Angels Of Hope

Chapter 41

Tanner's nostrils engulfed the delicate hint of vanilla in the air, and with it his brain flooded with pictures of her. Her face just as pretty as the first day he saw her, her eyes twinkling with laughter and her teeth glistening as she smiled. So much time had passed since then, and all Tanner had left of her was the occasional fleeting memory. He had lost the sound of her voice and the touch of her skin. His chest ached as he thought of what he had lost. No one had ever replaced her, and no one ever would.

He couldn't wait for the mission to be over and be on his way home. To the woman that he has loved all along.

The soldiers had obeyed every order so far, march, shoot, eat, sleep. But now they faced an enemy that was little older than their kid brothers and sisters back home. The prisoners cowered unarmed, some facing them with hopeless eyes and some turning with eyes shut tight. Intel said they were rebel-friendly, they supplied food and shelter, they were kith and kin. The commander had been on the radio all through the night, his troops keeping guard. Every time an order came to fire he put in for another clarification but he was running out of options. There was the chain of command and he just wasn't a high enough rank to get the general on the line. At this rate there were only three options; give the order to shoot, shoot them himself or disobey. None of them good options. The first would be the ruining of his men, the second and third the ruining of himself. But perhaps the last one was the least awful of the three. One casualty.

You've seen it in the movies, sniper in the prone position ready to fire. I've been set in place for nearly an hour and my neck muscles are fit to spasm. It feels like my elbow has melded to the damp blacktop roof and my legs won't work when it's time to pack up and ship out. Once the guy is down I'm gonna have to haul ass to get out before the place swarms with cops. This job sounded exciting, the reality is hours of tedium and pain followed by an adrenaline filled escape that lasts all of ten minutes or less.

But at long last the lone man emerged from the building on the balcony. The balcony was a concrete ledge, square rough edges and a rusty rail. Finally l was able to take out my target.