Chapter 11
"Hold on a second." Brad said as they stood on the front porch. From a long leather pouch that he carried with the rifle he removed a scope and connected it to the top of the M-1.
"Night vision scope?" Susan guessed.
"Yep." He placed the butt of the rifle against his shoulder and peered through it at the tree line across the open field. "Take a look." He said, handing the rifle to her.
"It's kind of a heavy gun, isn't it?" she said, lifting it to her eye and also looking beyond the front porch. Through the scope the world lit up in shades of green.
"About ten pounds." Brad said.
She handed the rifle back to him as he handed her the night vision goggles. "You use these and I'll use the scope. That way we both have night eyes."
Cradling the rifle in his arms, Brad stared out at the hidden forest before him, a dim glow of light occasionally escaping into the night from openings in the treetops. Their flashlights flashing like a marker showing the slow progress of their pursuers as they moved up the hill towards Brad and Susan.
He turned to Susan who stared out into the darkness next to him. He couldn't see her very well, but he could smell her scent, feel her presence within him as well as beside him. He put his arm around her and kissed her on the side of the head.
"You've heard that old adage, meeting you has changed my life?"
"Yes." she said reluctantly.
"Well, that's true for me on so many levels."
"Me too." she said.
"After all of this excitement, assuming we live through it, the rest of our lives together should be pretty boring."
"You sound like you have plans."
"I do, but all my plans pretty much revolve around surviving the night. Anything beyond that is hopes, hallucinations and delusions of sexual grandeur."
She laughed and shoved him away. "What a typical male pig." Then she turned and put her arms around him, hugging him as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Don't let anything happen to you tonight." She warned, a tone of worry in her voice.
"Huh!" he said dismissively. "You apparently don't realize that tonight, I'm Batman. I can leap tall buildings in a single bound and spit back bullets that are fired at me."
"That's Superman, you idiot." she said, knowing he was joking.
"Oh - yeah, so it is." he said, as if he didn't know.
"Well, I'm as close as you are going to get to Superman tonight. Luckily for us, I know a little bit about this kind of fighting." He finished with a confident tone.
"Put on you night goggles so I can explain the lay-out of the land and how we're going to do this."
She put the goggle on and stared out at the lit up terrain. Brad pointed at a rise on the far side of the slope that their pursuers were slowly climbing.
"I want you to take up a position in the trees along that rise. There's occasional small clearings in which these guys will probably pass through. Find the one nearest the tree line and take a position behind a tree or laying prone near one in case you have to roll into cover. When you find your position, find fallen branches or any other forest debris and place it around your position to break up your outline and to hide you if a light flashes on you.
"More than likely they don't have night vision goggles, since they're using flashlights, but if they do, they just have one, and they can't use it while the lights are on."
He stepped down the porch onto the ground and walked about twenty feet away from her. "Look at me through the goggles so you can recognize my heat signature." She looked at him, a bright green light, his individuality not very discernible. "What I want you to notice is what I'm carrying. You can see the rifle, right?"
"Yes." she said.
"You also notice there's something on my back - the crossbow." he stated.
"Yes." she responded.
"Okay. I'm going to be at the other side of this wide ravine that they're coming up and moving down their flank. You are there - " he said pointing, "on their other flank.
"They might be professional hoods, but I doubt if they have serious combat training, and will be focused on what's happening directly in front of them.
"Look for your targets coming up the hill, and fire in that direction, not directly across from you or up the hill, as I may be in either of those areas. Make sure your target is relatively close - let's say no more than a hundred feet.
"The ordnance that you're firing is a wad of b-b's moving at a tremendous velocity and presents a wide shot pattern, so it will be hard to miss."
Brad paused in thought as he envisioned his intended movements and how it would guide the men into the position that he wanted them to be in.
"I'm going to take out as many as I can from their rear with the crossbow, hoping that they don't notice because they are intent on their climb and anticipating us in front of them.
"I know every inch of this landscape, so I should be able to bypass them on the flank. Once I'm back in a good flanking position I'll start taking them out with sniper fire, which will probably send them to your side of the ravine. Don't do any shooting until after you hear me fire. Make sure your target is clear of any trees before you fire."
"How will I know when you fire if they're firing?"
"The report from the M-1 will be a lot louder than anything else you will hear - very distinctive from their weapons."
"Yes, sergeant." she said, saluting him.
"That would be, Major, my young, foxy troop. Haven't been a sergeant in a long time."
"Yes, major." she said, saluting him again. "How about a kiss for the young, foxy troop before we commit murder and mayhem."
He took her in his arms and said, "How can I resist an armed woman who sounds so psychopathic?" He kissed her deeply as she wrapped her arms around him, the length of the shotgun in her hand pressing against his back.
Still holding her in his arms, he asked, "How are you doing?"
"I'm scared to death." she said.
"Good. I don't need a Rambo." he said. "Fear will make you careful."
"How about you?" she asked. "You seem to be taking this in stride."
"That's just the illusion of training." he said. "I always go into an operation with my heart in my throat."
"You've done things like this before?" she asked with a tone of surprise.
"Well, let's just say I'm well versed at Guerrilla and sniper warfare" He paused. "Does that make you feel any more confident in the outcome of tonight?"
"It offers a little hope." she answered.
As Susan crossed the field in front of the cabin to the far side of the forest line, Brad went to the left side. Stopping there he watched Susan through his scope until she entered into the forest and disappeared. He wanted to have a good idea of where she would be if the fight moved farther up the hill than he anticipated so that he wouldn't hit her with any stray bullets.
Brad took a wide trail that followed along the side of the mountain as it descended towards the valley. He moved quick and silently. Still high enough to see the tops of the trees in the valley, he watched for the occasional flash of light, keeping the men's position in mind as they ascended the hill.
Susan moved with caution. She realized that her hands were shaking as she held the shotgun against her chest in a two handed grip. She reached down with one hand and felt the bulge of the fanny pack filled with extra shells, and then her pockets stuffed with more shells. It offered her minor reassurance, but some reassurance none-the-less.
As Susan descended the high slope, she kept looking towards the lower level of land where she anticipated the gangsters would come, looking for any kind of a clearing. About three hundred feet into the woods she spotted a clearing that was about 80 foot square.
'This is probably where Brad wanted to me to set-up my ambush." she thought as she looked around for a good hiding spot that would allow her a good view of the clearing. She picked a thick tree that was set back about twenty feet from the clearing, a large snaking root of the tree partially exposed. Water run off had created a shallow hollow in the dirt, offering a good source of cover for her.
She looked around, finding some dead, fallen branches and placed them on the other side of the root from where she planned to lie in wait. Positioning herself gingerly in the hollow, after checking for spiders or any other crawly things, she rested the shotgun on the tree root and swung it back and forth across the clearing, making sure she had a clear view through the camouflage of branches in front of her.
She sighed, then took deep slow breathes, trying to calm her nerves, trying to stop the shake in her hands, trying to ignore the embedded rock she didn't see in the hollow pressing slightly into her ribs.
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The four men were strung out in single file, stumbling along as they walked, unfamiliar with mountainous terrain. The first three men had flashlights in one hand and pistols in the other. The fourth man had put his pistol in his belt, in case he tripped in the dark he would have both hands to fall on.
"This is bullshit." the man at the rear complained as he tried to follow the lights of the other men, his hands held out in front of him as if he were blind. "I've never been on a mountain in my life." He paused as he grunted and panted, out of shape. "What if it get steeper and we fall off?"
"Don't be an idiot." the lead man said gruffly. "If these assholes in front of us aren't falling off, neither will we."
"Well, I don't like it. The only wilderness I've ever been in is Central Park, and there ain't no mountains there." He paused again, thinking as he walked.
"What if we run into a bear or a lion out here?" he asked with a touch of worry.
"We shoot the motherfucker." the lead man said irritably. "Now, shut the fuck up. With all your yakking, they're going to hear us coming a mile away."
The rear man fell into a silence, the only sound the panting and grunting of the four as they walked. Less than thirty seconds later, the soft sound of something slicing through the air ceased with a crack. The rear man came to a sudden halt and silently crumpled to the ground, a bolt extending from one temple through the other.
The other men did not hear the sound, or if they did, they didn't find any danger in what they heard. They moved on, stumbling over root sections, panting, their minds longing for a place where mountains did not exist.
"Hold up." the lead man said, raising his armed hand in the bloom of the flashlight behind him. He flashed his light directly ahead of where they stood. "Looks like a clearing. You guys spread out when we get to it, but don't just walk in - just in case the hippie has any bullets left and actually knows how to shoot it without blowing his dick off. We'll check it out first."
The two men had come up next to him and chuckled at his joke. He turned and looked at the two men then looked behind them. "Where's Vinnie?"
Both of the men turned looking into the darkness they had just passed through. "Jeez, I don't know, boss." One man said. "Hey, Vinnie!!" He yelled.
"Shut-up you damned fool." He snapped. "You might as well send flares up in the air telling the hippie that we're here."
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Brad raced back up the same trail that he had come down to take out the rear man. If he engaged them from the position he was in, Susan would be in the line of fire. A spark of pain greeted each flying step of his right leg as he ran. He favored the leg slightly as he moved up the hill, but controlled the pain with his mind, focusing on the operation, setting up the targets.
He came to a pre-determined location that was set back deep from the clearing, but one that had openings between the trees. He took deep breaths as he settled into position, calming his pounding heart after the run up the hill. He studied the terrain between the trees, estimating from past knowledge that the distance to the opposite edge of the opening to be about 300 feet. He zeroed in the scope for that distance, settled in and waited. The air, fragrant with the smell of redwood, was as still as death, which meant no wind adjustments for the trajectory of the bullet. Brad felt himself ease in to the mental state of a sniper waiting for the enemy to enter the cross-hairs of his scope. It was easy. He had done it many times before.
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"Lazy son-of-a-bitch." the team leader of the group said angrily. "I'll bet he's back there sitting on his dead ass." He turned back to the two men. "I'm going to kick has ass. If he wasn't my brother-in-law, I'd put a bullet in him."
Suddenly, the forehead of the man he was looking at exploded out, the whizz of a bullet passing as it exited through the large hole in his face and continued passed the team leader, blood and brain splattering his face. An instant later the loud report of a rifle followed. The impact of the bullet forced the already dead man against the team leader. As he slumped to the ground, the man covered in the others blood stepped back, wiping his face.
"Son-of-a-bitch!" he kept saying as he backpedaled away from the dead man. Getting control of himself he said, "Turn off the flashlight." They both ran behind a tree, not sure where the shot came from, but knowing it wasn't from behind them.
"I'll bet that fucker killed Vinnie. Shit, what am I gonna tell my sister?"
"Listen, Joe." the other man said. "I don't give a shit about your sister or Vinnie or him." he said, referring to the man laying near them with half his head missing. "What I give a shit about, is getting out of here alive.
"You said this would be an easy hit. Well, it ain't." Your goons aren't paying me enough for this crap."
Joe laughed with no humor. "It doesn't matter if you're getting paid at all at the moment, and you can take your pay for this job up with Spike, and he will take it up with the money people. They will either pay you more or kill you because you asked for more. So, don't give me any shit about money until we've killed this guy and get that damned chick. Understand?
"If you want a bonus you can have the girl before we give her to them. They don't care what kind of condition she's in. They just want her alive."
A bullet ricocheted off the side of the tree behind which they stood, sending stinging chunks of bark into their faces.
"I think that guy is up the hill to the right, Joe. I thought I saw a spark way up through those trees just as he fired." They both reached out from either side of the tree and fired wildly in the direction where they thought Brad was, but he had already rolled from his position and was angling towards Susan along higher ground. Had they not been so rattled, they would have realized the distance was too great for a pistol to do any harm.
"We have to get around this guy." Joe said. "Let's follow the tree line of this field around to the left and see if we can flank him. We have a pretty good idea where he is."
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Brad had moved to a position that was more in front of the men now, but they were no longer looking in that direction. They were focused on the hill to the right of the ravine, and were moving up through the tree line on the left of the clearing. They were moving in the dark, slowly, trying to be quiet, but the crack of snapping, dried limbs under their feet and the grunts of their blind stumbling was like a marker to their movements.
Brad waited patiently, laying in a prone position, watching the two men as bright lights slipping in and out of sight as they passed behind trees along the edge of the meadow. He adjusted the scope to 150 feet. The air held its breath. Brad waited, as still as the foliage around him, blending into the darkness. He did not even exist as a shadow. Brad could lay in this position for hours if necessary. He had done it before - many times.
The two men had stopped, hidden by a tree. They had gone as far as they were going to until they heard a movement or saw the flash of a rifle. As they hugged the tree, silently crouched, watching the darkness for a sign, clouds moved in from the sea, drawn by the beckoning of a hot inland. Like a flock of birds, the clouds dropped into the canopy and fluttered through the trees to the ground in drifts of smokey fog.
Susan could see the men moving through the trees. They seemed to be avoiding the clearing as they circled it to the left, right in front of her. She had heard the report from Brad's rifle, which was the signal that she could fire when she had a target. She could see that there were just two men left as they slipped in and out of sight behind a thicket of trees. They would be in her range in a moment, out of the thicket and into a more sparse area of forest that opened onto the meadow beyond, but they had stopped. She could see a piece of heat signature, but most of their bodies was blocked by a tree between her and them. Her visual was starting to get murky, but they were still visible. She wondered if something was wrong with the goggles, and then she smelled the wetness in the air and the cool damp upon her face. Fog.
She had been trying to ignore a large rock that was pressing against her ribs, and was now hindering her focus. She slowly reached down as she bent to the side and pulled the rock from the ground where it was partially embedded and tossed it to the side, immediately regretting that she had done that. Realizing that she should have gently laid it down. In the darkness, the rock hit another rock with a crack. She quickly looked back at the two men through her night goggles. They had come to their feet, and now quickly moved to the tree which had blocked her view of them. They crouched behind it, one on either side. The brilliant light of flaming gun powder filled her sight as bullets spit dirt in front of her and whizzed passed her head at supersonic speed. she pulled her head down and dropped as deep into the hollow as she could, the sound of bullets smacking all around her. They had her location.
All content - poems, posts & images - are ©2010 by John Evans. No permission is given to post, share, copy, print, e-mail, reproduce, distribute or link to. All Rights Reserved. Please contact John Evans at JohnEvansPoet.Com for licensing inquiries.
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