We made good time through the tunnels. As Nolan predicted, we didn’t run into anyone coming the other way. We exited the passage near the old post commander’s mansion and headed for the barracks.

“If you see headlights, get out of sight.” Nolan rolled his shoulder and flinched, sucking air between his teeth. “It’s worse than I expected.”

“What did you expect? You got shot.” Yeah, and an additional hundred pounds of gear sitting on his back sure didn’t help.

“I’ve been shot before, but when the adrenaline wore off, it never felt like this. My whole arm’s numb.”

“That’s not good. Could be nerve damage.” And it happened to be his left side. Nolan was a southpaw. I’d seen him shoot enough to know.

“Well, I need to lose this.” He shucked his MOLLE off and tossed it into some nearby bushes. He waited. When I didn’t move to follow, he spoke up. “You, too. We can come back for our gear. Dump your bag. Keep your weapon and ammo. We might need it until I can get my hands on mine.”

“Can you shoot with your arm like that?”

“I can shoot, but I won’t guarantee I’ll hit anything. Let’s go.” Nolan glanced back. “Come on. We need to move.” He picked up the pace, jogging down the road. “We’ll be at my barracks in another mile, and I can contact the rest of my team. I have no clue what we’re walking into, so when we get there, I want you to disappear until I can scout the area. Understood?”

“Got it.”

“Gunshots out in the field aren’t unexpected. Fort Drum has live-fire exercises going all the time. Our unit might not be aware we were attacked. I don’t want to linger in the open too long, in case the people who tried to kill you figure out who you’re with and come back to finish the job.”

“Do you know who sent them here?” I asked.

“Not sure if they’re Russian or from somewhere else. We know to some degree the Russians are involved because of your friend, but we don’t know if that’s who has put a bull’s eye on your back. Whoever they are, they’ve infiltrated pretty deep if they’re operating on this post and we don’t know who they are.”

When we arrived, the streets were deserted. Stone disappeared inside a set of barracks and returned a minute later, flagging me over with his good arm. “Come on.”

We entered the first floor and traveled all the way up to the third. He opened his door and ushered me inside. I looked around. His room didn’t look like any kind of military quarters I’d ever seen. Radio equipment, computers, and various other electronics. Several screens showed different views of…. I leaned closer. My barracks, the female trainee’s floor? “You’ve have me on camera?”

“Part of the job, baby doll.”

“Spying on me is not part of the job.”

He swung around. “Do you see a camera anywhere in your room?”

I looked at all the screens. “No.”

“Then I wasn’t spying on you. If I wanted a camera in there, you’d see your room on one of those screens. I monitored everyone else. You and Morgan were the only two on the female floor I didn’t suspect.”

“Oh.” I touched a screen which showed a full view of the hallway. I’d jumped to conclusions and, of course, felt like an ass. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about. I’d have questions if I were you, too. Excuse me.” He reached around where I stood and picked up a handheld radio. “Omega One, this is Stone.”

Who is Omega One? Could it be the organization he worked for? I opened my mouth, and Stone waived me off.

“Hey, you’re not in the Marines anymore, call me Grey. Long time, no speak to, Stone. What’s going on?”

Grey who?

“Had a run in with some unfriendlies. The package is safe. But this goes deeper than you thought. Might be someone else in Washington pushing the buttons. I don’t know how else so many of them could infiltrate so deep.”

Package? Wait one minute. I opened my mouth again, and Nolan shook his head.

“In-laws in town?”

“Yeah, and they brought their extended family. Might be acquaintances with your old friend. Haven’t been able to dig up enough to point me in the direction of The Snake, but my gut it telling me there is. Can you contact my team? I’ll also need a pickup from the bunker for Morgan and Sutton. We will also need a cleanup crew. Morgan took at least one of the cell out, last night. Should find a body about a mile out headed toward the range. Off the road on the left. We’ll need an identification as soon as possible. It could point us to the rest of the cell.”

“Roger. Give me a second.”

“Wilco.” Nolan set the radio down. “Something’s not right. Nobody’s here. One person always stays back and holds down the fort.”

“Who’s Omega? Grey?”

Nolan grinned. “How bad do you want to know? I might be convinced to disclose.”

I rolled my eyes and plopped down on his bed. “Now?”

“You can make good on the trade later. Omega was hired by your father to protect you. So, lucky you, they sent me. We knew about the plot to assassinate you but had no idea where it would come from and when. There were a lot of holes in our intel. We have connections higher up, so it didn’t take much for someone to put me back in active status to watch your six, along with a few of our team.”

The radio crackled, and Nolan picked it up. “Tell me you got some good news, and the rest of my team is out partying or something.”

“You’re not going to like this.”

“Okay. Give it to me.”

“There’s an active shooter incident right now near division headquarters. The sniper is on the third floor of the barracks, and he’s already dropped about a dozen soldiers in the parking lot. Your team is on the back of the building, but when they tried to go in, he went on a shooting spree. Now, when anyone makes a move for the rear entrance, he puts another hole in one of the wounded. As far as we know, he hasn’t killed any of them yet. At this time, the shooter has only nicked them enough to keep them down.”

“So, he’s got to have some kind of video feed on the rear entrance, or a spotter.”

“Nobody can get close enough to verify which, without one of the wounded catching another bullet. I’m thinking they have spotters on multiple points of view, and whoever they are, they’re working with a team, and they know their way around a rifle. They haven’t missed a shot they’ve made. He sent a text to the division commander’s private cell an hour ago from an untraceable phone, so we still have no clue who we’re dealing with. The shooter wants the senator’s daughter. If he doesn’t have her in the next twenty minutes, he said he’s going to start killing the men he’s already shot in the parking lot.”

I jumped to my feet. “Let’s go.”

“Like hell.” Nolan shook his head. “The shooter has every intention of killing you. If you walk into that parking lot, he’ll take you out and finish off every man he put on the ground.” He tipped his head back and studied the ceiling. “I have an idea.”

“Holden, how far is the shooter from our location?”

“You’re in your quarters?”

“Roger.”

“A mile, maybe a bit more. You thinking of taking a shot from there?”

“Negative. I’m not taking the shot. My right arm is junk, but I know a sniper who can. Do we have a clear field between the buildings?”

“Let me check the layout.” The radio went silent. “You have nothing but air between you and the building the shooter’s in, but I was wrong about how far. You’re looking at a mile and a quarter, at least.”

“What?” I swallowed. “I’ve never taken a shot at that distance.”

“First time for everything,” Nolan said. “I’ll be your spotter.” We have to do something, and this is our best chance. We have less than fifteen minutes to get to the roof and line him up in our crosshairs.”

“Look, it’s barely light out, there’s a breeze, and we’ll be on a rooftop,” I said. I had skill, but that kind of skill? Even I doubted I could make the shot under those conditions.

“Yes. When I took my shot, I had wind and low visibility from the smoke of burning buildings. I got him when the odds said I couldn’t. If I could do it then, you can do it now. If we don’t, a lot of soldiers will die.”

I nodded. This is what I’d trained the last few weeks to do. Time to put up or shut up.

“But not with this.” He grabbed my weapon, went over to his locker, put his fingers into the biometric lock which opened with a pop. I didn’t bother to ask how he got it. He set my weapon inside and then pulled out a different rifle, turning around.

My mouth dropped open. A modified .300 Win Mag sniper rifle, with a Nightforce scope. I thought I’d piss myself.

“This is my girl. She’s gone everywhere with me and is dead nuts. I got my world record kill shot at 1.56 miles with her. You good with a two-pound pull?”

A light trigger for sure, but I preferred a softer touch. I swallowed and stared, my hands shaking. I nodded, unable to speak. I’d fallen in love—with his rifle.

He pushed it toward me. “Are you going to take it, or are you having second thoughts?”

“How did you manage to get permission to keep it in your room?”

“Nothing to be concerned about.”

“It’s a federal offense to carry a gun onto a military installation without authorization. You have to keep it locked up in the arms room.”

“Not if the post commander has authorized you to carry it. I’m here of behalf of the Department of Defense. Trust me, I wouldn’t go anywhere without her.”

“Why didn’t you take it to the field?”

“First sergeant and the company commander don’t know I have it. I’m undercover, and until I know the identity of all the members of the ring, I can’t take a chance and disclose. If someone saw me with a rifle when I wasn’t supposed to have one, it would draw a lot of attention, and questions would be asked I couldn’t answer.”

I took it from him, hands trembling. “You can’t leave my weapon in there.”

“Relax. You sure as hell aren’t going to make that shot with what you were carrying, and this locker is reinforced and bolted to the floor. Post commander’s one requirement. We’ll come back for it.” He glanced down at his watch. “We need to go. We’ve wasted two minutes.”

I don’t know why what he said didn’t surprise me. I didn’t blink as he shut the gun safe and headed for the door. He snagged a bag from the floor and slipped it over his right shoulder, again favoring the left. The red stain on his top had spread and looked wet.

“You’re bleeding again.”

“Yes, but I don’t have time to deal with it. I’ve had worse.” Nolan started down the hall until we reached the end, where a utility room sat. He tried the door, and it opened. A quick glance back, and he motioned me ahead of him, over to a ladder attached to the wall, leading to a ceiling access panel maintenance used when they needed to get to the air conditioning and heating units above. “Give me your weapon. I’ll hand it to you.”

I handed the rifle over, climbed the ladder, and pushed the panel open. Once on the roof, I turned, lying on my belly, and took the bag and weapon as he handed them to me. Nolan followed, moving slower than I liked. I eyed the growing stain on his shirt.

As we took up a position, the radio crackled. “You there, Stone?”

“We’re in place, now.”

“What’s going on?” Omega One demanded. “You’ve got two minutes to take him out.”

“That’s what we’re about to do. Be right back.” Stone set the radio down and picked up his scope, remaining silent as several seconds ticked by. He looked into the tech. “You sure you’re up for this?”

“I need a bead.”

“Okay, 22 inches MOA, second window, third floor. See the reflection? That’s his scope.” He shifted, and his breath hissed. “I’ve got visuals on the shooter. You’re not going to like this.”

I paused. First shot Nolan would watch the vapor trail, so I could make the adjustment I needed. A shot this far out would need it. Even experienced snipers couldn’t make a kill shot at this distance the first time, unless they were damn lucky, and now he had something to add I wouldn’t like? What now? I leaned in and looked through the scope. I jerked back, my heart thumping hard. The shooter wasn’t a man, as I’d assumed, and much worse. “It’s Smitty.”

“Yeah. You have to take the shot. She’s going to kill those men if you don’t.”

I swallowed and stared at the rifle like it might bite me. My hands shook. I balled them and opened them. Could I? “I can’t.”

“You got this.” Stone didn’t take the scope from his eyes. “She’s moving the barrel. It’s now or never. Get back on that weapon and take the shot, Davis.”

“I….”

“That’s an order, soldier.”

Pretend you didn’t see who. I leaned in and looked through the scope, listening as Stone called out directions. I blew my breath out and slowly squeezed the trigger. Bang! The shot shook me from the tip of my fingers to my toes. I hadn’t expected it to come so quick, but then again, that’s how the best shots were made.

“Target down.”

Down? I did it the first time? My vision blurred and ears rang. I sat back, not daring to look. I couldn’t. I turned to Nolan. I couldn’t speak. I killed Smitty.

“You saved lives this morning, Davis.”

“And took one.” My eyes filled with tears. I was going to puke. I scuttled back from the rifle and twisted, emptying the contents of my stomach on the tar-covered roof. I gagged several times before I finished.

“Easy, babe.” Nolan set his scope down and crawled over to pull me into his lap, wrapping his arms around my body. “First kill is always the hardest. Breathe.”

I hiccupped and broke into sobs, unable to stop the tears from pouring. “Oh God. I killed her.”

“You had to. She likely staged the accident when she broke her leg, so she could send her team out to our location on the range and take you out. Smitty would’ve killed those men in the parking lot. It didn’t matter if she wore the uniform. She infiltrated the Army and the sniper school with one goal in mind.”

He spoke the truth. I knew it was, but still didn’t know how to process what went down. I dried my tears on his ACU top and held onto him tight, not wanting to let go. It didn’t make me feel any better, knowing she’d befriended me with the intent to take me out and make it look like a training accident. I’d trusted her. Thought of her as a sister. And all along she’d planned to assassinate me.

“I need to call this in.” Nolan let go of me but left me in his lap.

I nodded, as my tongue had gone numb and my brain, fuzzy.

He lifted the radio to his mouth. “Omega One. This is Stone. The shooter has been neutralized. Please inform the post commander we’re headed to the hospital and they can debrief us there.”

“Roger, Stone. Nice shot. Who took it, if it wasn’t you?”

“The senator’s daughter.”

“No shit.”

Everything went dark, and I passed out.

 

Voices everywhere, filled with urgency. Beeping machines and the squawk of rubber-soled shoes running down a hall. I opened my eyes as a gurney rushed by. Doctors and nurses accompanied it, along with some MPs.

“Good morning.”

“What happened?”

“Your head injury got the best of you.”

I reached up and touched a fresh bandage on my head then turned to where the voice had come from. “Stone?”

“You didn’t think I’d leave you, did you. One moment you seemed fine, the next you went limp. The hospital wants to keep you overnight, so I’m not going anywhere. Well, I’m not going anywhere anyway. I have surgery tomorrow on my shoulder. They’re going to go in and clean it up. Good news is they don’t think I have nerve damage.” Nolan sat in a chair next to the bed, his foot up on an upholstered stool, his left arm draped across back of the chair, his other arm in a sling.

I pointed toward where the gurney had gone. “Who?”

Nolan gave me a soft smile. “You didn’t kill her. They’re taking Smitty to surgery right now. The doctors think she’ll make a full recovery. Your shot hit a little low and off to the left. She caught a bullet in the chest.”

Tension I didn’t know I’d been holding released, flowing out of me like water over a dam. I hadn’t hit the sweet spot, the area in the throat where snipers aimed. The shot would’ve both destroyed her windpipe and severed her spine all at once. If I’d hit her there, she wouldn’t be able to get back up to deliver a counter-strike. As it was, I’d injured her bad enough to put her down. I balled my hands and opened them.

“I didn’t kill her?” I didn’t say it so much for confirmation, but to myself, like a pinch to see if you’re awake.

“No.” He grinned. “But you sure as hell neutralized her.” He reached out, his fist balled. I bumped it with mine. “Nice shooting, Annie.”

“Oh God.” I groaned. “Please don’t ever call me Annie Oakley again. I still have nightmares about the morning you called cadence.” I shook my head, half-laughing, half-crying. A barrage of emotions slammed into me. Could I do this? Put someone in my crosshairs and pull the trigger again? “I….” Tears poured from my eyes. Smitty may have wanted to take my life, but I hadn’t wanted her to be my first confirmed kill.

“You okay?”

“I don’t know. I could’ve killed her. I thought I had. I—”

“But you didn’t, and it will give us a chance to question her as to who else is involved and weed out members of the cell.”

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. Could I do this? “I don’t know if I have it in me to do this anymore—be a sniper. I almost didn’t take the shot.”

“But you did. You saved a lot of lives this morning. It’s not an easy job, but it’s an important one, and not just any man—or woman can do it. The next time you have a bead on someone, you’ll know without a doubt what side they’re on, and what you’re doing will save American lives. It doesn’t make it any easier to pull the trigger, but you will know you’re doing it for the right reason.”

“How do you live with it?”

Nolan’s smiled dropped. “I remember what I have to lose, what every man and woman out there on the battlefield has to lose if I don’t pull the trigger. We go after the bad guys, the ones who detonate bombs on innocent civilians, radicals who desire nothing more than to destroy our way of life and our people, men who dump neurotoxins on children.”

I nodded. I knew I had the skill for a reason, and my desire to enlist had run deep. What he said rang true. No sniper wanted to kill. They did it to save lives, eliminating evil before it could strike.

He reached out and took my hand. “One other thing we have to talk about.”