MERSING CHRONICLES

Chapter 3 1602 Diarahkan

30 years ago, on Paku

Kris Dua: 3 intruders on Paku. One girl, and two men, aged 20s. Arrived April 7, 1000. Arahan**? Mesej Tamat***. 

Gading: CO.F223.A4 1602 diarahkan*. A5J872B. Mesej Tamat***.

Nur stared for sometime at the letters on the screen. Doesn't mean a thing to anyone who hasn't been through Elite Forces School. But "1602 diarahkan" meant a lot. It was a fork in the road travelled. A first for him. Either he followed the order and signed on or he signed off. It meant termination authorized.

He turned to a camouflage case in the room. The S17A with 20x scope infrared night vision and all the high fallutin sounding suffix after it. 20 mm titanium encased rim fired stainless steel cartridged shell. You could even snipe underwater with it at up to 100 m. Quite a resume. A helluva rocking whopper of a rifle.

He moved towards the case and felt the weight as he lifted it. Opening it he saw a plain looking rifle in three pieces: stock, body, and barrel. It looked Spartan. No frills. It's core was the shell and the high precision rifling. Rather than the conventional 30 micron separation between the spirals, this was cut to an almost impossible 5 micron separation, providing a spin of 3000 rpm. In water it meant a deadly 100 m, in air it was 1050.64 m. Tested and verified by Navy Seals within an inch of the target. Only 5 Armies in the world - outside of NATO - have it, exclusive allies of the United States. Either he signed on or he signed off.

                                                                                  XXX

There is a bluff on the western side of the column rising to 600 feet. Somewhere near the top of that bluff were ledges some as wide as a meter. Over the years erosion has carved out small caves in the side of the bluff, and occasionally the ledges could access some caves that were no deeper than 5 to 6 feet. It was an excellent spotting site.

When the bunker was built Gen Sofi had spoken out for an access to these ledges. Possibly through one of these caves. And so they tunnelled their way through the granite into a cave which conveniently had a ledge at its entrance.

Lugging the rifle he crawled into the cave through the 3 feet wide hole and was immediately hit by the smell of eagle droppings, an acrid, pungent smell. They covered the floor and seemed like a carpet of moss. He crawled over the hardened stuff and reached the ledge. He estimated the height at around 500 feet from the forest below.

Using his binoculars he scanned the forest for signs of the three.

First come first served. Not on the beach. Scanned south. Nothing on the rocks. Scanned north. Nothing at the grotto. In the 4th hour at close to 1700, he spotted the girl. Where are the two others? Easier if they were all together. But she was alone, walking on the beach. He reached for his rifle. An open area, get me an open area. Here's how it will happen. She gets popped and drops. The other two will look for her, might be an hour, might be two. When they approach they get popped too. She will be looking at the coast wondering of the war, wondering when it ends, then it's all over. A blink of an eye. No pain, no fear, nothing. That's how it will be.

She was in his scope, the red spot dancing around her head. His finger released the safety. He pulled back the bolt and loaded a round. Rifle was hot, finger off the trigger. His breathing was meditative, slow, almost sleep-like. 50 feet away was a wide open space. Clear of any leaves, bushes, trees. And she was 20 seconds away, gait slow, like a tourist ambling on a beach. God-like. To know when someone has only that fixed time to live. To know the exact second when she will die. 10 seconds.

His right index moved to the trigger and felt the cold metal. 5 seconds. The pressure on the trigger increased. 2 seconds. Then her head turned as if startled. His finger instinctively moved away from the trigger. There was that memory again when she turned. Of that person so long ago. And she triggered it, that look. And the moment was lost. She was near the end of the beach, approaching the treeline. She was gone.    

* authorised

** instructions

*** end of message