by Brian Cotton
***
Kaspar’s head shot up as a military boot kicked at his side. He reached around for a gun that wasn’t there. It was still dark outside, had to be about three or four in the morning. His eyes moved next to Krys, who was doing the same thing after her rude awakening. When his mind finally became alert, he saw that Harvey stood over top him with a no bullshit look on his face.
“Time to get up.” Harvey said.
“Yeah, yeah.” Kaspar replied. He moved his hands to his tired eyes and rubbed at them.
Kaspar couldn’t remember when he had passed out. He was so worried about not losing the moment that his consciousness eluded him. There was no way to know how many hours of sleep he got, but it couldn’t have been more than four, given the fogginess in his mind. He nodded his head when Harvey told the two there was coffee ready at his tent. Never being much of a coffee drinker, the thought of having some caffeine in his system to help with the tiredness nonetheless sounded good to Kaspar.
After he stretched, and worked out the ache in his back with a few pops, Kaspar headed over to Harvey’s tent. Krys walked beside him, her hand firmly entrenched in his. They just had to keep surviving, Kaspar thought as they walked, until they found something that could fix what was wrong with her. He felt jitters like these before every mission. It wasn’t the bullets that would fly, or the thrill of life or death, but the anticipation that there might be some type of information found which could lead them in that direction.
Inside Harvey’s tent, Clarke sat on a fold out chair, he sipped at his coffee and played around with a PDA. When he heard the sound of his two old friends walk in, he smiled. Clarke placed the coffee down on the grass and stood. Krys gave him a big bear hug and then Kaspar shook his hand. The two friends each grabbed a fold out chair and sat them next to each other, in front of Clarke.
“You two ready for this mission today?” Clarke asked.
“I guess we’ll see.” Krys replied. She yawned then asked, “How far out are we?”
“Not too far. A couple of miles, really.”
“That’s good.”
“How are feeling today?”
Krys shrugged her shoulders, “You know, same old, same old.”
“Yeah, I hear you.”
Kaspar sipped at his bitter coffee. “You think we’ll find anything there?”
Clarke sighed, “We can only hope.”
“Let’s not even think about that,” Krys said with a frown. “We’ve got a job to do. We need to see it through no matter what.”
Clarke pointed an index finger in her direction. “She’s right, you know?”
“Of course she is. She’s always right.”
Krys gave Kaspar a playful punch to the arm. “Glad to see you’re finally learning.”
They all engaged in a short laugh together. The laughter didn’t last long, however, because they needed to prepare their minds for what was to come. The grins and laughs ended almost immediately.
“Whatcha looking at?” Krys asked as Clarke stuck his nose back into his PDA.
“Just trying to keep my eyes on that compound. I was telling Ryan earlier that I didn’t like the layout of the place.” Clarke replied.
“We’ll be fine,” Kaspar said. “Look, have you found anything out about what’s going on in that compound, information wise.”
“Negative. This one is no different from the other ones. The firewall is too strong for even my hacking skills to break into. You’re going to have to get it from directly inside.”
“Got it.”
Their conversation was cut short when Harvey entered the tent. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to him. One thing that was different about Harvey from Paxton, Kaspar came to know, was that Harvey was much more reserved and conservative with his leadership. Even though he didn’t command respect like Paxton did, Harvey still expected his soldiers to give him that respect.
“Time to move out.” Harvey said.
.11
Harvey stopped the armored vehicle and pulled on the emergency brake. Once again, his son was seated next to him. Without a word, he turned and winked to Buck before he got out of the vehicle. Buck, annoyed by the gesture, quickly opened the door then hopped out on his side. The others began to file out, as well. Harvey gave them one last note of encouragement before he set them off. He grabbed hold of the camouflaged duffle bag which contained his sniper rifle, silencer, loads of extra mags, and beef jerky. He called out to Buck as they turned their backs to him. Buck stopped dead in his tracks and then looked back to his father.
“You be careful in there, son, you hear?” Harvey asked.
“I got this,” Buck replied. “Don’t worry about me. You just worry about those sentries out there.”
“Good thinking. Remember, just…”
Buck’s near perfect posture slouched. “Focus on what I’m doing…pretend like there’s nothing there…I got it.”
“Okay, and…”
“What now?”
Harvey wanted to tell his son that he loved him, but couldn’t think of the right way to say it. It always struck him as bizarre that it was so hard to just say three simple words. He’d freeze up and then do what he always did: give Buck a salute. Buck seemed to be disappointed with the gesture as he simply turned his back and caught up with the others. Harvey cursed himself under his breath. There was no time to sit and dwell on it, though, as they were right in the middle of a mission.
The sniper rifle came equipped with a tripod which rested underneath the barrel of the gun. The pod had a rounded, ball like end to it, which allowed the shooter to easily maneuver the gun in all directions as needed. Once the silencer was screwed onto the barrel, Harvey rested it on the end of the pod. He reached over, clicked the safety off, and then popped off the black latch which covered the scope.
It seemed like ages since Harvey put himself on sniping duty. There was bound to be some rust which he hoped wouldn’t be too hard to shake off. He took in a deep breath then tried to get a feel for the wind. The breeze was light, which would make for a good day for sniping. After he adjusted the scope, he lined up his first shot, right at the head of one of the sentries posted outside the compound.
He took in another deep breath and waited for the others to signal their approach.