The Sniper and the Wolf Read Online Free PDF Page B

Gil’s Canadian passport from his own back pocket and tossed it onto the table. “Good luck at the airport. Hopefully there are no CIA traitors waiting there to point you out to the gendarmes. Life in a French prison would be a sad way to end such a career as yours.”
    Gil looked at the two passports on the table, chewing the inside of his cheek.
    Federov cleared his throat. “If you’re going with Major Dragunov, Master Chief, now would be a good time to leave. It’s a diplomatic flight, so the French shouldn’t be overly vigilant, but the moment they discover Yeshevsky and the others to be Russian citizens, that will change.”
    Gil eyed them both, glancing briefly over his shoulder at the mirror. “You fuckers,” he muttered, smirking as he grabbed the red passport from the table and tucked it into his jacket. “Okay, Ivan. But when this is over, I get one of those ugly fucking T-shirts.”
    Dragunov laughed. “When this is over, comrade, we’ll both probably be dead. Kovalenko is the best. We call him the Wolf .”
    Gil cocked an eyebrow. “I got news for you: the Wolf hesitates. Otherwise I’d be dead already.”
    “That was not hesitation,” the Russian replied. “He probably just wanted you to see it coming.”

4
    BERN,
Switzerland
    “It was Hagen?” Gil said in disbelief, talking to Pope on a satellite phone from the tarmac in Bern, Switzerland, where he had just deplaned from an Aeroflot DC-10. “Chief of Staff Hagen?”
    “ Ex– chief of staff,” Pope reminded him.
    “I knew Lerher had a hard-on for me, but what the fuck did I ever do to Hagen? He burned me after Earnest Endeavor. Remember?” Operation Earnest Endeavor was the rescue of a female POW in Afghanistan, which Gil had orchestrated against the president’s specific orders to the contrary. As a means of “punishment” for acting without authorization, then–White House Chief of Staff Hagen suggested that the president award both Gil and his fellow operative, Green Beret Daniel Crosswhite, the Medal of Honor. The public award ceremony—while an effective political gambit for the president—had revealed Gil’s identity to the entire world. Not onlydid this end his career as a SEAL Team VI operator, but soon it led a band of Muslim assassins directly to his Montana doorstep, very nearly costing both him and his wife their lives.
    “Hagen’s a sociopath,” Pope said. “An egomaniacal power junkie, and he blames you and me for his dismissal from the White House.”
    “But how’d he get hooked up with Lerher? Lerher wasn’t stupid enough to throw in with a jerk-off like Hagen.”
    “I don’t think they were directly linked,” Pope said. “I tracked Hagen down by phone a little while ago, and when I dropped Lerher’s name, it genuinely confused him.”
    “You talked to Hagen?”
    “Yeah. I told him you’re coming after him. Hopefully that’ll keep him out of our hair long enough for us to get things figured out.”
    “How did you know it was Hagen who ghosted the op?”
    “I didn’t, but he seemed a logical suspect. Have the Russians told you anything more about what Yeshevsky was doing in Paris?”
    Gil glanced over at Dragunov, who stood near the nose gear of the DC-10, also talking on a satellite phone. Five rough-looking Russians in street clothes stood off in a tight group, smoking and talking. “If they know, they’re not telling me, but they definitely want to find this Kovalenko and punch his ticket.”
    “What’s their next move?”
    “I’m waiting to find that out now. Dragunov’s on the phone with the GRU. His team is standing by here.”
    “Spetsnaz?”
    “Yeah, and one look at these guys,” Gil said, “tells you they’re heavy pipe hitters. Dragunov says they’ve seen a lot of combat against the Chechens.” “Pipe hitter” was a Special Forces term referring to an operator willing to do whatever it took to accomplish a mission.
    “I’ve done some research on Dragunov,” Pope added.