Sniper Elite: One-Way Trip

CHAPTER 20

Agent Lerher set down his cup of coffee with an anxious sigh, glancing irritably around the semicrowded op center. “What the hell does he keep signing off for? How are we supposed to gather real-time intelligence if he’s not feeding us? He knows we can’t see him. Somebody get me some eyes on the goddamn ground.”

The Air Force liaison officer cleared her throat.

He turned toward her.

“Mr. Lerher, I’ve still got Creech on the line,” she said patiently. “They advise there’s a front coming in, but the ceiling is still under five thousand feet. The UAV will be visible if it drops down for a look.”

Lerher was smoldering. Not being able to watch the operation he’d spent the past three weeks capering over was driving him nuts. He had already been denied seeing the Al-Nazari hit, and now he was about to miss what he guessed was going to be one hell of a shoot-out. He might as well have been back in his hotel room for all of the input he’d been able to offer thus far. He was tempted to order the UAV down from the clouds for a brief overview at the target area, but if it was spotted by any sort of Iranian government entity, that would be enough to put the bloody finger on the United States for Al-Nazari’s assassination. Not that it mattered. Hell, it sounded like their operative was about to buy it anyhow.

“Captain Metcalf? Do you have any suggestions?”

Metcalf sat back stroking his chin. “You might consider letting my man do his job,” he said easily. “We didn’t send him in there to provide a play-by-play. We sent him in there to eliminate a target. He’s done that. Now he’s working to bring himself out. If he needs something from you, rest assured, he’ll let you know.”

Lerher smiled without humor, resenting the presence of top brass in his operations center. “Sounds like a plan, sir.” Technically, Metcalf was there only as an interested observer, but if anything went wrong, or if Lerher made a bad call, the old man would make sure he was held responsible.

Metcalf gave him a wink.

To the Navy man, Lerher was just another CIA spook, standing over there with his shirtsleeves all rolled up like he was getting ready to do some actual work. Lerher was probably more reliable than most, but he was sneakier, too. He thought his reliability entitled him to special privileges. That was why Metcalf had chosen to remain in operations for every minute of the mission. It pleased him to watch the younger CIA man swilling coffee like he thought Juan Valdez was going to stop growing the beans. A simple Benzedrine capsule was all that was needed to keep a man sharp during the short haul, and it didn’t keep you running to the damn head every ten minutes.

He watched Lerher duck out of the room, and chortled to himself, offering a wink to the black Air Force lieutenant.

She grinned and turned her head before any civilian in the room could notice.