards’ uniforms and the green pine trees round the perimeter. The middle of the area is all storage containers, arranged in a grid pattern. Four guards patrolling, two north-south, two east-west. Three more on the perimeter. A hut near the exit with two more who never come out unless there’s an alarm.
I slip in among the containers. The best hiding place for now. I’ll deal with the perimeter guards later. The four I’m concerned with now walk their beats slowly. At regular intervals, they cross each others’ line of sight, but don’t speak. At no point are they all in sight of each other. There’s no radio chatter, either. I slip between containers until I’m close to the first one. One of the containers is unlocked and empty. I open the door carefully, then hunker down in the shadows near a junction.
I hear him before I see him, steady paces. I’m positioned so that unless he peers round the corner while passing, he won’t see me. He doesn’t, and I move out fast for a quick, quiet takedown. I drag the body to the open container and drop it inside, shutting the door. Now it’s time-sensitive. I have to get to the next one before he notices this one is missing. I take him down, then the next one, dragging the…
