by Wolf Wootan
“Now that you mention it, yes.”
“Pull on that iron ring there and a door should open.”
Syd grabbed the large metal ring and pulled, and a large chunk of the wall pulled smoothly away, exposing a small room at the top of a steep set of stairs. She stepped into the room, following her flashlight beam, so she could inspect it. She shined her light down the dark stairwell and saw that the steps descended at a 45 degree angle until they reached a small landing, then reversed a continued down into the darkness. She wondered where in the castle the stairs ended.
“On the far wall is another ring. Pull it to open a cabinet in that wall. There should be some weapons in there,” explained Hatch.
Syd shined her flashlight on the wall, being careful not to show any light outside the room. She didn’t want to give the sniper any light to shoot by. That did not seem to bother him. Another bullet whistled through the recess in the battlement.
What an asshole! He must be a complete friggin’ amateur! Shooting at nothing!
Hatch was still talking to someone about getting Shadow-4 airborne. Syd saw the metal ring and pulled open the door of the cabinet imbedded in the stone wall. Her light showed her that several weapons were hung on clips in the back of the shallow cabinet. There were two Beretta 9-millimeter semiautomatic handguns, several ammo clips, an assortment of silencers, and a Heckler and Koch MSG-90 sniper rifle with two scopes clipped below it.
“Wow!” she whispered. “An H&K MSG-90! I saw one of these once, but never fired it. I usually used a Remington 700. What are the two scopes?”
“Unless someone has fucked with things, one should be a night-scope, the other a regular Swarovski day-scope. There should also be a Leica range finder in there. We may have to wait for Shadow-4 to find him. Since he’s shooting at shadows, maybe he’ll be careless and you’ll spot him on the night-scope,” whispered Hatch, then he went back to his phone.
Syd took down the sniper rifle and fitted it with the night-scope and a silencer. Then she shoved a clip of .308 ammunition into place, levered a cartridge into the firing chamber, and leaned the rifle carefully against the wall. She found the range finder and looked it over, making sure she knew how it operated. It had a switch which determined whether to display heading or distance. She set it to display distance. She left the room with the rifle and the range finder and again leaned the rifle against the wall next to the notch in the wall. She took a quick peak at where she had seen the muzzle flash earlier. When she did not draw a shot, she took the range finder, a Leica 7x42 BDA GEOVID, aimed it at the spot, and pressed the readout button. She moved slowly back to cover and read the display: 521 yards. A relatively easy shot for a pro: they were lucky the sniper was, apparently, not one.
Syd laid the range finder on the wooden floor of the tower and picked up the rifle. She dialed in the distance on the scope, wishing she had fired this rifle before. She would have to use on-the-job-training.
OK, let’s take a look and see if we can spot the fucker without getting killed.
She was surprised how calm and unruffled she was. She slowly and carefully eased the sniper rifle onto the ledge of the notch in the wall and waited. That action drew no fire, so she knelt down and put her eye to the scope, taking in the green-hued vista below her. She slowly scanned the area, looking for the landmark she had memorized next to the muzzle flash. She had her finger off the trigger—the safety was off—so she would not fire by accident if she were surprised by something and jerked involuntarily. If he were smart, the sniper would have moved after his last shot, so she had no idea where he was. He probably did not expect them to have a rifle on the tower, so if he was looking for another shot, he might get careless. She needed him to shoot again, if she could, so she could spot him. Of course, he could have left the area altogether by now. If he had not, Shadow-4 would certainly find him.
“Hatch, any ideas on how we can safely draw another shot from that asshole?” she asked.
“I do. Leave your rifle where it is and go back to the room. There used to be a broom in there for sweeping things up. If there is, bring it to me, please,” said Hatch quietly.
She found it leaning in a corner and brought it out of the room. Hatch had removed his shirt. She slid the broom to him, and he ran it through the sleeve holes of his tee shirt, making a poor man’s scare crow. Syd saw what he had in mind, so she went back to her rifle and put her eye to the scope, finding her landmark again.
“OK, I’m ready. Let’s see if he’s still out there somewhere,” she announced.
Hatch slowly moved the shirt into the opening, trying to make it look like a person peering through the notch. Suddenly, the shirt was tugged backwards as a bullet tore through it. Syd saw the muzzle flash at the right edge of her view. She panned the rifle slowly to the right and saw the moon glint on the barrel of his rifle. She moved her finger to the trigger, took a breath, and slowly squeezed the trigger. Her bullet paralleled the sniper’s rifle barrel and went through the sniper’s right shoulder, just missing his head, which he had moved a spilt-second before the bullet arrived. The force of the lead projectile knocked the sniper backward and he dropped his rifle. Syd had a good view of his upper body now, and his rifle.
“I hit the bastard, but he’s moving, so he must be alive. Do you want him alive, or should I pop him again?” Syd asked.
“Good shooting, Syd! Or should I say ‘Anna’? Shadow-4 is in the air. They should be overhead in a minute. Let’s try and take him alive, see who sent him. We can guess who, but I would like to verify it,” answered Hatch. “This could provoke me into some very lethal action, and I want to be sure who the target is.”
“OK, I’m watching him,” Syd said.
The sniper started scooting to his right, trying to reach his rifle. Syd took careful aim and squeezed off a shot, hitting the stock of his weapon, splintering it. The sniper jerked back and looked up at the tower.
“Just keeping him in place,” laughed Syd.
“Shadow-4 is 200 yards north of the tower at 500 feet, Hatch,” Hatch heard in his ear from his Blue Phone.
“Good, Shadow-4. The target is north of the tower at …”
“Five hundred yards,” filled in Syd.
“… 500 yards. He’s hit, but alive. I want him to stay that way if possible,” finished Hatch.
“Roger. We have him on IR. We have a jeep about two minutes away on the access road. We’ll have them pick him up and take him to the ER at the compound. Is he still armed?”
“Is he still armed, Syd?” asked Hatch.
“Not really. I hit his rifle on my second shot and he’s just sitting there, waiting. He could be bleeding a lot. If he reaches for it again, I’ll pop the rifle again,” she answered. “No way to tell whether he has a handgun.”
“Shadow-4, his rifle is nearby, so approach with caution. He may have a handgun, also.”
“Roger that, Hatch.”
“Hey, Hatch,” announced Syd, “some camo guys just took the shooter into custody.”
“Good. Let’s get off this tower and see who we have,” he said, putting his shirt back on.
“This rifle should be cleaned before I store it back in the cabinet,” said Syd.
“Just put everything back in the room and I’ll send someone up here to take care of that. Let’s go get a drink now.”
“Amen! I could really use one about now!” exclaimed Syd.
• • •
Back in the small dining room, Syd and Hatch fixed themselves Stoli on the rocks and clinked glasses.
“Good shooting, gorgeous! You don’t waste bullets, do you?” smiled Hatch, putting his arm around her, his hand finding her left breast. She put her hand over his, keeping it on her breast.
“Not if I can help it. That first shot was very lucky though. The second wasn’t.”
Carmelo walked into the room and saw Hatch remove his hand from Syd’s breast and take a swig of vodka. Carmelo smiled knowingly.
With the grin still
on his face, Carmelo said, “I just talked to Colonel Bill. The shooter is hit in the shoulder, but otherwise is all right. He is a catenari. Do you want to grill him now?”
“Let him sweat awhile,” answered Hatch. “Syd and I need a drink before we do anything.”
“That was a very good shot, Hatch! How did you spot him?” asked Carmelo.
“Ask Syd. That was her shot, not mine. I was on the phone with Bill,” replied Hatch as Sara entered the room.
“Congratulations, Syd! You certainly live up to your credentials!” exclaimed Carmelo.
“What the fuck is going on?” blurted Sara.
Hatch explained to Carmelo and Sara what had happened on the tower, the launching of Shadow-4, and the strike team picking up the wounded catenari shooter.
“That must have been some fucking shot, Z.! With a strange rifle, and in the dark! I’m glad you’re on our side,” chortled Sara with a wide grin.
“Thanks, Sara, but you could have made the shot if you’d have been there. I love that rifle, by the way!” replied Syd.
“Well, with those fucking assholes trying to kill you on the tower, I guess you have to take serious action against them for sure; right, Hatch?” urged Sara.
“That’s a given,” he replied, sipping his cold Stoli.
“What are we to do with the wounded man?” asked Carmelo.
“I haven’t decided yet. I’ll talk to him tomorrow and decide then. Right now, I’m going to call Bill and tell him how pleased I was with the response times of his team.”
He pulled out his Blue Phone and wandered to the end of the long table and sat down as he dialed.
Sara moved over next to Syd and said, “Do you know what Hatch has planned? How we’re going to attack those pricks?”
“No, but that shot was meant for me. I definitely owe them a visit, but I’ll wait and see what Hatch decides to do. I don’t want to fuck up whatever he settles on,” answered Syd, taking a long pull on her drink.
“I want to be in on whatever goes down, but I might be a liability with this fucking arm,” mused Sara. “I guess it depends on what type action Hatch decides on.”
“Well, if we aren’t going to confront that catenari shooter tonight, I’m going to drag my butt upstairs,” sighed Syd. “What time are you going running in the morning?”
“Meet me in the kitchen at 6:30. I’ll show you the running paths.”
“I’ll try and make it. Don’t wait for me if I’m not there by 6:35.”
Hatch hung up his phone and joined them.
“If you’re going up now, Syd, I’ll go up with you,” Hatch said. “Let’s all meet here about 10 o’clock. I want to talk to that shooter before we meet. At that meeting, Carmelo, I would like to see satellite pictures of Bocca’s place, and any new info we have concerning the Carfagno letter. OK, goodnight, you two.”
Syd and Hatch headed upstairs together carrying their glasses with them, the bottle of Stoli in Syd’s left hand. When they reached the middle landing and turned to climb the next set of stairs, Hatch grabbed Syd’s left buttock and squeezed it playfully. She looked at him and smiled.
“Nice ass,” he said.
“Don’t you know it!” she giggled.
“Let’s go to my room for a change. I haven’t even used my bed yet,” said Hatch.
“Wow! I’m invited to the King’s chambers!”
When they entered Hatch’s sitting room, Syd put her glass and the bottle of Stoli on the large, antique coffee table.
“Fridge in the armoire, like my room?” she asked.
He nodded, and she went to a large armoire against the wall and opened the left side door, revealing a small refrigerator. She took out a tray of ice cubes and emptied it into an ice bucket that she found on a small table against the wall. She refreshed their drinks with ice and vodka.
“We did good up on the tower tonight, Syd. We make a good team,” he said as she put water in the ice tray and returned it to the refrigerator.
“You’re right about that, big guy! I’ve known that since The Blue Grotto.”
She sat down on a large settee and took off her sandals, then wiggled her toes. She took another swig of her vodka. Hatch brought his drink and sat next to her, also kicking his shoes off.
“You’ve got a bullet hole in that shirt,” observed Syd with a smile.
“Luckily, I wasn’t wearing it, eh?”
“Very lucky.”
They sipped their drinks in silence for a moment, then Syd said, “I fucked up again, didn’t I? I shouldn’t have mentioned Anna Klein and Bob Hatcher in front of the Cifellis. I should have talked to you first, right?”
“That’s not important. What’s important is your suggesting the return of Anna Klein. I know how much you want to bury that part of your life. Have you thought about that?” he asked softly, running his hand up and down the top of her left leg, hiking her dress up to mid-thigh.
“No. My plan was the result of my training: an ingrained, involuntary response. That’s how Anna Klein was trained to react to being attacked or put in danger. God knows I wish I didn’t react that way, but I’ve only been a few months off the job. Does it ever go away?”
“Not really. The training becomes a part of your basic being. I’ve learned to control the initial impulse—force myself to think things through. Sometimes that can be dangerous. Lucky for us, we both reacted instinctively on the tower. There was no time to think up there when we saw the muzzle flash,” he responded, “or we might be dead.”
“And we split the tasks without having a meeting: you called in the cavalry while I detained the shooter,” Syd laughed.
Syd then added, “I’m horny as hell! How about you?”
“I didn’t want to bring it up. I’m glad you did! What do you want to do about it?”
Syd slipped her Italian blouse over her head and turned her back to Hatch so he could unhook her white, strapless bra.
“First, we can get undressed, then let nature take its course,” she laughed. “While we’re undressing—before we get completely engrossed in sexual fervor—I would like to finish our discussion about what to do about Bocca’s crowd.”
Hatch threw his shirt on the floor and stood to take off his pants. Syd stripped off her multicolored skirt and hung it over the back of the settee.
Hatch said, “My plan—before you presented yours—was to have Bob Hatcher pay Bocca a visit. I hadn’t thought much beyond that. Now that they have sent a sniper after us, I have no qualms at all about teaching those assholes a very deadly lesson. It’s your involvement that bothers me still.”
Syd stood and slipped off her white bikini panties while saying, “Hatch! How many times do I have to prove myself! I’m not just some fluff who shares your bed, dammit!”
“Hush! I know that! You’re the best agent I’ve ever known—man or woman! That’s not my problem with this! You are going to be really pissed off at the re-emergence of Anna Klein when this is over, and I don’t want that anger to slop over into our relationship! I’m afraid you’ll blame me for getting you involved in this!” blurted Hatch as he stepped out of his boxer shorts.
“Relationship! Did I just hear Hatch Lincoln use the word relationship? My! My! And here I had almost settled on being just the current fuckee!” chortled Syd as she took his hand and led him to the bedroom.
She pulled back the covers on the large bed and pushed him down on it, then lay down next to him and ran her fingers through his graying chest hair.
“Syd …”
“Come on, Hatch! Chill out! I know what you meant—I was just raggin’ on you! But it’s nice to hear you say the word! I’m not looking forward to killing a bunch of those murdering assholes, but they’ve left me no choice! Killing bus bombers didn’t thrill me deep down either—killing is against my nature—but I felt it was for the better good and saved many innocent lives. Now, unfortunately, I’m very good at it. If you go against them, I’ll be worried shitless! The only way I’ll be able to stan
d it is to be there with you! So that’s settled! I’ll let you plan how we do it.”
She ran her hand over his flat, muscled stomach as she spoke her final sentence. He was gently playing with her breasts. She kissed him softly on the lips.
“You don’t have trouble making decisions, do you? Bob Hatcher always worked alone, though,” he said gently.
“So did Anna. That’s because neither of us trusted anyone. We trust each other though, don’t we?” she cooed as her hand reached his crotch. “You said we made a good team. Anyway, that’s settled: you go, I go.”
“You win! Again! We’ll look at the satellite photos tomorrow and devise a plan of attack. Now, you being the fuckee, that must mean …”
“Forsooth, sire! I am a mere maiden unwise in the ways of men!”
“Let me show you the ways.”
Chapter 26
Il Castello di Bragno, Italy
Wednesday, August 15, 2001
6:32 A.M.
Syd met Sara in the large, country-style kitchen at 6:32 A.M., only two minutes late. She had left Hatch sleeping soundly in his bed and slipped through the secret door to her chambers, where she dressed quickly in comfortable running shoes and white shorts, and a Navy blue tank top over a sports bra of the same color. Sara was dressed similarly, except her tank top was a fire engine red. They both drank a glass of fresh orange juice, then Sara led Syd down a long hall and out into a walled courtyard. Five minutes later they were jogging along a well-used path that wound around huge pine trees and scrub brush of various kinds. The sound of their shoes hitting the ground was muffled by a layer of pine needles that covered the path. They ran in silence for a mile and then picked up the pace a bit.
“This feels good for a change,” said Syd, breaking the silence.
“Yes, it does. You’ve got a smooth stride,” answered Sara. “Run a lot with the Metsada guys?”
“Every chance I got. It takes more to gain those guys’ respect and trust than just being a good shooter. I should point out that some of those ‘guys’ were ‘gals.’”