“Am I ever going to know who the hell you really are?” Grace asked with only a slight trace of resentment.
“Absolutely.” If I’m dead.
“Is this your morning surprise? I thought you hated the desert.” Rachel looked around at the forbidding landscape as she walked with Nick, Jean, and Deke away from the Cadillac Escalade, parked well off the main route.
“Did we have to get up before dawn?” Jean added.
Even Deke voiced a quick ‘gruff’.
The dim light barely gave the group enough illumination to walk safely along the mostly level hard-packed surface. They walked together over the desert moonscape with Deke wandering far and wide around them, examining every hole, crevice or shrub. Silence was palpable. The motley group created the only audible sounds while walking along. Nick carried a pack weighing over eighty pounds, with Rachel shouldering a much smaller one.
Nick grinned at his soon-to-be sniper team. “Unfortunately, we need to do this at least every other day until we leave for Florida. I have an area set up already, where we can be relatively certain not to be disturbed, and we won’t start deep frying until later in the morning. I told you it was a surprise because of the way you two are reacting now. Every day we do this, and no one complains, we go to the waterslides in Sin City after we get back. Any complaints, and we sit in the house and mope all day.”
“Waterslides!” Jean yelped, dancing around with Deke joining her, while nipping at Jean’s cuffs.
“That’s a pretty neat bribe. What do I get? Can I go to the casinos?”
“Oh sure.” Nick gestured at the sky in supplication. “I’ll send you over to the most intensively videoed area in all of creation, where security cameras are so high tech, they reproduce themselves every five seconds.”
“Ah…point taken, waterslides it is,” Rachel replied. “Couldn’t Jean and I have waited for you at the house? Devil dog could keep you company.”
“I’m going to train you in spotting and shooting, Wonder Woman,” Nick explained. “Can you get your head around that?”
Nick noticed how Rachel clamped her lips together by force of will, as he imagined every anti-gun, peace at any risk, Kum-Ba-Ya cliché she’d ever heard threatening to pour out of her mouth. Nick saw the inner battle being waged and pulled out the card he had been saving.
“Think of watching Tanus through a spotter scope, knowing he would never order another death ever again. It’s no different than ordering me out in Bakersfield to help the cop.”
“Going on offense has done wonders curing my tendency toward insomnia.” Rachel nodded in agreement. “I’ll do what I can but I hate having Jean with us.”
“Hey!” Jean chirped, yanking on Rachel’s arm. “I’m part of this Terminator team too.”
“I’m going straight to hell,” Rachel whispered, covering her face.
Twenty minutes later as they walked around a small rock formation, Nick stopped. He took off his pack in a spot shaded by the small hill. He pointed across the small sloping valley of sand and rocks to another craggy upheaval of boulders. Nick knew it looked only a few hundred yards away, but in actuality was nearer to a mile distant.
“You’ll be able to see the targets I have set up across the way better once I give you the spotting scope. I have two scopes, Missy Connor, so you’ll be able to watch and spot too.”
“Cool!” Jean exclaimed. “What’s a spotting scope?”
Nick helped Rachel out of her pack, and unloaded the three small cases he had put into it. He opened the larger of the cases and removed the spotting scope.
“This is a Leupold Mark 4 spotting scope.” Nick spent the next few minutes explaining the basics of using it, refraining from burying his audience in details.
Nick gave Jean the smaller, but very powerful, digital range-finding binoculars he had brought along, schooling her on how to use them and estimate distances. Next, Nick unpacked his M107 Barrett.50-caliber long range rifle with special silencer for noise suppression, setting it up firmly in the packed ground at their feet. He then steadied the spotting scope on its tripod near him and handed Rachel yet another digital tool.
“This is a Kestrel 4500 wind and weather meter. If the wind whips up a little in about an hour, you’ll see the differences it makes in a 1500 meter shot without correction. It also reads wind direction, temperature, relative humidity, altitude, and a bunch more items you’ll get used to checking,” Nick explained. Both Rachel and Jean were listening raptly to him while glancing at the sniper rifle with a mixture of excitement and fear. “I have six four-inch-thick cast iron plates anchored at various spots against the rock wall over there. See if you two can find them through your scope and binoculars.”
Once Nick showed Rachel and Jean how to make minuscule movements, in scanning for targets within invisible quadrants, they were able to pinpoint each of the plates within minutes. Nick took three earmuff type protectors out of his pack and helped Rachel and Jean put theirs on. He also handed out safety glasses.
“My silencer here will reduce the noise so it won’t bother Deke at all. The ear covers are for safety. I’ll hit the plate all the way on the left first. The spot in the middle, gouged out the most by prior shots, is my target. I’ll hit the target first and then the dirt near it. Try and gauge how far off my miss is. Tell me when you have the target in sight. Don’t look away from the target. You will hear the discharge and a moment later see the hit.”
Nick donned his vest with shoulder pad and made ready to fire. Rachel and Jean told him they had the target in sight. Nick fired. The plate jolted from the concussion. Nick had hit the plate inside the already gouged middle. He shot a second time and dust kicked up near the plate.
“You hit two feet to the right, and three inches below center,” Rachel said.
“Very good.” Nick was impressed with Rachel’s concentration in spotting the missed hit amidst the dirt explosion. “How’d it look to you Jean?”
“I saw a lot of dirt fly. I think I blinked.”
Nick laughed. “It happens.” He noted that Deke had taken up a position next to him in spite of the sudden sound. “The barrel heats with every shot and accuracy diminishes slightly. You two take turns spotting and calling out the target you want hit. I’ll fire at your choice. Keep glancing down at the wind and weather meter Rachel so we can track gradual changes over the next half hour.”
After completing all he had planned for the day, Nick packed up his gear, and passed out cold water and trail mix. Deke received a small plastic bowl of water and some food Nick had packed in a baggy. When they were ready to begin hiking back to the Escalade, Nick showed them the digital compass built into the Kestrel 4500. He also pulled out his plain plastic Sunto compass, going over the differences.
“We’ll map our way out here day after tomorrow using a terrain map,” Nick added, fending off Deke, as the dog snapped at the loose pack straps waving around as Nick moved. “I think we made a good start today.”
“I hope we have some kids in the neighborhood,” Jean said. “I’m getting tired of hanging out with you two. This Terminator stuff’s pretty cool, but it’s hard work.”
“Maybe you’ll meet some locals at the waterslides. I never paid much attention to the neighbors around my place so I’m not sure if they have kids or not. As the good Terminator, I’m hurt you no longer wish to hang out with me.”
“Don’t worry, Mom’ll help you over the rough spots.”
“Jean!”
Chapter Eight
“This is wonderful.” Rachel gestured at the inside of the cabana, featuring plasma television, refrigerator, and ceiling fan. “Thanks for the wardrobe, you pervert.”