Traffic had thinned, and Wade followed cautiously, leaving more space between the two cars. Another right on a farm road, and Stephan’s car soon disappeared into thick tree cover on both sides of the narrow road. Stopping at the intersection of two roads, Wade could see that Stephan’s car had taken a left onto another farm road. He was reluctant to follow because he would be totally exposed. Instead Wade passed Stephan’s road and took the first two-lane dirt road marked Shady Farm Road. The two cars were now running parallel, with Wade following several car lengths behind.
The magnificent, lush scenery on both sides of the river was alluring and would have been distracting if he hadn’t been so focused on the goal. Wade stopped his car when he saw Stephan’s car stop. Stephan wasn’t looking at scenery or for tails. He was stopped in the middle of the road craning his neck right and left, probably for location benchmarks. Keeping a safe distance between them, Wade pulled down the dirt road behind a line of trees separating the two vehicles.
His target seemed to find his bearings and turned right down a narrow farm road between barbed wire fencing on both sides. Wade waited in a cluster of trees for Stephan to reach his next stopping point.
Wade decided not to follow that same narrow farm road; instead he turned right and ran perpendicular to the road Stephan had taken several hundred yards outside his path. Another farm road brought Wade to a further cluster of trees that provided good cover. He stopped and turned off his engine. The two cars were parallel at approximately the same distance from the edge of an open field at the foot of the mountain with the river to their left.
Pulling his car under overhanging branches, Wade got out and scanned the horizon with his binoculars. The setting seemed similar to his last pick-up site, but it was a different location. This time Stephan’s car was parked near a white farmhouse on his far side, with the large barren field between them.
Wade realized he would have to move his car to close the distance between them. He still had to remain hidden, so he carefully scouted the surrounding tree line for alternate routes and cover.
Chapter 29
A muddy road caught Wade’s eye. Although he couldn’t see where it ended, the road would bring Wade closer to Stephan’s car and the farmhouse. Bordering each side of the road Wade passed under the large, dark leaves of banana plants. The road kept winding through the mature banana farm, giving him lots of cover. An opening soon appeared in the dense foliage, and Wade got out of the car to explore. He was still unsure of his exact position. Surprisingly Wade had not been the only visitor to this remote site. Below him were old dried tractor ruts deeply furrowed through once-moist mud. The tracks led to his left, and Wade got back into the car and followed them, his own wheels just outside of the tractor impressions. The road led back to the same tall eucalyptus tree line that bordered the edge of the banana farm.
Wade trekked on foot over ground covered in dried banana leaves and stubble. Finding an opening from which to observe, he saw the farmhouse and a wide flat field before him. Returning to the car, Wade decided it was an ideal place to park, so he drove a little further, until he was close to the open field but still protected by deep cover.
The new position brought his car to within fifty yards of his new sniper hide. After checking several possible shooting angles, Wade returned to his car to assemble his Steyr SSG 69 silenced Austrian sniper rifle fitted with a German 6.5x scope. It was the rifle he’d taken from Mashburn and had on the rooftop in Belmopan. With weapons in hand, he left the comfort of the car and returned to the deeper cover of dense banana plants, where he prepared his permanent shooting position.
Training his binoculars on the landscape east of the farmhouse, Wade saw a small piece of shiny silver metal protruding from a dense cover of branches. The reflection was about five feet off the ground. Wade studied the area more closely and discovered the protruding metal was a portion of a well-disguised airplane wing and fuselage covered in camouflage netting and pushed well back under leaves and branches of the far tree line.
His new position offered a good view of the farmhouse, the plane, and the expanse of the open field. He took his time adjusting his scope and making estimations of range and windage to different target points.
With the sun at his back, he felt he controlled the theater in the front and on both sides of his position. Using his rifle scope, he scanned the area from in front of the plane’s propeller to the mountains beyond. The area directly in front of the plane was compacted gravel, making for a hard surface ideal for the plane’s weight.
Fifty feet away from where the plane rested, the ground spread out into a smooth ribbon of compacted dirt and decomposed granite that served as a runway. The forty-foot wide airstrip made an ideal runway for small planes, allowing sufficient room for the plane to head in either direction to accommodate whatever wind direction happened to be present.
Two dirt access roads came in from the west and north of the farmhouse. Stephan’s car was parked on the road to the right of the farmhouse. It could also be used for evacuation or bringing in addition fire power.
A small white pennant hung from a flagpole strapped to the farmhouse chimney, showing wind direction and speed. Based on the movement of the flag, Wade estimated a light 8-mph wind coming out of the east and used that calculation to adjust his scope.
Heavy shadows from the thick vegetation bordering the field distorted the distances, so Wade knew that making precise distance calculations would be difficult. He estimated the width of the farmhouse and used that estimate to calculate the distances to other points. While he waited, he walked off distances between banana plantings and used those calculations to estimate the distances to points closest to him. He repeated the process until he got several points confirming the distance to the runway and different points between the farmhouse buildings.
Based on those calculations, he estimated the distance to the farmhouse was approximately 450 yards away from his firing position. He could easily be off by twenty to forty yards in his calculations, though, and didn’t have much confidence in his estimate.
As Wade was checking his calculations, the front door of the farmhouse suddenly opened and Stephan appeared in the doorway, his automatic pistol holstered at his side. Another man stepped out beside him. The two spoke for a while before walking down a narrow stone path to the edge of cleared field. Wade focused his scope on the man next to Stephan. The face was new to Wade. It wasn’t the previous pilot who had delivered Stephan’s weapons.
The second man pointed toward the plane, and he and Stephan continued their discussion as they walked into the field. Wade was too far away to hear what they were saying. Stephan seemed relaxed, several times making gestures toward the covered plane. Wade assumed they were discussing the plane’s readiness for their departure time. The two men walked back to the plane and started removing the branches and camouflage netting. From the body language of the two men, Wade assumed the other man was the pilot. After the netting and bushes were removed, Stephan started walking back to the farmhouse. The pilot got in the plane, started the engine, and moved the plane to the main part of the runway between Wade’s position and the farmhouse. The pilot shut down the engine, got out, checked several parts on the exterior of the plane, and returned to the farmhouse. A smile spread over Wade’s face when he saw the plane’s new position. It was now less than half the distance to the farmhouse and close enough where he might pick up parts of conversations between the men as long at the plane’s engine was silent.
He quickly recalculated his distances and angles to the plane. His only concern was that the plane now blocked his vision of the farmhouse. He considered alternate angles and decided to move his firing position thirty yards to the right, which changed his angle, but still offered a view of the farmhouse and the plane.