“Don’t tell Frank,” he said, laughing conspiratorially. “He thinks it’s been sealed.”
“It’s fully working?” asked Butler.
“Put it this way, anytime you fancy a drink, I know this great little bar called the Raven,” said Jack.
The End…
Well not quite…
Epilogue
October 1st 2015
Bill had enjoyed trying out all of the latest sniper weapons available to the forces. He had to admit the Barrett M82A1 was an impressive killing machine and with the current record for a confirmed kill, it certainly was a good option. Its only real downside was that the .50 caliber round was a little too obvious. On the range, he had managed to be fairly accurate out to around twenty-five hundred yards, by far the furthest of the weapons he had tried. The next best was the Accuracy International AWSM, a much smaller .338 and very familiar round for him but he had managed decent accuracy out to twenty-two hundred yards.
“We’ve got three minutes before the train leaves and it’ll take us one minute to get there unhurried,” said Butler.
“In other words, I have ninety seconds?” asked Bill.
“Yep!” replied Butler, soaking in the autumn sunshine.
The weather report had been for a cloudless blue sky, very unlike the previous few days and from the reports, it seemed the poor weather was due to return the next day. Butler hadn’t doubted for a second it would be anything but perfect weather.
“Thirty seconds,” said Butler, looking behind to check Swanson was still there. She had accepted his job offer after some persuasion. It was the foreign travel that had secured it. Apparently seeing the world had become far more important to her of late. That trip in particular had swung it.
Bill relaxed and steadied his breathing. The conditions were perfect, which was just as well. The distance was a little over the twenty-two hundred yards, which had led him to select the smaller and more familiar .338 caliber rifle. It was, however, still well under the record with the rifle. Some Brit had managed over twenty-seven hundred yards but he had the benefit of a few rounds to gauge the flight. Bill had one shot.
He lined the sights, made one final tweak, steadied his breathing and depressed the trigger. He stood up immediately, not waiting for the result, and handed the rifle to Butler before quickly walking to the elevator being held by Swanson. Butler followed, wiping the rifle and depositing it in the setting concrete of Beijing’s newest skyscraper.
“How did you know the weather would be so good?” asked Swanson as the elevator took them downwards.
“Chinese Independence Parade day. They fire chemicals into the air. Perfect blue skies make for much better photos of their illustrious president!”
“Unbelievable! They think of everything,” she said.
“Well not quite,” said Bill, who had gotten what he asked from the president. Despite Bill’s age, Jack had granted his request. If they only had one chance, he wanted a man with experience to get it done. And no one had proven that more recently than Bill.
“That’s because people don’t expect to get shot from almost a mile and a half away. Did you hit him?” asked Butler.
Bill smiled. It was the second time he’d been asked that recently. “I’m an Army sniper!”
The End
Other Books by Murray McDonald
Divide & Conquer
Critical Error
Scion
Young Adult – The Billionaire Series
Kidnap
Assassin
America's Trust Page 36