“If we find a monitor, we’ll report the incident, but probably blow our chances to win the exercise. If we don’t find a monitor, we’ll move forward with our planned diversion for cache five, and report the incident when the exercise is over at noon.”
Yari could barely contain himself. “Who gives a damn about the exercise? I almost got killed last night.”
No one responded to Yari’s comment. They spread out silently, moving through cover toward the road. No one said it, but Wade, Max, and Charlie were of the same opinion, that the sniper might still be on their tail. After a quarter mile of hiking, staying within the forest thicket, Wade held up his fist as a sign for everyone to stop.
Each took cover under or behind the closest bush or tree. The road was visible in the morning light. Off to the left stood a training monitor with a bright green arm band, standing in the middle of the road near his jeep.
The team members went a short way back into the thick forest to quietly converse. Unanimously the team asked Wade to approach the sergeant in the road while the others remained out of sight and under cover.
Wade went around the forest and approached the road from a different direction from where his team waited. Waving his hands and yelling as he left the protection of the forest, he called out to the monitor. He crossed the ditch and walked up the grade to road level, carefully watching the monitor’s eyes and movement.
He explained to the sergeant what had happened the evening before, and the sergeant immediately went back to his jeep and called headquarters on the two-way radio. Wade gave the signal for his men to come out of the woods.
The sergeant repeated what he’d been told by headquarters. “You and your men wait here. Colonel Miller will be over shortly.”
The Red team members came out from behind assorted bushes and assembled on the road around the sergeant.
It wasn’t more than ten minutes before Wade saw the rooster tail of dust behind a vehicle heading quickly towards them. Like a lizard crossing a hot asphalt road, the Colonel’s vehicle moved with purpose and then came to a quick stop just fifteen feet in front of the sergeant’s jeep.
Colonel Miller emerged from the passenger seat, and his driver followed, leaving both vehicle doors open.
Turning to the sergeant and then to Wade, the Colonel asked, “Are you the one reporting the incident?”
“Yes, sir.”
Miller wanted to isolate Wade from the rest of the group. “Step over here, son. The rest of you stay where you are. Let’s start with an introduction.”
“Yes sir. I’m Wade Hanna from Intelligence in Washington D.C., taking part in the Sniper Navigational Training Class. For the last two days, we’ve been participating in the cache exercise. I am leader of Red Team and those are my men.” He pointed back to his men standing in the road.
“I’m Colonel Miller, second in command at the base. Tell me what happened, Mr. Hanna.”
Wade quickly recounted their response to the sniper’s action of the previous evening, careful not to leave out any important details. Miller listened intently, following every step and waiting to ask Wade for more details.
“How do you know it was a rifle shot?”
“I’ve heard the M-21 with a silencer and fired it myself many times, sir. I believe the crack I heard was the incoming round hitting a branch a split second before hitting the tree next to Yari. I believe that incoming branch probably diverted the round just enough to miss his head.”
The Colonel commented in a doubtful tone. “Last night was a dark, overcast night. Sometimes in the field you hear strange sounds…”
“Sir, I am certain of what I heard. It was dark last night. I think a night vision scope or night goggles would be the only way that shooter could come that close with a round. I think the evidence at the location will speak for itself, sir.”
Miller waved over his driver, who was standing a few feet from the car. “Get Captain Padilla on the radio.”
Colonel Miller turned back to Wade. “We have a forensics team on base. I’m calling them in on this. I hope your facts are correct, or I’m going to have egg all over my face. Do you understand that, son?”
“Yes, sir.”
The driver turned and said, “Captain Padilla is on the line, sir.”
Handing over the phone, Miller and Padilla spoke for some time. Wade overheard the Colonel say he wanted the forensics team on the site right away as part of a crime scene investigation.
Handing the receiver back to his driver, Colonel Miller started walking toward the men of Red Team standing with the sergeant. He turned to the sergeant and said, “Let’s wait until forensics arrives.”
The Colonel then addressed the rest of the waiting men. “We’re going to call off the cache exercise at this point. I want Sergeant Martinez to find Blue Team and have them return to the barracks and report to my office. I’m going to wait with Hanna and go over details with forensics. You men return to the barracks, get cleaned up, and grab some chow. Meet at my office for a debriefing at 1100 hours. Someone from my office will handle the debriefing.”
“Yes, sir,” the Red Team acknowledged in unison.
“Sergeant Martinez, I want Red and Blue teams kept separated — no discussions between them until after debriefing.”
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter 9
Dusty rooster tails rising from the road caused Miller and Wade to turn their heads at the same time.
Pointing to the dust trails, the Colonel said, “I suspect that’s our forensics team.” Miller then turned to Wade. “Show me where the incident took place.”
“About a half a click south of this point.” Wade pointed into the woods where there were no roads.
The Colonel turned to his driver. “You stay here, and have the forensics team follow us. Turning back to Wade he said, “Lead the way, son.”
Wade proceeded into the forest with Miller following. They walked slowly but deliberately on and off small paths deeper into the forest toward the clearing Wade knew would soon appear.
Approaching the clearing, Wade pushed two branches away so the Colonel could pass. “Here’s our first bivouac.”
Wade showed Colonel Miller the branch in the tree where the round impacted. The Colonel came in for a closer look as Wade pointed to the source of the projectile, saying, “The round came from that direction and impacted small branches in this area.”
Wade stood where Yari had been standing and used his arm to simulate a straight line into the bush. “I figure the shooter was about seventy yards away in that direction.”
The Colonel went over and stood behind Wade’s shoulder, sighting down his arm.
Wade explained the position of each man around the campfire, pointing so the Colonel could see their relative positions. Colonel Miller was not focused on the damaged branch. It was clear the branch had suffered a high velocity impact from the direction Wade previously indicated.
“Sir, there are probably lead fragments in that tree bark that might help identify the composition of the bullet.”
“I agree. Good point. I’ll have forensics take that branch back to the lab.”
Wade showed Miller where he and Max had rolled and started their crawl toward the shooter. The Colonel remained silent, mentally reenacting the sequence of events as though they were all occurring at that very moment.
“Did you hear any additional shots?”
“No, sir. I felt we were dealing with a trained sniper just from the way he moved. I think he was surprised to find us coming toward him.”
“Why do you feel that way?”
“I had the sense that he knew approximately where we were, but because of the bush, heavy fog, and dark night, he couldn’t get a fix on our position or a clear shot.”
Miller wanted to know when they first heard a change in the sniper’s movement. Wade replied, “We were thirty yards from the target when we heard him change positions. He was moving to our right.”
Wade walked to the spot where he’d heard the movement and pointed in the direction the shooter took. The Colonel continued walking slowly down Wade’s crawl path.
“How could you tell he was on the move?”
“I could hear the leaves move under his feet. I also heard several small twigs break. If you look at this terrain, it’s almost impossible to move without making some sound.”
Miller was now in a crouch, rubbing handfuls of leaves in his hands to sense the moisture content and replicate the sounds the shooter may have made before commenting. “The morning sun has already dried out these leaves a little. Was he moving slow or fast at this point?”
“He was moving very slowly, and trying to make as little sound as possible.”
“At what point did you hear the sound pattern change?” The Colonel followed Wade down his crawl path to the larger stand of trees Wade used as cover.
Wade stood behind the trees and pointed to where he’d heard the steps.
“Did you ever catch sight of him?”
“No, sir. By the time I felt certain there was only one individual, he was pretty far away. Max and I followed his path to the edge of an open field and couldn’t see far into the field from that point.”
“Let’s walk over to that field,” said the Colonel.
When the dense undergrowth opened to the field, Wade pointed to the where they had been standing.
“A heavy fog had rolled in, covering the field up to about seven feet high. We didn’t want to take the chance of entering that fog bank unarmed. I suspect the shooter was either in the fog or on the other side in that thicket.”
“Do you have any idea who this shooter might be, or why he targeted you or your men?”
“No, sir, not for sure.”
“What do you mean ‘not for sure’?”
“Well, sir, our team had several run-ins with one of the other team members after we arrived for training, but I have no evidence to suggest the shooting was done by that person or anybody else.”
As the Captain turned to respond to Wade, they heard voices of the approaching forensics team.
“We’re over here,” called Colonel Miller, and he walked twenty feet to meet a uniformed man he introduced as Captain Penata. They exchanged greetings before the Colonel pointed in an arch from the bivouac area to the trees bordering the open field.
“I want the entire area taped off as a crime scene. Have your men walk through it carefully. The shooter’s position was off in that direction, about sixty yards from the bivouac. Hanna here has already marked off several sites for possible foot impressions. I want all the foot impressions taken, and I want that branch with lead fragments brought in and analyzed at the lab. Once you set up your perimeter, I want your men to fine-tooth comb the area looking for any evidence, including spent shells. This was no accident. We have a shooter in our midst in a no-weapons area, and we have to find out who’s responsible for this breach. I’m taking Hanna back with me for debriefing.”
The forensics team was shown the location of the footprints and Wade’s markers, as they walked the path taken by the shooter. When he was satisfied that the team was equipped to handle the detail Miller motioned to his driver to pick them up.
Colonel Miller’s car stopped at the barrack to drop Wade off. “Clean up and grab some chow and be at my office in an hour.”
“Yes, sir.” Wade turned toward the steps of his barrack still amazed at the detail with which Colonel Miller approached the incident. But for some reason he couldn’t identify, he felt anxious, not knowing what would happen next, and wondering where his men were.
Wade opened the door to his barrack to find that the premises had been vacated. All the beds had been stripped, and his duffel was the only one in evidence. His backpack lay on the floor at the foot of his bed. Resting on the mattress was a neatly folded square piece of paper.
Wade looked at the folded paper but decided to leave it until after he showered. After showering, he sat on the side of his bed and unfolded a hand-written note.