The North (#wattys2016)

Chapter 22

Somewhere between our carriers and the ridge, a sniper lay in wait. Another bullet whizzed over my head and I dove into the snow beside Kate’s body.

Jo. She was hatches up in Cruze’s APC. I quickly looked over my right shoulder and spotted her alongside Mel Dixon, staring in wide-eyed horror at Dawson’s body. I stuck out my right arm and motioned for them both to drop back down inside their carrier. Jo threw me a jittery nod and together they disappeared beneath the hull.

“Did anyone see a muzzle flash!” I roared. ”He’ll pick us off one by one if we can’t find him!”

“Negative! Dawn-Marie and I are crouched behind Ark One,” Cruze called out. “Are you okay?”

I wasn’t okay. Someone had just blown away my second in command. A mix if rage and ice cold terror gripped me as I hugged the ground. I was furious with Sid Toomey, whose outburst had forced Kate to silhouette herself on the top of our carrier.

“Ask Sid he can see anything!” I bellowed. Slowly, I turned my head and lifted it slightly, so that I could peer over Dawson’s body at the ridge ahead.

Snipers can render themselves invisible to the naked eye just by using what’s available to them - leaves, grass, tree branches, a ground sheet, a shadow inside of a blown-out building.

And this sniper was very good. He could have picked off Sid, but the giant Newfoundlander would have died in his turret. Dawson had fallen off the carrier when she was hit. The sniper knew it would draw someone stupid - like me - over to her body.

Hello target number two.

One shot, one kill. That’s what happened to Dawson, and that’s what was going to happen to me - whoever was out there had me pinned down.

“He can’t see anything!” Cruze shouted. “We need to draw his fire, Dave! It’s the only way we’ll be able to see the muzzle flash. Even that’s going to be tough if this guy is good.”

I shouted back. “Options?”

“We could set out a smoke screen and give you a chance to hustle back to the carrier?”

“No – it’s windy enough that the breeze will just blow the smoke back in our faces.”

Another crack whizzed over my head, and this time I heard the distinctive thump of the round hitting the ground behind me. It was time for me to use my limited field craft if I was going to have a hope of getting back to the safety of the APC.

“Are you okay, Dave?” Dawn-Marie shouted.

“What the fuck do you think?” I snapped. “Get inside the carrier until this is over! Cruze, did you hear that shot – any idea where it came from?”

“Not a clue!” she answered back. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that my second in command has been shot dead and I don’t want to join her.” I answered. “Tell that asshole Sid to use his sights and keep scanning the area for any movement. I need to draw this guy’s fire! Stay put … got it?”

“Got it, Dave. Don’t worry, Sid will spot him!”

Given that Sid had been on me for more than twelve hours about getting rid of Dawn Marie, I wouldn’t have expected him to lose any sleep if I became the next person from our team to wind up dead. Where the hell was that sniper? I shut my eyes tight and visualized the pages from Infantry Section and Platoon in Battle.

“Target indication … target indication … fuck! What did it say?”

Another whip snapping crack split the air over my head followed by a thump, and then it hit me: A crack and then a thump – that was the answer! The tactics manual had a partial section on using the crack and thump of a bullet to determine likely firing positions.