Chapter three

EIGHT MONTHS AGO

           Kimberly shivered slightly as the harsh cold wind blew relentlessly, but she continued following in the footsteps of the Afghanistan local who acted as their guide through the mountains to their rendezvous point. Behind her was sergeant Oscar, her closest friend in her unit who was also a sniper.

“Are you getting tired?”

She teased him.

“Hell no.”

The Texan replied with his southern drawl.

          Kimberly was not finding it easy herself. Hiking at a fast pace while carrying full military gear on a steep terrain for over four hours was not a small feat.

Rather she gathered her strength and continued moving. The only thing that would stop her was if she dropped dead.

            Being one of the few females in the marines meant that she was constantly looked down on by some of the chauvinists in her unit. The constant need to always prove herself was what made her develop a thick skin both physically and emotionally.

At the same time, being the only female sniper in her battalion had also earned her the respect of some of the soldiers including Oscar.

“We are almost there.”

Their guide said with a thick accent.

Few minutes later, they were at the top of one of the numerous hills in the afghan mountains.

Below them was a poppy farm with six simple huts built on a straight row.

Oscar immediately started setting up the radio to communicate with their superior officer back at the base while she set up her M40 sniper rifle. 

Their guide sat on a rock and watched them quietly as she and Oscar hurriedly prepped for their mission.

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         Colonel Briggs, the senior commanding officer of her battalion had called them the previous night for a meeting.

They had barely entered his tent before he dove straight to the matter at hand.

“I just recieved intelligence from the CIA that Mustafa, the head of the terrorist network we have been tracking for some months now is meeting with an arms dealer tomorrow morning at the outskirts of Baga town.

I am sending you two because of your records as the best snipers in this unit.

You are to set up communication with me once you get to the rendezvous point. One of the locals will show you the way through the mountains, which is the only way to get through the enemy territory undetected.

         A lot is at stake with this mission, and I am counting on you both to execute it perfectly.

You may now take your leave.”

“Sir.”

They both saluted before leaving the Colonel’s tent.

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“What is the time?”

Oscar asked.

She looked at her watch and replied.

“10:04”

There was radio static for a while then silence.

“Alpha to base, over.”

Oscar spoke into the radio which was followed by more silence.

          Kimberly looked into her binoculars and saw eight children playing a game of soccer on the open space in front of the huts. 

She dropped the binoculars and reached for a small carton from her backpack. She removed a stick of cigarette from the pack,lit it and took a long drag.

There was static from the radio once again.

“Alpha to base over.”

Oscar repeated.

Three seconds later, the gruff voice of the colonel was heard.

“Alpha, this is base over. I read you loud and clear. What is the situation over there?”

Kimberly cleared her throat and spoke.

“I sight six huts down here. Some kids are playing around, but not signs of any hostiles.”

“Alright. Stay put and keep me updated.”

Oscar muted the radio and said.

“I would not have been so enthusiastic about this mission if I knew we would go through all those hassles just to get here and sit our asses down.”

              Kimberly looked at the horizontal scar that ran across the man’s left cheek which was a constant reminder of one of the missions they had embarked upon.

A suicide bomber had ran into her team, causing most of them to take shrapnels to their limbs and torsos. She was lucky to have come out unscathed.

“Look over there”

Their guide said pointing to a cloud of dust from afar.

Kimberly immediately looked into her binoculars and saw a vehicle speedingly approaching the huts, while leaving a trail of dust behind.

The childen stopped their game and watched the old pickup truck come to a halt.

         Three men alighted from the vehicle, entered one of the huts and dragged out five people with hoods over their heads and hands tied behind their backs.

They were lined up and forced to go on their knees while one of the men who wore a turban was speaking with a lot of gestures in between.

Kimberly heard some radio static behind her, which was followed by her partner’s voice.

“Alpha to base over.”

“I read you loud and clear.”

The colonel replied.

“We just observed some activity, over.”

“Is Mustafa there?”

“No sir .”

Then stay put.”

“Ok sir.”

            She looked into her sniper scope this time around and saw one of the men coming out of another hut with an AK47 rifle in his hand.

“This is not going to end well.”

She whispered.

The man raise the gun and shot their first captive point blank in the head.

“We need to do something.”

Kimberly called out to her partner who immediately spoke into the radio.

“Alpha to base over. There are hostile activities in the area, over.”

“Can you identify Mustafa amongst the hostiles?”

Kimberly quickly interrupted before Oscar could speak.

“No sir, but some civilians are being executed right now, over”

“ Base to alpha , stay put. Don’t jeopardize the mission.”

“With all due respect sir, we can’t stay here and do nothing when innocent people are being slaughtered. Moreover, our target is nowhere to be found.”

She added.

“Base to alpha. I repeat maintain your position.”

            She looked into her scope and saw the executioner raise his gun to the second captive and shot him in the head .”

“Fuck this!!”

She muttered as she aligned the criss cross mark of her sniper scope to the head of the terrorist with the gun.

She held her breadth and pulled the trigger at the same time when he raised his rifle to shoot the third captive.

The gun fell from his hand first before the man followed.

There was panic amongst the other two who looked around in confusion.

One of the men made a dash to the fallen weapon of his comrade but she followed him swiftly, the criss cross mark of her sniper moving behind her new target till her focus point was centered on his chest, then she pulled the trigger.

A second later, the man was flying backwards in the air before landing on the floor motionless.

The last terrorist had entered the vehicle and made to escape when she realigned her focus on one of the back tyres and made her shot. 

The truck lost motion and moved for a few metres before coming to a halt. 

       One of the captives had freed himself in the midst of the commotion and was already helping the others out of their bondage when Oscar spoke.

“I don’t blame you for what you did. It was the right thing to do, but you know what this means yeah?”

“Yeah. My career is over.”

She replied. 

        She looked into the scope once more,but was unable to get a clear shoot of the last terrorist.

‘I’ve got the whole day.’

All she had to do was wait.

Some minutes later, the driver’s door of the truck opened, followed by the head of the last terrorist that popped out.

“I might as well finish the mission.”

She said before pulling the trigger one last time.