Sniper Elite: One-Way Trip

EPILOGUE

After the award ceremony, Gil was ordered to take three months’ leave while the fallout from Operation Earnest Endeavor finished blowing over. President Karzai was still having trouble with the Hezb-e Islami factions in the Afghan parliament, but it didn’t look like that trouble was going to translate into much of a threat to his presidency. The US Air Force had done a pretty thorough job of reducing the Hezbi forces in the Panjshir Valley, and it was doubtful they would be able to replenish their numbers or regain their influence in and around the Hindu Kush. They had simply lost too much status, allowing Sandra Brux to be rescued and essentially transformed into a Western heroine. What was more, as a result of the HIK’s slide, the Taliban had begun another resurgence.

Which of those two pseudo-political groups held the most power in the region didn’t matter to Gil. To him they were both equally violent, equally dangerous to the Afghan people. He hoped the country would begin to stabilize, that reasonable alliances could be struck with the mountain warlords to prevent them throwing in with the Taliban again, but he didn’t hold much hope.

Today was the day after New Year’s, and he rode Tico through the deep snow of the high country overlooking the Ferguson Valley, sitting in the saddle and thinking back on that night in the Panjshir, of the horse that had been killed beneath him in battle. As he sat reflecting on the death of his friend Halligan Steelyard and the dozen near-misses that should have taken own his life, he heard the sound of a distant bugle come echoing across the snowy linen landscape. For a moment he was reminded of the cavalry’s call to arms, but a glance over his shoulder revealed the elk two hundred yards down the slope. He lowered his hand to shuck the Browning from the scabbard and reined Tico around in place, shouldering the rifle to peer through the scope at a beautiful fourteen-point bull, easily the finest looking animal he’d ever held in his crosshairs. He’d brought the travois rig along on the off chance that he would spot an animal for the freezer, but this elk was a prize well beyond the promise of food. This bull was a taxidermist’s dream, and Gil had him broadside to a barn door.

Fingering the trigger, he could not help thinking again of the horse killed beneath him, of the two dozen other horses gunned down in the box canyon by their own men. He remembered Kohistani struggling for his life with the piano wire slicing through his trachea. How could he ever tell Marie about something like that? Could she possibly even stay married to a man who had done something so hideous to another human being? And what would she say if she knew how much he’d enjoyed it?

He lowered the rifle and pulled back the bolt, ejecting the round that would have killed the elk and tucking it away into the breast pocket of his Carhartt. He was finished with killing for sport.

The cell phone vibrated in his pants pocket, and he glanced across the valley, where the new telecom tower had been erected atop the far mountain the year before on Ferguson’s property, gaining the old man a tidy profit from the lease. Gil did not recognize the number on the screen, but he answered it anyhow.

“Hello?”

“What’s the matter?” asked a gentle-sounding male voice. “You couldn’t do it? Or it just isn’t the same anymore?”

Gil felt the goose bumps rise across the tops of his shoulders. “Couldn’t do what?”

“Shoot the elk.”

He turned his head, checking all four points of the compass and pushing the bolt forward to load another round into the battery. “Who the hell is this?”

“Look up,” the voice said.

Gil looked straight up into the brilliant blue sky directly overhead, seeing absolutely nothing at all. “Pope?”

“I don’t have long,” the voice continued, “but I wanted to warn you.”

“Warn me?”

“Whether you know it or not, you were given that medal as a punishment. I did what I could to prevent it, but the president himself wanted it to happen.”

Gil recalled the smirk. “I guess I should have realized that.”

“He wanted to use you for political points,” the voice said. “While at the same time destroying your anonymity, knowing how much a SEAL’s privacy is worth to him and his family. What I don’t think he realized was that he was putting the mark on you — at least I hope he didn’t. There’s an element within the Muslim world that knows Kohistani was killed with a garrote. They’re furious over it, and they think it was you who did it. The chatter I’m hearing gives me cause for concern.”

“They want revenge.”

“This is irrespective of sect… Taliban, Al Qaeda, HIK… they’re all Muslim… and the brutal assassination of a Muslim cleric would be seen as a direct insult against Islam.”

Gil slid the rifle into the scabbard, taking up the reins in his free hand to set Tico sauntering off toward home. “So you think they’re comin’ for me here.”

“I believe we need to assume so — there’s definitely a price on your head — but don’t expect anyone from the Pentagon or the White House to give you the heads up.”

“In other words, the president threw me under the bus.”

“No, not him,” the voice said. “The president’s a banker. He knows very little about things militaire or the Muslim world. Unfortunately, he looks to his sycophantic military advisor when it comes to these affairs. So, it wasn’t the president. It was Tim Hagen. Hagen’s the guy who burned you, and so far I’ve got nothing on him — but don’t worry. Everyone’s pumping the neighbor’s cat. I’ll find something.”