Intel

Susan crouched along the side of the wall, frozen in place, her eyes darting left and right, straining to find the source of that cough. There wasn't supposed to be anyone there -- that was the whole purpose of the intel briefing that she had just hours before she had been injected into the compound. But that cough, it was proof, proof that there was something contrary to what they had initially believed.

She waited quietly for a couple more minutes, starting to be well aware of the slow rhythmic beating of her own heart. Very few things ever fazed Susan -- calm and collected was one of the characteristics that she had that made her an ideal candidate for the dark art of clandestine operations. That there was a cough was only an indication that someone was near, and even then, it was just one of the many possibilities that they had gone through in the briefing earlier. She was an executioner -- one who follows the plans that were made by those above her. Sometimes if the intel wasn't good, like this one, they would also give her the mandate to operate semi-independently, but for the most part, they did all the thinking, while she did all the leg work.

There it was again. Two coughs. Susan quickly estimated the direction and distance from which it came. It sounded like it could have been from two different people, but that was highly unlikely; no one coordinates coughs that way. She estimated a distance of roughly fifty yards, and just around the corner of the wall that she was currently taking cover at. Not good. This would rule out the easier route into the compound. She hugged close to the wall and slowly moved her left eye beyond the wall's perimeter to glance out at the direction she estimated. Against the moonlight, she made out two silhouettes. Another improbable situation had occurred. She ducked back into her corner and weighed her options.

Intel said that there was no one else going to be there, yet there were two guards. What else that she was given was wrong? Silently, she ducked back further along the wall, and started to scale it silently in the dark. At least some elevation would give her a little more insight on just what she was up to and help her complete the mission.

(Based on an exercise generated by WriteThis - 11-Jan-2014 23:49:07)