The Case Officer Read Online Free PDF Page A

Nice shooting.
How’s your situation?”
    “Rifle shoots a little right but
I fixed it. It’s good now. Two skinnies down. Still quiet out here at the
moment. Main force must be hanging back, but they’ve stationed sentries
forward. Two I just took out were about 200 meters down from the northeast
corner of the compound, where you saw the movement. This is a great weapon…
Over.”
    “Good work, Easy Two. We’ll keep
an eye on you as best we can. If you’re able to take out some more of their
sentries you might force them to reevaluate any attack plans they may have for
tonight. Over.”
    “Roger, Easy One. That’s the
plan. I’ll follow this drainage ditch for as far as I can. I’ve got good cover
here in the tree line. Let me know if you see anything else, and try to keep me
in sight…and make sure you’ve got someone posted at the closest doors, just in
case I have to make a run for it. Over.”
    “Roger that, Easy Two. We’ll keep
the campfires burning. Easy One out.”
    MacMurphy moved in a crouch,
rifle at port arms, south along the east wall of the compound toward the
distant lights of Mogadishu. His senses were keen, hearing the rustle of the
leaves in the breeze and listening for signs of movement just as he had done
when he was deer hunting in upstate New York with his father.
    He smelled the salt air coming
off the ocean south of the city, and heard the horns of cars on the highway and
the muted sounds of the city spread out along the coast only a half-mile away
from him. The night was dark, but there was a glow above the city and the
quarter moon and stars above gave off enough light to illuminate his night
vision scope and goggles.
    He stopped frequently to scan the
area around him, paying particular attention to the row of shops and bars and
two-story buildings that lined the road to the east of him, where the two
smokers had drawn their last breaths of nicotine-filled air.
    Needing a better vantage point,
he left the drainage ditch and moved slowly and silently through the forested
area to the edge of the tree line. From there he had a clear view of the row of
buildings facing the road and the buildings beyond. He dropped behind a fallen
tree, flipped up his night vision goggles, and brought the rifle to his
shoulder.
    The darkened buildings of the
fire station, 400 meters away, popped into focus. He scanned them from left to
right. If Aideed had placed sentries to watch the compound, that would be a
good place to station them. There appeared to be activity several blocks behind
the buildings and to the south, but the area in front was dark and quiet. He concentrated
on the dark doorways and shadowy areas in front of the buildings and then,
seeing nothing, brought the rifle up to scan the rooftops where the initial
sighting had been.
    He spotted the target on the
north side of the roof of one of the two-story buildings of the fire station,
almost directly above and beyond the doorway where he had shot the two smokers.
The sentry was fully visible from the waist up, standing on the flat roof
behind the low wall surrounding it. He appeared relaxed, clearly unaware of the
sudden deaths of his comrades in front of him, as he surveyed the compound wall
through binoculars, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
    Do all these fuckers smoke? Good thing, though, because
it really illuminates the targets. He adjusted the elevation on his scope
to 400 meters and brought the rifle to his shoulder. This rifle is really a
wonder . He placed the crosshairs high on the chest below the cigarette,
released the safety, and squeezed the trigger.
    The bullet smashed into the sentry’s
breast bone under the throat throwing him straight back and down behind the
hip-high wall. Three shots, three bad guys. Not a bad night so far, thanks
to the gunny’s fine equipment.
    He scanned the rooftops of the
fire station and spotted two more sentries, one peering over the hip wall of
the roof in the center of the building, and the