The Shadow Hunters

It is just after 10:00 PM, and my squad is walking through dark streets lined with silent, dark buildings. This is one of the routes in the underbelly of the city that we use to move around unobserved. The darkness is our friend. It is then that we become the hunters and not the prey. Some who see us pass call us Night Walkers or Evil Spirits. We call ourselves The Shadow Hunters. I'm Joel. Following me at fifty-foot intervals are my squad members, Paula, Bing, Zack, Monty and Spence. We are a good crew with many kills to our credit. Our clothing and gear are black, all matte finish material, and we are equipped with the latest night vision goggles, tactical communications gear, Shadow detectors, and our weapon of choice. Most are satisfied with a nine-millimeter handgun fitted with a silencer. My choice is a silenced version of an old model two-barrel pistol with a 410-gauge short-barrel scattergun and a 22-caliber long-barrel slug thrower in an over-under configuration. Each barrel of my weapon is single shot, but that's no problem. Our firefights rarely last more than a few seconds, just the time the Shadows need to retreat into the darkness and become invisible again.