The Arena: The Awakening (1) Read Online Free Page A

took a deep breath, focused then exhaled half of the breath.
    ' Click!'
    The firing pin of the rifle moved forward as Mia squeezed the trigger. Through the 'scope of the rifle, she could see her target standing stationary at the side of the car that dropped him off. He was a well-dressed man wearing a suit that was obviously hand made. His hair was well groomed and he was wearing a pair of sunglasses. From the 'Click' of the firing pin to the man's head virtually removing itself from his body felt like forever when, in fact, it was less than two seconds. The explosive power of the two fluids in the round were silent as they detonated. The clear structure of the round disintegrated, with the green and yellow fluid saving the firer from having to eject the cartridge from the chamber. The man's body dropped to the floor almost instantly after impact. Through the scope she could see a lot of commotion below. The car driver, doorman to the building, pedestrians in the street, all rushed towards the body of the now deceased man.
    “Objective complete, subject down” whispered Mia.
    “ Copied that. Return to the Arena within six hours for debrief.” crackled another radio transmission.
    With that, Mia started to dismantle her equipment. She started by systematically stripping her rifle down to its component parts. Silencer, tripod, barrel, body, bolt, stock, it all came apart. She placed each part into the custom designed suitcase. The last things to be put in were the two remaining rounds. They were first placed into a custom round carrier before being put in the case. Once everything was packed away and ready to go, Mia went to the room's bathroom, straightened herself up and dusted down her clothes. Lying on a table for three hours is extremely uncomfortable and will play havoc with your outfit.
    Mia left the room taking both her suitcase and handbag and headed to the elevator in the hallway. Once in the elevator, she again checked herself out in the mirror inside.
    “You can do this. You’ve done this before,” she said out loud while staring at herself.
    She was saying it as if she needed convincing. She had gotten on at the fifteenth floor and it took what seemed like forever to get to the foyer. ' Bing ', the doors opened and she walked confidently to the reception desk. The click of her high heels alerted the receptionist of her presence.
    “Can I help you ma’am?” enquired the clerk.
    “Yes” replied Mia “My name is Laura Richards, I checked in this morning for an overnight stay but I’ve received bad news from a family member and need to return home, so I need to check out.”
    “No problem at all Ma’am, if you bear with me, I’ll just check you out on the system. Do you have the card you made your booking on?” asked the clerk.
    Mia went into her purse and pulled out the credit card in the name of Laura Richards. The clerk indicated that she swipe it through the machine on the desk, which she did and, once the transaction was complete, the clerk handed her a checkout slip.
    He said, “We hope you enjoyed your stay and that everything is all right back home. We haven’t billed you for your stay and hope you’ll use us on your next trip”.
    “Thank you, I will” replied Mia before turning and walking out of the building. Mia never skipped a beat throughout the whole process. Her heart rate remained the same even though she was lying. There was no perspiring, no mix-up of words, nothing. She had completed her task with pinpoint precision. She just had to get back to base without any issues.
    Mia had parked her car in an underground parking lot about six blocks away from her hotel. This put her deep into the Chinatown area. Wheeling her suitcase all the way, it only took Mia thirty minutes to get to the lot. Once she reached her car, she placed her suitcase into the trunk and then looked around to check if there were any security cameras. Once she was happy that there weren’t, she unzipped a