Edge of Tomorrow (47 page)

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.”