Ghost Sniper

84

Pope sat staring with bloodshot eyes at a television monitor, watching an aerial view of the battle for Toluca in infrared. Midori stood behind him, her arms crossed in bitter disapproval. After Crosswhite had thrust his finger toward the sky, there had been no doubt that it was him.

“I hope he kills that son of a bitch and comes for you,” she said, ashamed to have been even a small part of what was happening.

“Perhaps he will,” Pope said quietly. “The UAV’s at bingo fuel. I have to bring it back to American airspace.”

“Do something!” she implored. “Help them!”

He turned to look at her, a slightly incredulous look on his face. “What do you suggest I do?”

She pointed at the screen. “Call somebody down there!”

“There’s no one to call. It’s quite out of my hands.”

“Is the drone armed?”

“Of course not.”

She smirked, her emotions getting the better of her. “You say that like it’s an impossibility.”

He gave her a frown. “I don’t send armed UAVs over allied countries; you know that very well.” Returning his attention to the monitor, Pope gripped the joystick and banked the aircraft northward. “I shouldn’t have invited you to watch.”

“Why did you?”

“I don’t know. I thought … I thought we might reestablish a trust. I see now that all I’ve managed to do is make things worse between us.”

Midori had worked for Pope for over ten years, and she knew him well enough to understand how sincere a gesture this had been. Because of that, she was unable to help feeling compassion for him. “You really don’t understand what you’ve done, do you?” she said. “You’ve started a war down there. Those men are dying, Robert.”

He put the UAV on autopilot and turned in the chair, gently taking hold of her hands. “We’ve watched thousands of people die on these monitors. Tonight is nothing different. Don’t forget that two nuclear weapons came across that border—two. I cannot allow that to happen again. Not if it’s within my power to prevent it.”

She pulled her hands free. “Do you still think that’s what this is about? Tonight has nothing to do with the border — nothing.”

“I’ve already admitted to you this operation got out of hand. But it got out of hand only because Vaught exceeded his mission parameters — an accident of fate — an unknown variable that I could not have accounted for ahead of time. What’s happening down there now is fate playing itself out, nothing more.”

“And when the smoke clears?”

“I have no idea. We have to see who’s left standing.”

Midori stared at him, her slow eyes dark and sad — a sadness brought on by the irrevocable truth that the Pope she had respected and admired for so many years no longer existed. He had evolved into a man who could reduce a human life to nothing more than a blip on a screen. And he could do so with little more care than it took to brush his teeth.

“I’m going home now,” she said quietly.

“Good night,” he said in his gentle voice.

She put her hand on the doorknob. “By the way, it’s official: Lena Deiss and Sabastian Blickensderfer are getting married in eight days. Do you still want me to continue surveillance?”

“No,” Pope replied, turning back to the monitor and placing his hand on the stick. “Discontinue all surveillance. We’ve wasted enough time on Blickensderfer.”