บท 35: A Shooting Game

That evening Cally and the girls stood on the front steps of guild hall. Marcus was introducing Hal and Eagle to Cally. She had requested a sniper and a spotter to join her to take out Ivar before he could reach Clan Home. "Cally, Eagle here is one of our best snipers. He served in Vietnam and has one of the most impressive Kill books I have seen. Hal usually is Eagle's spotter so you are getting an excellent team." The two gentlemen were both about 5 foot 11 inches, Brown hair, tan skin, muscular and appeared more like siblings than partners. " Eagle is your call sign?" Cally had a few questions she wanted clarified before putting herself in a car with these two for hours. Eagle gave her a short nod, "Yes Ma'am." Neither Eagle or Hal had hardly any expression.

"What type weapon do you use?" To Cally this was an important question. A sniper could be defined by how he took care of his weapon. "I use a scoped M2 Browning machine gun - purpose-built .50 caliber sniper rifle when hunting weres." Cally gave him a hard look, "You have better than 90 confirmed kills don't you?" Eagle gave her a bit of a surprised look, "Yes, Ma'am." She smiled and said "The marines taught you well. You answer everything short, sweet and to the point." "Thank you Ma'am." He thought for a moment and asked how did you know I was a Marine?" Cally turned and headed to the waiting car. "Once a Marine always a Marine." This wasn't an answer but Hal and Eagle thought it was.

Marcus held the back door of the range rover as Cally slipped in. She looked up at him and gave him a beautiful smile. "Hold the fort while I'm gone? Miss me a little bit too." He gave her a slight smile in front of the others and replied, "Hurry home." She nodded happily, yes home. "Bye girls! Stay inside and don't worry. I'll be back in a couple days." Hal started the rover and headed North on the coastal highway. They had a long road ahead. Cally estimated that with Ivar on foot he should be about 400-500 miles north heading their way.

Cally noticed an unusual vibe in the car. The guys in the front were mostly silent; not to unusual, as they were hunters on a mission. She could smell just a trace of a sickly sweet smell coming from Hal. He smelled of excitement and a touch of fear. Odd. "Hal, how long have you been partnered with Eagle?" "I was Eagle's spotter in 'Nam." Hmm "When did you go to Vietnam?" Hal thought for a moment, "It must have been in the summer of 1952." Cally was quiet again while she thought things over. "So you are as close as two coats of paint." It was a statement. They were werewolves, brothers in arms and had worked together for over half a century. "Yes Ma'am." She looked out the window at the evening sky. There was no good reason for Hal to be nervous, no good reason.

Conversation after that petered out. They traveled 200 miles before they again spoke. This time they discussed how and where to draw Ivar out into the open. Where to set up the sniper's nest. So Cally said if the area hadn't changed to much, she knew a place along the coast, it was open to the north end but narrowing down towards the southern end. Eagle could set up in a tree blind. With a purpose built M2 Browning Eagle could take out a target at 2,500 meters. Easy Peasy. Eagle turned and asked, "Ma'am, How are you going to draw him to that spot?" Cally returned Eagle's stare for a moment before replying "Blood." She then turned to look back out the window.