12:05 PM- Pier Thirty Five 
  
Tara and Kitty held court in their dockside hideout by making calls and sending out goons for the crew’s daily racket business. But they both heeded Reyna’s warning by staying inside and away from windows. So far the morning went well, but that was before a frantic guard named Fredo ran up the stairs of the pier and into the office to warn his bosses. 
  
“Bosses!” the goon panted. “Cops! A lot of em! They comin here!” 
  
Both girls leapt up, but Kitty barked first, “What the hell you talkin about, Fredo?” 
  
The goon shook his head, “Outside, there's a bunch of SWAT cops approachin the pier, and they got M16’s and shit!” 
  
“What?” Kitty yelped as her phone suddenly rang. It was Rica, “Yo Rica, we- wait? A sniper? Yeah your mom already told us!” 
  
Kitty stopped talking and suddenly gaped at the wall with the phone to her ear. For it appeared she figured it all out. “Shit Rica, we got swatted! And whoever the shooter is he’s probably a cop!” 
  
At that second two more goons ran in the office, “Boss them cops startin to arrest dudes in the parking lot! Chris-and-them are down there now tryna stall-em!” 
  
“Dammit!” Kitty turned to Fredo, “Get everybody’s guns locked up in the shipping container, they can’t open it without a warrant!” then to her sister, “Tara let’s go, we’ll slip out the back!” 
  
Tara gaped at Kitty with a blank look, “On that narrow slippery catwalk in the rear? You crazy!” 
  
“Come on!” Kitty yelled grabbing her sister and racing out of the office. 
  
12:06 FDR Expressway North 
  
After handing Suzy a wad of cash to keep her mouth shut, Rica, Ko, and Bling ditched her downtown. The trio then sped north on the FDR expressway to pier thirty five to help Tara and Kitty. But from the phone call it seemed they were too late. 
  
“Tara and Kitty were swatted!” Rica yelped from the front seat of the black SUV after Kitty hung up. 
  
“What is swatted mean?” Ko asked from the back seat. 
  
“It means somebody called the cops on them and said they had guns or some shit,” said Bling as he floored the gas, “And when that happens the city sends a SWAT team.” 
  
“Now we’re fucked!” Rica griped, “If we get there and those cops are everywhere then we can’t do anything for Tara and they’ll cover it up if one of them kills her!” 
  
“That’s how the NYPD rolls!” Bling growled. 
  
But while the boss and her wolf spoke Ko pulled a set of powerful binoculars from Rica’s rifle bag in the back seat. As they drove on the expressway along the East River he looked out north and spotted Pier 35. To include the emergency service police flashing their red and blue lights in front of the dock building. 
  
“Not good enough, Tara,” Ko muttered out loud and began to pull Rica’s rifle out of her bag. 
  
“Eh?” Rica turned to the back, “Ko, what are you doing with Strongbow?” 
  
Ko glanced at Rica while opening the rifle’s chamber and examining the high velocity one-sixty-eight grain full metal jacket. “Tara tried to heed my warning by not allowing herself to be surrounded. But she miscalculated,” he said. 
  
“Miscalculated?” Rica asked with confusion, “What are you talking about?” 
  
“The Turks aren't sending a cop to kill Tara,” said Ko while handing the binoculars to Rica. 
  
“No? Well if not a cop then who?” 
  
“Look three thousand meters north, two o'clock,” he muttered as he placed a twenty-x scope on Rica’s rifle. 
  
Spotter 
  
Rica aimed the binoculars at the point Ko stated. And there, floating in the river, she observed a small white boat with a man leaned over the side. 
  
“Holy shit that guy in the boat has a Dragunov!” she yelped, recognizing the distinctive long range Russian army sniper rifle. “What the hell? Is he gonna shoot her when she comes out?” 
  
“No,” Ko deadpanned while lowering his right side window, “We’ll stop him first.” 
  
“We’re gonna do what?” Rica double took. 
  
“You heard me,” he muttered and placed Strongbow’s barrel in the corner of the window to lock it in place. 
  
Rica shook her head, “Ko, no! You can’t fire at him from here the wind will blow the round back, and besides it’s a two thousand meter shot in a moving vehicle!” 
  
“Only half right,” he mumbled while adjusting the scope, “When we pass the boat the distance should only be eleven hundred meters and I’ll shoot with the wind to carry the round.” 
  
“But Ko!” 
  
“Rica, please spot me now!” he yelled. 
  
“Ah!” She gaped at him for a second before aiming her powerful optics at an orange flag attached to a buoy floating in the east river. From that flag the teen veteran sniper could now call distance and wind speed. “Twenty, no thirty mile per hour winds, south-south east!” 
  
  

  

  
“How far to the boat?” Ko barked. 
  
“Eighteen hundred!” said Rica, now in full spotter mode, “Ko, steady your breathing. You don’t have to hit him, just hit the boat. Bling, drop the truck speed to forty miles per hour.” 
  
“Boss, that’s too slo-” 
  
“Do it now!” she yelled at Bling while watching the man in the rocking boat adjust the Dragunov. He stood so close in her binoculars she could see the straps on his black hat. “Ko! Fourteen hundred meters, and the wind speed dro-” 
  
“Easy Rica, I see him,” said Ko, calm and cool. 
  
“Ok, I’m good.” Rica took a deep breath as they approached the eleven hundred meter mark where their truck would ride parallel to the boat. “Thirtee-” FWAP! 
  
At thirteen hundred meters Ko made the shot, into the wind. And Rica, while spotting, felt the crack-bang of her suppressed rifle firing off in the back seat. And she watched and counted, “One...two...oh shit.” 
  
“What is it boss?” Bling barked from the driver’s seat. “Did he hit it?” 
  
“Eh? He…” Rica hesitated to answer as she continued to stare at the boat. In those same seconds their SUV rode past the vessel and completely parallel to the pier. Below the expressway police cars and emergency vehicles surrounded the dock, with most cops now gaining entrance. Rica exhaled and put her binoculars down before staring at Ko in utter disbelief at what he accomplished.  
  
And Ko didn’t look at her as he calmly removed the scope from her rifle and placed everything back in the bag. 
  
“Boss?” Bling barked. 
  
“We’re not exiting here, Bling,” she answered while staring at Ko. “Keep going to the Long Island Expressway. We gotta get to Dan.” 
  
“Cool!” said Bling, “But what about the boat?” 
  
“There’s no more boat, Bling. Rather, Ko didn’t hit the boat.” 
  
“He didn’t?” Bling yelped glancing at both teens. 
  
“No, he missed it and instead hit the man square in between his eyes while shooting from a moving vehicle." She tilted her head at Ko and continued, "On top of that he fired thirteen hundred meters against the wind with a rifle that only only has an effective range of eight hundred meters,” she deadpanned. 
  
“Oh, that’s great!” Bling yelped. 
  
“No Bling,” Rica growled, “That’s impossible!” 
  
Ko finally looked at her with a grin. “Not true,” he said displaying one of Rica’s own bullets. “These one sixty eight grains are known for their resistance to bullet drop.” 
  
“I know, that’s why I use them,” she retorted. 
  
“Right, but apparently you aren’t aware that at a three degree elevation from target these rounds increase the M24's range to fifteen hundred meters,” he said calmly.  
  
Rica squinted and leaned in, “That’s maximum bullet range, not effective range!” she snarled. 
  
“Correct.” He pulled close to her lips, “That’s why I adjusted for wind and distance to make them effective. The way I was trained by my teacher.” 
  
Rica squinted her eyes at his response, but she stopped scowling. For her normal competitive nature wouldn’t allow herself to compliment him. However, the shot Ko just made was beyond ridiculous.
  
“Ko?” 
  
“Yes?” 
  
“That shot,” she stared at him, “I would've never been able to make that shot.” 
  
Ko, emotionless, locked eyes with her, “Of course not. Because I haven’t taught you how yet.” 
  
“Excuse me?" Her eyes narrowed and she yanked him by his collar in full tsundere mode, "You're gonna do what?" 
  
“Heh heh,” Ko laughed and stroked her hair, “Now, now. If you behave I’ll teach you my tricks.” 
  
“You must be crazy!” she smirked, with obvious puppy love in her eyes. “I don’t need to behave around you, boy, because remember, you may be the greatest marksman I’ve ever met in my life, and I really mean that. But dammit all, don’t you ever forget!” she sneered at him as he smirked at her. 
  
“Forget what?” he asked. 
  
“That I, hm hm hm,” she cackled with an evil smile and raised her fist at him, “I can kick your ass seven days a week, you hunting dog! Nyaaaa!” she howled. 
  
“Haha,” Ko laughed and sat back with his finger on his chin, “That’s only true for now. But I’ll sign up for Kung-Fu classes with Tara and Kitty and we’ll see-” 
  
“Nope!” she cut him off, “You can take all the classes you want and I’ll still beat you up! Hee!” she giggled and sat back in the passenger seat, “Now come on, let’s go rescue my awesome little sister and step-dad!” 
  
“Yes,” Ko smiled, “Let’s do that.” 

..