Super Sniper

by Rawlin Cash

  The drone swarm would also escort the convoy all the way to the White House.

  Hunter watched the convoy pull away from the terminal with a strange feeling in his gut.

  He might be ordered at any moment to kill the passenger in that convoy. Or he could be ordered to give his life for her. And he wasn’t sure which order he’d obey.

  Forty-Four

  Hale and Fawn landed about fifteen minutes after the president’s convoy left.

  “Hunter,” Hale said as he entered the terminal.

  “You just missed the show,” Hunter said. “She marched right through, right where you’re standing now.”

  Hale took Hunter by the arm. “Let’s get out of here,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before she has us arrested.”

  “Do you think that’s a risk?” Hunter said.

  “We need to assume the worst,” Fawn said. “Anyone who’s had anything to do with the investigation into the Saudis is at risk at this point.”

  Hale smiled. “Or anyone who’s pulled a gun on Meredith.”

  Hunter turned to Fawn. “You pulled a gun on her?”

  Fawn was agitated by the question. “Yes, and I should have taken the shot. I knew something was going to happen and I got there too late.”

  “I just let her walk right by me,” Hunter said. “Do you guys have information I don’t? Are we certain she’s mixed up with the Saudis?”

  “Well,” Hale said, “all we’ve got so far is the fact she approved the sale of the drone tech.”

  “Which was illegal,” Fawn said.

  Hunter said, “And the fact two presidents are dead and she just happens to be the beneficiary,”

  Hale nodded. “Exactly,” he said. “That’s why we’ve got to get out of here and come up with a plan before she moves to shut us down.”

  The three of them walked out of the terminal and found Hale’s driver waiting. Hale figured if Meredith really was part of the plot she would take steps to consolidate her power quickly. She’d already succeeded in getting herself sworn in and transported back to the White House, something the other presidents had failed to do. The next step would be to take out anyone who might be able to prove she was connected to the assassinations.

  “We’ll need a new vehicle,” Hale said to the driver as soon as they were out of the airport.

  Hunter took his phone from his pocket and gathered up Fawn and Hale’s phones, laptops, and other electronics. “These should all stay in the vehicle,” he said.

  They were driving along the Dulles toll road and the driver pulled off at the first exit.

  “Just let us out and get back on the highway,” Hale said. “If someone’s tracking the car, they can track you all the way back.”

  The driver nodded.

  “If anyone asks about letting us out, just tell them the truth. Play dumb. Cooperate with everything. You just did what you were told.”

  The driver looked firmly at Hale.

  “Should I be worried?” he said.

  Hale looked at him and nodded. “There’s something going on. Just play dumb and try not to get mixed up in it. Go right back to the driving pool and drink coffee. Do nothing unusual.”

  The driver sighed.

  They were getting out of the vehicle when Hunter noticed something in the sky. Instantly, he grabbed Hale and Fawn and pulled them to the ground. A fraction of a second later, a bullet smashed the windshield. It hit the headrest of the seat Hunter had just been occupying.

  “Fuck,” Hunter said.

  The drone hovered above them like a vulture. Hunter knew it might already be too late. A bullet could already be in the air, fired from anywhere, speeding toward his head.

  “Back in the car,” he screamed.

  And then the second bullet struck, shattering the driver’s window and slamming into the side of his head.

  Hunter looked at the man, his body limp, blood flowing down his head.

  “Fuck,” he said.

  Hunter climbed into the passenger seat and then slid over the center console, pushing the driver’s lifeless body out and taking his seat. He gunned the engine and sped northward along the access road. They passed expensive houses and a high school and got onto a ramp for the Leesburg Pike.

  The drone was still in the sky above them, easily keeping pace as Hunter picked up speed. They were still just a few miles from the airfield and he knew the sniper system would have a range limitation. The drone might be able to follow them for hours, but the rifle was unlikely to have a range farther than the six miles attempted by the Russian program.

  He got the speed up to seventy, then eighty, then ninety. He was driving along the center lane between the traffic, swerving to avoid turning vehicles.

  The road divided up ahead with a grass bank between the lanes. He jammed on the brakes before hitting the grass and immediately swerved into the oncoming lane. He crossed to the concrete shoulder and as he gunned the engine, a bullet struck the roof of the car.

  “Fuck,” Hale cried.

  “Everyone okay?”

  “It missed,” Hale said.

  He glanced in the rearview and saw Fawn’s face, calm but tense.

  He swerved onto a northbound side road, burning rubber as he took the turn. They passed a quarry and Hunter was beginning to feel confident they were out of range of the sniper when another bullet smacked the car, this time on the hood. Steam gushed from the hole.

  Then another hit them somewhere near Hale’s door.

  “They’re spraying us now,” Hunter said. “He’s losing patience. We’ll be out of range soon.”

  “How far have we gone?” Hale said.

  Hunter looked at the dashboard. “It’s hard to say. We didn’t travel in a straight line.”

  Hale opened his phone to get the coordinates of their location. He could use it to help build a model of the smart bullet’s range.

  Two more bullets hit the side of the car and then they stopped. The drone was still following them but there was nothing it could do.

  Hunter drove as far as the I-495 and they went north, crossing the Potomac into Maryland close to Bethesda.

  “I knew that driver a long time,” Hale said.

  Fawn put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, boss,” she said.

  Hale looked at her but said nothing. They drove on silently toward the city. Hunter kept an eye on the drone as it followed them into the increasingly heavy traffic.

  A few minutes passed and then Hale said, “He loved baseball.”

  No one said anything until they crossed the beltway and the traffic of the city began to really build up.

  “We need to ditch this car,” Hunter said. “That drone’s still watching us.”

  Hale nodded.

  They ditched the car at Van Ness metro station, leaving their phones and laptops behind. Hunter looked up at the drone as they descended to the station. He gave it the finger before losing sight of it. They caught a southbound train and sat facing each other. No one spoke. At Chinatown, Hale stood and they followed him off the train and onto a southbound yellow line train for Franconia. At Franconia they got off the train and caught a local bus.

  They took seats at the back.

  “Okay,” Hale said.

  It was raining again and the windows of the bus fogged up. Hunter didn’t think anyone was still tailing them but the extra cover was welcome.

  Hale looked at them both. “We’re in a sticky situation,” he said.

  “It’s my fault,” Fawn said.

  Hale shook his head. “Of course it isn’t.”

  “I had a shot. I could have ended everything right there in the bunker.”

  “No. You had no clearance to take that shot.”

  “She was right there in front of me. My gun was drawn.”

  “That wasn’t your decision to make.”

  “Still,” Fawn said.

  Hunter could see the regret on her face. She had the shot and she’d hesitated. He knew that fe
eling. There was only one feeling worse, and he knew that one even better.

  “Just so we’re all on the same page,” Hunter said, “can we confirm exactly what we know for sure?”

  Hale looked at them for a minute. This was his job. He was supposed to be the mastermind, the man with all the secrets, the one who knew exactly which puppet masters pulled which strings.

  “Here’s what we’ve got,” he said. “Meredith Brooks, as Senate President, was able to overrule the chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee and authorize the illegal export of highly advanced military technology to Saudi Arabia.”

  Fawn nodded. “That’s what the Saudi ambassador told Hunter, and we’ve been able to verify the export authorizations for both the RQ-170 and the smart bullet tech through the NSA’s database.”

  Hale continued. “She was also present when President Jackson was shot. She was present when President Walker was shot. And she in the bunker when the bomb went off at Site-R. ”

  “Yes she was,” Fawn said. “But so were you, Hale.”

  “She could’t have gotten a bomb past the security there,” Hunter said.

  “Someone managed it.”

  Hunter looked at them. “Do we really think Meredith is capable of this?” he said.

  Hale looked at Fawn. She shrugged.

  “In my experience,” Hale said, “there’s no telling who’s capable of what. If I had to say when I met her if I thought she could kill the president, or kill anyone for that matter, I’d have said no.”

  “She certainly doesn’t fit the profile,” Fawn said. “She’s a mother, she spends time with her constituents, she has no known vices, no secret bank accounts, no kinky sexual habits.”

  “No skeletons in the closet at all?” Hunter said.

  “Not that we knew of. I’d like to go back over her file with a fine-tooth comb though,” Hale said. “You got anything, Fawn?”

  “Nothing major. Her husband’s dead, obviously. That’s why they call her the Merry Widow. She has a fraught relationship with her daughter. She put the kid in boarding school in Tallahassee. There’s some conflict there.”

  “It doesn’t sound like the type of stuff that would turn you into a terrorist,” Hunter said.

  Hale shook his head. “No it doesn’t.”

  “What about data patterns?” Hunter said. “Anything suspicious from the NSA’s algorithms? Anything connecting her to the Saudis, or to Jamal Al-Wahad, or Dayton MacGregor?”

  “Not that I’m aware of,” Hale said. “We never had cause to look for it.”

  “Signing off on those illegal arms exports wasn’t enough to trigger higher scrutiny?” Hunter said.

  “We missed that.”

  “Can we get Fitz to look into it?”

  “Sure we can,” Hale said, “but it won’t be easy now that she’s president. She could have him replaced at any moment if she suspects anything.”

  “She could be having us all replaced right now,” Fawn said.

  Hale let out a sigh. “The question I’d like to answer,” he said, “is whether or not we’re warranted in sending Hunter in to kill her before she cements her grip on power.”

  “Kill her? Already?” Hunter said.

  Hale let out a quiet laugh. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

  “I’m here to kill the assassin.”

  “Which might be her.”

  “Might?”

  “Hale,” Fawn said. “We’re here to find out what’s going on. Not to jump to conclusions.”

  “Let me put it to you this way,” Hale said. “If Meredith serves the Saudis, how much damage will that cause?”

  “I’m not taking her out as a precaution,” Hunter said.

  “A precaution? Listen up, son. This is the fucking presidency of the United States. If the wrong person gets into that seat, they could launch the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet. They could end everything.”

  “No one’s launched any nukes,” Hunter said.

  “She’s getting ready to go to war with Iran. Saudi Arabia’s archenemy.”

  “We don’t know she’s in on the plot.”

  “I’m just saying, there’s a strong case to be made for a preemptive hit.”

  “A preemptive hit?”

  “Yes, Hunter. And don’t pretend you’re above such things.”

  Hunter looked at Hale and for a split second, Fawn thought maybe he was going to hit him.

  “I’m not above anything,” Hunter said, “but if I take someone out, I need to know for certain they deserve it.”

  “You can never know anything for certain,” Hale said.

  “Well, I need more than this. If we kill the wrong person now, we may never know who’s truly behind this.”

  “We have so much evidence.”

  “We have smoke,” Hunter said. “But we don’t have any fire.”

  “We have all the fire we need,” Hale said. “Let me spell it out to you since you don’t seem to be getting it. The Saudis planned this. They developed the bullet. They lined up someone to succeed to the presidency. They killed everyone in the line above her. Then they tried to pin the whole thing on Iran, their archenemy in the Middle East.”

  Hunter shook his head. “It’s all too neat and tidy.”

  “The truth is always neat and tidy. It’s lies that are complicated.”

  “It’s not enough,” Hunter said.

  “It’s not like you to be so restrained,” Hale said under his breath.

  “What did you say?”

  “Nothing,” Hale said.

  “No,” Hunter said. “Say it again.”

  “I said it’s not like you to be so restrained. You never had qualms about killing suspects before.”

  Hunter looked at him. “Fuck you, Hale,” he said.

  “Women, children, babies, nothing was off limits.”

  “Fuck you,” Hunter said again.

  “No, fuck you, Hunter. If I tell you it’s time to take this bitch out, you shut up and you do it. Am I clear?”

  Hunter looked away. He wiped the window so that he could see outside. It was still raining.

  Fawn put a hand on his shoulder but he didn’t respond.

  “Maybe I’ve learned from my mistakes,” he said.

  “Your mistakes?” Hale said. “What mistakes?”

  “All the times you ordered me to kill people who shouldn’t have been killed.”

  “I only ever gave you orders that were necessary.”

  “Necessary? Easy for you to decide when you’re not the one pulling the trigger.”

  Fawn rose her hands. “Boys,” she said, “maybe it’s time we put our dicks away and figured out what we’re going to do.”

  “I’d just like to know this woman deserves to die before I put a bullet in her skull,” Hunter said.

  There was an edge to his voice Fawn had never heard before. He usually kept his emotions deep inside. He sounded upset.

  Hale and Fawn could both see that he was getting at something much deeper than the current situation. He was getting at the past, at Mantis, at the things Hale had made him do.

  “Hunter,” Hale said, lifting his hands in a gesture of conciliation.

  “No, Hale. You’re not the one who pulls the fucking trigger.”

  “There are certain risks we can’t afford to take.”

  “Like letting Meredith live?”

  “Exactly.”

  “So what are you saying?”

  “What am I saying? I’m saying kill her.”

  There were very few other passengers on the bus but they were beginning to take notice of the three character arguing at the back.

  “Fuck you, Hale. You kill her if you’re so certain.”

  “No, Hunter. You kill her.”

  Hunter looked into Hale’s face. He felt like there had been no time in his life that he hadn’t known this man. And he felt that there was no part of his life that hadn’t been completely warped by him.

  The bu
s was slowing down. Hunter looked out the patch of glass he’d wiped with his hand. There were flashing lights up ahead. Fawn and Hale stood to see what was going on. It was some sort of road block.

  “Keep an eye on him,” Hunter said to Fawn.

  “What?” she said.

  “I need him to sit tight while I deal with this,” Hunter said.

  “What are you talking about?” Fawn said, her voice uncertain as it began to dawn on her what Hunter had done.

  “You slimy mother fucker,” Hale said.

  He reached for Hunter but Hunter brushed his hand aside. “It’s nothing personal, Hale. I just don’t trust your ass.”

  Hunter walked to the middle of the bus. There was an emergency exit in the roof. He reached up and pulled the crank. He pushed the cover out of the way and then pulled himself up through the opening onto the roof.

  The bus was almost at a standstill.

  “Hey,” a cop at the checkpoint yelled when he saw Hunter’s figure on the roof.

  Hunter didn’t look back. He ran to the rear of the bus and leapt down, landing on the hood of the car behind. He slid off the car and onto the street. He ran along the center of the street for about a hundred yards, the traffic forming a barrier between him and the police at the checkpoint. Then he turned down an alley, turned again, ran north through a parking lot, and entered a large drug store.

  He took the phone from his pocket and threw it in a garbage can. Then he purchased a disposable cell from the cashier and left the store.

  Forty-Five

  Meredith Brooks acted fast. Within hours of arriving in DC she issued arrest warrants for the heads of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and numerous other intelligence and security agencies. She opened formal investigations at the Justice Department against the security services for their failure to protect her predecessors. She called for an immediate address of the joint houses of congress, an act that was criticized as insensitive given that President Walker had just been shot dead at that very podium days earlier.

  Fawn and Hale were among the first to be arrested. They’d been betrayed by Hunter, who’d purposefully allowed his phone to be tracked, and were now sitting in separate holding cells in DC’s Central Cell Block.