The Ninth Dominion (The Jared Kimberlain Novels) Read Online Free

of this before you know it , she thought, trying to push it into the boy’s head. I promise … .
    Christopher Hanley’s head came up slightly, as if in response to a call of his name, then sank again. Hedda made her way around behind the house. With the boy outside now, all eyes would be focused his way, leaving the back clear.
    Two guards patrolled the rear of the holy residence, a third maintaining a vigil near the back door. Hedda yanked her silenced nine-millimeter pistol from her belt and concealed it by her hip. Not hesitating, she walked straight toward the door guard. Either of the other two could have observed her if they had bothered to notice.
    “What are—”
    They were the only words he managed to utter before she shoved the pistol against his ribs and fired twice. Then she shoved him backward against the door as he died. Supporting the guard there as if he were feather light, Hedda worked the door open and brought him in alongside her. There was a small alcove off to the right, and she dumped his body in it before sealing the door again.
    She heard a door close on the floor above her. Hedda reached the majestic staircase that spiraled upward, just as a slightly older man in uniform started down. Their eyes met, and his told her enough. She shot him in the head, and the man crumpled. The commotion drew a Palestinian from the front of the house, turbanless, starting to go for his gun as he moved. Hedda shot him three times in the chest and pressed on.
    Another guard lunged out from a doorway and grabbed for her pistol. She saw his mouth opening to form a shout and slammed her hand over it. The force of the blow cracked his front teeth, and the man’s eyes bulged in agony. Her right hand let him have the pistol, trading it for a grip with her iron fingers around his wrist. She twisted, and the resulting snap! was louder than any of her silenced gunshots. The man’s agonized scream was lost to her hand, and she rotated her palm under his chin. Hedda could see his eyes watering in pain as she snapped the chin back. A crunching sound came this time, muscle tearing away from ruined vertebrae. The man’s neck wobbled free and then flapped down near his shoulders. Hedda let him slump and pushed him into the doorway he had emerged from. Then she crept to a window that looked out over the front of the holy residence.
    Christopher Hanley was off the bench now, hands wedged in his pockets as he kicked stones about the ground. Nearby, but not too near, his would-be playmates continued kicking her soccer ball about. Hedda pulled the detonator from the small pouch at her back and activated it. Two of the three lights upon its black exterior glowed red.
    A button rested beside each of the glowing lights. One would trigger the explosive gases pumped into the soccer ball to mix with finely milled pieces of glass. Harmless until they were sent rocketing out under explosive force. The second button would remotely activate the Russian-made 7.62mm machine gun she had set up across the street in the apartment building, aimed dead center for the courtyard. Even if it didn’t claim a single victim, it would succeed in drawing the remaining guards’ attention to the apparent point of attack, this an instant after the soccer ball had laid waste Christopher Hanley’s nearest captors.
    Chaos would result, and Hedda would be able to approach the men from behind while their attention was focused entirely on the apartment building. She would make it seem as though she were coming out to get the boy back inside and then take them all out from the rear.
    Hedda’s fake beard was starting to itch horribly and she wished she could strip if off. The Kevlar bulletproof shirt she wore inside her uniform top was baking her with sweat that had soaked through at her underarms and midriff. But the beard was still important to her plan, and the time when she might need the Kevlar was fast approaching.
    Hedda judged the Palestinians kicking her