291

A shot rings out barely a second after you rise from cover, but the speed of your reflexes saves you from being hit. The awful suddenness and accuracy of the sniper’s shot makes you think twice about trying to spot him a second time. Then out of the corner of your eye you see the captain cock his machine pistol and get ready to open fire.

‘OK, I’m gonna see if I can flush this Yankee out,’ he says vehemently, clearly unimpressed by how near you came to death. ‘When I start firin’, you see if you can pinpoint where he is.’

You nod in uneasy agreement and get ready to glance around the tailgate the instant the captain opens fire. ‘Let’s do it!’ he says, as he rises above the cover of the truck and squeezes off a burst of automatic fire. The noise of his gun drowns out the sniper’s shot, but within a second of breaking cover, Frankland is hit. With the machine pistol still chattering in his hands, he falls backwards and crashes to the ground, the assassin’s bullet lodged deep in his skull.

The shock of Frankland’s death, following so closely after Sergeant Haskell’s and so nearly after your own, hits you like an icy shower. You cower behind the truck, shivering with fear, afraid that you will be next. For a terrible moment, the fear wells up and consumes you, and all you want to do is run as far away and as fast as you can. Despite Knott’s pleas to stay where you are, you scramble to your feet and stumble blindly towards the woods. In your haste, you trip and fall, grazing your hands and knees on the flint-sharp shale: lose 1 ENDURANCE point.

Inadvertently, your fall saves your life. A shot passes over your head a second after you stumble, missing you by a hand’s breadth. The imminent danger clears your mind and you race towards the trees with a determination to survive. Knott encourages you to increase your speed and you pray that you will reach cover before the sniper has a chance to slip another round into the breech of his rifle.

Add together your Stealth skill total and your current ENDURANCE points score. (Note: If your ENDURANCE score is low and you are heavily encumbered, it may be advisable to discard some of your Backpack Items in order to increase your Stealth skill total.)

If your total score is 15 or less, turn to 57.

If it is 16–19, turn to 83.

If it is 20 or more, turn to 254.