Chapter 1

Sniper Team 4:

Priya Patel: Scope

Suzi Johnston: Weapon

33° 43’ 36.05” S

18° 57’ 7.91” E      Southwest of Paarl South Africa.

As Suzi Johnston looked through the optics, attached to her rifle, on the scene below, she searched each face looking for the one that would match the photograph she had memorized. It appeared that the goons had somewhere to go as they were readying the vehicles below. The house had been quiet for the first two days after she, and her spotter, Priya, had arrived at their current roost. She was glad it was spring as there was at least some ground cover between their spot and the target area. She keyed her mike and whispered, “Looks like they’re taking the big Rover.”

“Yeah, maybe our guy.”

“Range to the target?”

“Two Zero Five”

“Wind?”

“Negligible”

With it being a down angle shot, Suzi made the proper allowance and continued to glass the target area.

She saw the one they called “Salty” open the back door and her finger applied pressure to the trigger. Through her scope she saw a person in a light charcoal suit appear and then just as quickly disappear from her view. The door shut and the vehicles started to move. With the window tint, she had no possible shot and she removed her finger from the trigger. The three vehicles sped away, and Suzi felt her whole body relax. She whispered into her mike, “Since the target is gone, I’m going to get some sleep.”

Priya looked over at her, and replied, “Roger, I’ll continue to look over the target area.”

Suzi kept her position but rolled her head to the side and before Priya finished speaking, she was asleep. One of the things that Priya envied was her partner’s ability to take power naps, whenever and where ever the opportunity arose. She had seen Suzi sleep in just about any position imaginable, including standing up. As Suzi slept in the cool morning air, Priya continued to look through her spotter’s scope at the target’s compound. From her vantage point, she was able to look down on the grounds and red tiled roof. She thought to herself, “If I was in his business, I would have a more defensible position.” She knew that 200 M for someone of Suzi’s skill was like shooting fish in a barrel. As she continued to look upon the target, she saw the glass door that opened to the pool area begin to move. A long legged blonde stepped out of the house and onto the pool deck. She was about six feet tall from what Priya had seen, comparing her to the men whose heights they knew. She was wearing a micro-kini, and was barefoot. She and Suzi had named her ‘The Valkyrie,’ because she had very strong Nordic features. Although she couldn’t hear what was being said, she noticed that ‘The Valkyrie’ was speaking to someone. Priya thought, “Who is she speaking to? All the important people are gone.” They had noticed how the security staff was ignored like they were invisible by those they guarded. ‘The Valkyrie’ turned around and said something else and then threw her towel across the chaise. She walked purposefully to the deep end of the oddly shaped pool and dove in. She came up out of the water with the grace of some mythical sea creature, and walked to the lounge. She lay down on her stomach and yelled something back at the house. The glass door again opened and Priya flinched. It was their target. She calmly reached over to Suzi and squeezed her arm. Suzi was immediately awake and alert. She spoke into her microphone in the soft practiced voice, “I’m awake, what’s wrong?”

“Only that our target is out by the pool and no one is around.”

“What?”

“Look!”

Suzi blinked hard to clear her vision and when she opened her eye the optics put her right there on the pool deck. The chaise was only about 5 feet from the coping of the pool. The target came out and sat down on the pool side of the lounge. He squeezed some tanning oil out into his left hand and placed the bottle on the concrete below the lounge. He vigorously rubbed his hands together and began to rub the oil into the back of his girlfriend.

Suzi asked, “Range to target?”

“Two-One-Five Meters.”

Wind?”

Looks to be 2 knots from the East.”

Suzi calmly adjusted her scope to allow for the wind and started to depress the trigger. Her plan was to wait until the target stood up, and then to the take the shot. With a shot to the chest he should fall backwards into the pool. With her finger poised in anticipation, she knew that she was right at the edge of her trigger break. As he stood up, she exhaled and squeezed the trigger. Priya saw the round strike him in the chest and watched as he fell backwards into the pool. The protective vest he was wearing provided no protection from the .45 caliber Teflon coated Titanium bullet. The round went through his vest, hit his sternum and reduced it to boney shrapnel that tore through his cardio-pulmonary system before exiting out through his shoulder blade. After striking the concrete on the opposite side of the pool, it was redirected to further flight until it depleted its energy, and landed unceremoniously at the base of some brush about 100 M from the kill site. ‘The Valkyrie’ heard a thump and thought, “What was that?” Then she heard the splash as her now deceased boyfriend’s body hit the pool. She thought, “He just ruined that suit.” She stood up and looked at the pool and noticed that something was wrong, as her boyfriend wasn’t struggling. Then she saw the blood.

As soon as they saw the body hit the pool, they radioed in for extraction, and started moving slowly at first, then more rapidly toward the extraction point. They were almost finished with their backward creep, when they heard the scream. Suzi said, “That girl’s got quite a set of lungs.” Priya answered, “That’s what he said.” They both laughed at the joke. Once out of sight of the property they began to run at a fast pace and within fifteen minutes they had traveled nearly three kilometers, it was good time for the type of terrain. They then slowed to a more moderate pace and tried to stay off open ground. Suzi knew that, with him falling into the pool and the spatter mostly going into the pool, they would have a difficult time locating their shooting position. By then, she and Priya would be “feet wet.” This was the part of every mission that was the most dangerous. She asked Priya over their closed intercom, “How far?” Her partner answered, “Seven klicks or so, just over that ridge.”

Over their commlinks, they heard some static and then, “Spectre-One, Lasso,

Spectre-One, Lasso. Lasso is Four Zero Mike out, Over”

Priya switched her set to transmit, and keyed up, “Roger Lasso, Spectre-One confirms.” Priya, then switch the transmitter off and spoke to her partner, “Can you make seven klicks in forty minutes?”

“With this ground, we’ll have to pick up the pace.”

“Agreed, let’s step it out.”

Within another twenty minutes, the two experienced operators had covered four and a half more kilometers and topped the ridge. Looking down, they could see the extraction point. They couldn’t just stand out in the open like they were waiting on a bus, so they angled down the defile and used a large kopje to shield them from casual observation.

Priya looked at her watch and spoke to her partner, “They should be…”

Her earpiece crackled and they heard “Spectre-One, Lasso we are One Mike out, advise condition of LZ.”

Priya switched the transmitter to on and replied, “We’re puffing smoke.”

She looked at Suzi, and Suzi pulled the pin on the green smoke grenade and tossed it toward the clearing. Within seconds, they heard the turbine whine and then the pulse of the eight bladed ducted fans. The silhouette of the craft broke the horizon and came toward them rapidly, the vectored thrust nozzles engaged and the craft flared and stopped directly over the puffing canister of smoke. The vehicle was stealthy in every possible way. It was equipped with exhaust gas vent coolers, low visibility paint, and it was built with radar reflective materials. Additionally, it used advanced flying software that allowed the crew to fly a Nap of the Earth (NOE) profile of less than fifty feet, in nearly any conditions. As it began its hovering descent, Suzi and Priya ran in a low crouch toward the rear of the craft. The ramp/door was already opening. By the time they reached it, they ran straight aboard. As they cleared the ramp, the crew chief keyed his mike on the aircraft’s internal comm system, “Two friendlies aboard, clear to rotate.” The vectored thrust nozzles jumped from fifty percent output to 125% in less than a second and the craft was rocketing past the low-lying...