But it was not.
The sniper, the shadow, looks into his weapon’s scope – a one of a kind ONE. The ONE is the only weapon of its kind developed specifically for the weapon’s operator. It’s swarming with nanite technology controlled by a central CPU embedded in the weapon’s frame. It is the size of a postage stamp. The rifle is made up entirely of Space Prize – a hitherto unknown, virtually indestructible type of metal. The rifle’s calibre is 7.62MM using Ultra High Velocity Super Cartridges. The magazine’s capacity is 45 rounds. The maximum effective killing range for this particular modification is 750 metres. The sniper knows he needs no more for this particular engagement.
Sniper trains his weapon over the three approaching pirate vessels. He activates the weapon’s night vision. He targets the lead ship. On it, with the assistance of his left eye, which is actually a highly advanced ocular prosthetic made up of advanced optical technologies with zoom and target identification that relay information to and from a Nano chip surgically inserted behind and above his left eye socket, he identifies six armed enemies.
One by one he identifies the armed combatants according to risk factor – although the CPU in his rifle and in him both display that none of the men are capable of delivering any lethal fire from their current positions.
“I’ll let you skinny fellows come a little closer then. It’s not sporting otherwise” he whispers to himself.
He hears the men below him speak and senses their fear. And their doubts. He fine tunes his left ear to their conversation - another enhancement courtesy of Her Majesty’s Government.
He hears a man speak about his disbelief that a sniper is on board and his supposed ability to tackle 20 armed men on the high seas in these weather conditions. Sniper agrees with the man; normally this should not be possible but then sniper laughs, he remembers that he is far from normal.
Then he hears the man talk about his former life as a “Royal Marine Commando”.
At this point sniper tunes out.
“Pah, everybody’s ex-something” sniper thinks to himself.
A warning flashes within ONE’s optics. The pirates are within killing range. Their weapons are now effective.
It’s time for sniper to work.
The sea is angry and the vessel dips and bounces, the pirate vessels do the same. Under normal circumstance the shot should be impossible.
Sniper takes in a long three second breath, then exhales for another three seconds, he repeats this breathing technique while calculating his line of fire. From left to right, rhythmically, in time with the lowering of the vessels within the choppy waters.
He has found his shot path and it’s marked in, on his left eye.
He slows his heart and focuses in on his first target: cross hairs over the man’s chest, a yellow luminous figure under the night vision’s view. The target raises a warm, indicated by red, weapon --an AK47 assault rifle -- and takes aim.
Sniper’s heart stops beating. It completely stops beating in his chest. He is now ready.
PHWOOP. PHWOOP. PHWOOP. PHWOOP.
PHWOOP. PHWOOP.
Six Somali pirates exit this world.
The shadow’s heart starts to beat normally once more and he lets out a long controlled breath of air and then whispers the shadow’s prayer:
“As my breath leaves my body so do your spirits leave yours, go well my friends on to your next journey. May God have mercy on your souls, and mine.”
He assesses the situation. The first vessel has stopped, the remaining two sail next to it, one on either side. They have a brief discussion.
Sniper sees their intent and repeats his procedure for readying his body.
He steels his breath and slows his heart.
Two of the pirates raise their weapons and two of the pirates die.
PHWOOP.
A third sea bandit begins to raise his RPG but his attempts to cause death by explosion are futile – the combination of sniper’s eye and ONE’s on board computer identifies the assaulter’s wrist as the prime target.
PHWOOP.
The silenced round strikes the pirate’s wrist, causing his trigger finger to unintentionally squeeze.
BOOM.
The rocket strikes the floor of the pirate vessel, creating an inferno of flames.
Sniper trains his weapon on the third and final pirate ship. After a few moments it turns around and flees.
The shadow’s heart starts to beat normally once more and he lets out a long controlled breath of air.
“As my breath leaves my body so do your spirits leave yours, go well my friends on to your next journey. May God have mercy on your souls, and mine.”
The third pirate vessel starts to circle around and back.
“Don’t do it fellows. Rather live another day. Don’t..”
It’s too late, the pirates have chosen their destiny. Today they will all die by shadow and turn to dust.
The shadow prepares himself once more.
His on-board systems tell him that there are eight armed combatants on the final attacking vessel. He doesn’t like to do it but the SAS Para-Ops member switches munitions to H.E.L.L
He trains his weapon on the pirate ship’s fuel tank. Takes aim and..
PHWOOP. BOOM.
The High Explosive Light Lead round hits home. Eight more pirates perish.
The shadow’s heart starts to beat normally once more and he lets out a long controlled breath of air.
“As my breath leaves my body so do your spirits leave yours, go well my friends on to your next journey. May God have mercy on your souls, and mine.”
Chapter Eight
The O2 Arena, London.
Michael Coote, Giles, Cheryl and her three best friends have secured a seat at one of the trendy restaurants and bars outside the entrance to the Arena – only a few metres in front of them the red carpet has been laid for the arrival of The Lady – the crash barriers are up, the police and security are in place and the excited fans begin to line the way.
Twenty minutes later and the night’s going well, the boys and girls have hit it off.
Michael makes his way to the bar to order a last round of drinks before they make their way inside, they have all agreed to try and stay one step ahead and get into position first and get a good spot for the show.
After a frustrating wait at the busy bar Mike is served their drinks and heads back to their outside table. On his way he notices that The Lady and her entourage are getting close. He rushes over to the table and tells Cheryl that if they hurry they could get a good look and take some nice photos. Cheryl’s not interested, she says she won’t be able to see anything and would rather finish her drink at the table. Michael insists and says she can sit on his shoulders. She likes the idea and they head to the crash barriers.
Their timing’s almost perfect as when they get there The Lady is about to pass. Michael couldn’t have dreamed of a better night and by his estimation it will only get better. Then he sees something on the red carpet that makes him laugh – one of the entourage has just tripped and fallen. But wait he sees another fall, then another. And another.
He’s stunned, what’s happening? Then he notices blood and wounds on the people who have fallen. A lady screams, police horses raise into the air, security radios start crackling into life and more people scream.
Mike thinks it’s time to get out of there. He turns and runs, Cheryl still on his shoulders. He holds her legs firmly against his chest and shouts to her to hold on. More people start running, it’s becoming a stampede. Michael thinks that if he can just get into the bar he could avoid the crush.
He runs as hard and as fast as he is able with the weight of Cheryl on his shoulders. She’s been awfully quiet, she must be extremely frightened he thinks to himself. People push and punch to get past and in front of him and out of the firing line. A few times he loses his footing and he thinks that he’s going to fall and they will be trampled.
But somehow, some way, he makes
it to the relative safety of the restaurant, he pushes past the bewildered bar staff and kneels down on one leg to let Cheryl jump off. She doesn’t budge. He loosens his hold on her and she falls to the ground, landing backwards, hitting the back of her head. Michael turns to look at her and screams at the sight – there is a large exit wound the size of a baseball where her nose and mouth should be. She’s been shot. She’s been killed by a sniper.
Chapter Nine
The O2 Arena, London.
Giles sees Cheryl climb up on to the back of Michael’s shoulders and watches them move off to get a better look at The Lady on her red carpet. This suits him just fine, Cheryl’s two best friends, Chloe and Jade are gorgeous, good fun and Giles has been picking up exciting signals all night from them – they seem to touch and flirt with each other as much as they do with lucky Giles. He’s excited and quickly forgets about Mike and his new bird.
Moments later and Giles takes a deep swallow of his cold and glorious pint but almost chokes at what he sees next – his friend Michael runs past him in blind panic and people all around him are doing the same, some scream, some shout while others punch and scramble to get away, away from what?
Then Giles does choke as he catches a glimpse of Cheryl riding on the shoulders of his friend. There’s a hole in her face and she’s limp. The once beautiful girl is now a lifeless carcass riding the back of Giles’s best mate, Michael Coote.
Giles looks at his drink in disbelief – what the fuck has he been drinking!?
He looks across at his new found female friends and the sight of them screaming confirms what he feared most. He hasn’t been drinking anything hallucinogenic – this is real. This is happening. They have seen the death and carnage around them as well.
Frozen with fear Giles stays seated, rooted to his chair. The two girls look at him screaming hysterically. Giles’s body has flushed itself with adrenalin and everything he sees and feels is more focused and enhanced.
“GILES!”
“GILES!”
He hears his name screamed aloud, again and again.
“GILES!”
A fleeing person runs into their table and knocks Giles out of his chair. At last his adrenalin induced trance is broken and he hears Michael screaming his name from behind the bar.
He grabs hold of the two girls and tells them to follow him. They too are in shock and fear and refuse to budge.
“Come with me, now!” he shouts at them in an attempt to get through.
It doesn’t work, they just scream louder and shake uncontrollably – Chloe then sticks out her hand and points to something behind Giles. He turns around to look and a chill runs down his spine. He sees what he can only and accurately describe as a juggernaut. An extremely heavily armoured attacker in thick layers of kevlar and ceramic plating. A full body armoured space suit with a large square helmet and massive boots. On his back is a fuel tank supplying the fire with gas that spews from the flame thrower he wields.
As the juggernaut walks it sprays its jet fuel fire of death, left and right, swinging the muzzle back and forth, setting people, objects and restaurants on fire. The smell of burning human flesh permeates the air. Smoke drifts about.
Giles notices valiant and brave police officers on horseback charge at the slow and cumbersome juggernaut but whenever one appears to be within striking distance the rider is shot and thrown from the horse by the unseen sniper.
“BRRRR-CRACK”
“BRRRACK”
“BRRRRACK”
Behind the first attacking beast of a man Giles sees a second heavily armoured attacker – but this time instead of a flame thrower the man is carrying a belt fed machine gun and he unleashes the lead indiscriminately, cutting down responding police vehicles, security officials and equine responders.
Giles pulls his attention to what’s directly in front of him once more. He pleads with the frightened girls to follow him but they won’t budge, they are too scared to move and they simply slide underneath the table.
Giles looks up and sees both juggernauts approaching – the crowd has now thinned to almost nobody but bodies on the floor. He looks inside and sees Mike peering from behind the bar pleading with him to join him. He looks at the girls once more and then to the merciless beasts that approach and he knows he has a decision to make, live or die. Stay or go.
He takes a deep breath and makes his mind up, he will leave the girls and join Michael, together without the burden of their new friends they may have a chance of escape, a chance to survive. He rises to his feet and begins to run inside. He takes two steps, three, five and he’s in the door, he’s almost..
A sniper’s round pierces the back of his head with infinite precision and enters his cranium, creating a small entrance wound and a large exit wound. Giles falls to the floor, lifeless, his body destroyed.
His friend of 15 years, Michael Coote, see this, he sees his childhood friend’s brains blown out through the front of his face and he cries out in excruciating pain and grief. The sound of agony reverberates around the bar and out into the slaughter house which is now the front yard of the O2 Arena.
For some time Michael sobs uncontrollably, holding himself while curled up behind the bar in the foetal position. Finally he hears the noise of something approach just beyond the open door of the restaurant and he sees the two juggernauts slowly pass by. Something in Michael changes then, fear melts away and anger and revenge possess him and like a wave crashing over rocks, rage overcomes him and flushes through every inch of his body and without premeditated or fully conscious thought he stumbles to his feet and charges the murderers before him
Stride by stride he nears his targets, unarmed and untrained his last charge is no more than a symbol of his refusal to die quietly, he realise this and he is pleased, for he is free, free of fear and free of worry. He’s getting close, closer than he ever thought he would. The two juggernauts are too focused of what’s in front of them to see him coming from a slightly rear and sideways attack front. He thinks the huge helmets they wear must obstruct their peripheral vision, he thinks about what he can do and how he attacks once he’s upon his prey and at that moment he also thinks how strange it is that he is able to think so many thoughts so quickly – he puts it down to adrenalin.
He feels brave now, brave and hopeful and decides that he will wrestle the juggernaut’s weapon from him and turn it on its owner. He’s close, within striking distance when his focus and attention are broken: he notices on the red carpet, motionless behind the two attacking terrorist beasts, a man in a suit, standing, staring, he notices Mark Andrews.
And Mark Andrews is the last living person that Michael Coote will ever see alive. A sniper’s round penetrates his chest, stopping his heart but Mark Andrews is not the last thing Michael sees, the last shadow is, some way in the distance in Michael’s dying moments, he feels, he senses where his killing bullet came from and looks there, he looks directly there and in his final moment he sees his killer, the bringer of death - the final shadow.
Chapter Ten
Crowne Plaza Hotel, The Royal Docks, London.
Mark Andrews and Captain John Taylor of the SAS Paranormal Activity Tactical Operation Group sit and drink coffee.
“You’re looking good Mark, you’re looking fit and healthy and sober” said John.
“Thank you, Captain. I’ve spent the last three weeks in the Brecons. I never knew how much I loved them, those mountains. I feel stronger and fitter than I ever have.”
“Well, you would do, I hear you have been training with the 23 Reg boys – that’ll keep anyone fit.”
“That’s my cover isn’t it – TA SAS. And yeah they are good guys, good men. I enjoy training with them, I enjoy their company, much better than the suits I tell you.”
“Yes they are good men and as far as the rest of the planet are concerned you are still a banker who occasionally volunteers with the British Armed Forces. How’s Amelia?”
“She’s.. she’s still with her mom
in Kent. I don’t think she’ll ever fully recover from what happened that day but she’s alive and well and that’s what counts I suppose.”
“It is what counts, Mark. You did the right thing that day, in the time you had and under the circumstances. You chose to save her, as any man would in your position, specially knowing what you did and knowing that you couldn’t save them all. Anyway, that’s in the past, what, about 18 months now?”
“Yeah about that. Anyway, where have you been? There’s been a lot of talk and I see you certainly have got some sun on your face” said Mark.
As Mark asked the question he noted how tired and strained his friend looked. Mark had also detected a faint smell of whisky coming from Captain Taylor’s coffee.
“It was sunny where I was and not a lot of shade, a lot of water too.”
“So the talk is true then? You were on a ship – water – fighting pirates they say? In Africa, Somalia.”
“Mark, in this game you’ll soon learn not to believe a word anyone says. About anything, ever.”
“So it’s not true then. You weren’t fighting pirates?”
“No it is true. Well I wouldn’t say I was fighting them, more like auditioning a new team member while.. engaging.. the pirates. Ah, here he is.. the man we have been waiting for.”
A tall and slender, good looking man with sharp features and blonde parted and gelled hair approached their table. He looked as though he had just stepped out of an old British gentlemen’s club in Africa. He had one spectacle glass around his left eye that was attached to his tweed jacket by a brass chain – a monocle. He looked as though he was in his late twenties, early thirties but carried himself as though he was a much older, wiser man.
SAS Para-Ops: MEGA SET - SAS Para-Ops Books #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 & #6 Page 6