Bianca

Beta slipped away from the crisis-ridden United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, at the British Army's Special Sniper Training Base, Meva Lake—the action team leader in charge of investigating the Downing Street shooting—was facing the last person she wanted to see: Bianca. The Black woman team leader brought Predator to mind at first glance.

As the two action team leaders from MI6, Meva and Bianca were responsible for hunting down the killer behind the Downing Street shooting, Beta, and the Jackal behind the Munich shooting, respectively.

Yet the first thought that crossed either woman's mind when they met was never how to work together, but how to trip the other up.

Factional infighting within the intelligence agency had long been an open secret. Meva's Conservative Faction and Bianca's Reformist Faction were bitter enemies, to say nothing of the fact that Bianca was the Black colleague Meva hated most. There wasn't even the slightest room for a civil relationship between them.

Bianca struck first. "Looks like some people are just dyed-in-the-wool racists, huh?"

Meva's eyes blazed. "You think I want to waste my energy discriminating against you lot? Why don't you ask your good compatriot—the one who stabbed my mother during a knife-point robbery and is still walking free! Let him explain why I shouldn't hate every last one of you!"

Meva continued her scathing tirade. "A bunch of livestock and farm tools shipped over from the African Continent, and now you've learned to pretend to speak like people on the British Isles? Think putting on a suit can hide your inferior bloodline? Look at that gorilla face of yours— even Darwin would wonder if something had gone wrong with evolution!"

The vicious verbal attack left the training base commander standing nearby utterly dumbfounded.

Worse, after hearing Meva's words, the commander looked at the Black woman team leader and found himself thinking she really did look more and more like a gorilla. To hide the impolite association, he could only lower his head and stare at the ground.

It would be terribly rude to laugh out loud now.

Bianca flew into a rage and lunged at Meva. "Say that again, I dare you!"

The commander stepped between them, plainly taking sides, and reprimanded them with a stern face. "Did MI6 agents come to my training base to put on a boxing match?"

He deliberately emphasized his words. "My time isn't for dealing with petty squabbles like this."

Meva, satisfied, reined in her sharp tongue. But with the commander blocking her, Bianca had nowhere to vent her fury, and her expression grew frighteningly dark.

The commander turned to Meva and asked in a businesslike tone, "Ms. Lake, may I ask the purpose of your visit to the training base?"

"We need to investigate," Meva replied bluntly. "As the finest sniper training base in the United Kingdom, has this place trained anyone capable of a 3,800-meter ultra-long-range shot, including current trainees and graduates? I'd like to ask you for the relevant details."

The commander nodded and looked at Bianca. "Same purpose?"

Bianca nodded darkly. "Yes, I'd like to look into—"

The commander cut her off. "All right. Come with me."

Built against the hills and beside the sea, the training base was blessed with an ideal setting for sniper training.

Dense forests, open plains, rolling grasslands, and the coastline's unpredictable winds and damp, heavy sea breeze combined to create a professional training ground that came as close to real combat as possible.

The commander led the two women through the training area. Nearby, a team of trainee snipers was undergoing a precision shooting assessment. Their target was a miniature bullseye just five centimeters in diameter, a thousand meters away.

The commander raised his binoculars and began observing. Meva and Bianca each picked up an observation device from the table.

From the dense grass in the distance came scattered gunshots. At times, they could see a target wobble after being hit; at others, it remained perfectly still.

Meva lowered her binoculars and got straight to the point. "As the cradle of the United Kingdom's military and police snipers, has this base ever trained anyone who could hit a 2.5-centimeter area with their first shot from 3,800 meters away? At any point in time."

Bianca immediately added, "To be precise, 3,815 meters."

"A difference of 15 meters?" Meva scoffed. "For a professional sniper capable of making an extreme 3,800-meter shot, is that small margin really worth emphasizing?"

Before Bianca could respond, the commander lowered his binoculars and said firmly, "I've run this training base for over fifty years, and I've never seen a sniper capable of what you're describing."

"Not a single one?" Meva pressed. "Not even someone recorded as killed in action?"

A suspicion had been nagging at her. Although the Downing Street and Munich shootings hadn't been carried out by the same person, the Munich shooter's tactics clearly bore the hallmarks of British special forces.

That made her suspect that Beta and the Jackal might both have military backgrounds. Perhaps their files had mysteriously vanished because they'd somehow falsified their deaths, leading the relevant records to be sealed away and destroyed.

The commander clasped his hands behind his back and replied evenly, "You'll have to seek an answer from the Military Department. I'm only a training base commander, while you're the MI6 agents with the authority to investigate, aren't you?"

Meva nodded to the commander. "Thank you for taking the time to see us."

Bianca was still unwilling to give up. "You're sure no one has ever reached that level? It's hard to believe."

The commander gave the Black woman team leader a cold glance. "Are you trying to provoke me, or are you simply questioning my word? The archives are in the Military Department headquarters. Go look for yourself, if you can get clearance."

Meva politely bade the commander farewell. He personally escorted her to the edge of the firing range, and they exchanged a few pleasantries. As for Bianca, however, he merely turned away with a cold look and headed straight back to the range.

Meva led her investigation team toward the parking lot. Suddenly, Bianca called from behind, "Can we talk?"

Meva stopped, her hands still tucked into her jacket pockets. The golden ponytail tied behind her head swayed gently as she turned, gleaming like metal in the sunlight.

"About what?" Meva raised an eyebrow. "Are we having an evolution seminar?"

Bianca was briefly at a loss for words. She took a deep breath and forced down her anger. "Only by sharing intelligence can we identify Beta and the Jackal as quickly as possible."

Meva showed no interest in working together. She curled her lips into a false smile. "Oh? All the intelligence is on file with the agency. If you need it, I can help you apply for clearance. After all, just anyone can't look at the Military Department's archives."

Bianca, from the series The Day of the Jackal.