The kinetic impact was like being hit by a freight train. Kaya was physically lifted off her feet, thrown backward into the freezing mud. Her handgun slipped from her grasp, splashing into the dark water.
A blinding, searing agony ripped through her left side. She gasped, tasting the sharp, metallic tang of blood in the back of her throat. For a terrifying second, her vision swam, the green tint of her goggles flickering as her brain tried to process the catastrophic trauma.
"I got her!" the squad leader yelled, his heavy boots splashing through the mud as he ran toward her fallen body, accompanied by his last two remaining men. "The target is down! Check her pulse!"
Kaya lay perfectly still in the mud, her breathing shallow, her eyes squeezed shut. She could feel the hot, sticky warmth of her own blood soaking through her tactical shirt, mixing with the freezing rain.
Do not move. Let them get close.
