Chapter 2
General Hayes’s Office
General Morrison burst into General Hayes’s office. “What in the blazes have you done? This new sniper team has a woman on it! What are you thinking?” I rarely lose my temper, but this is unforgivable.
General Hayes’s eyes focused steady on Morrison. “I don’t want to hear your complaints. If you don’t like it, go talk to General Knight.”
“Don’t give me that,” Morrison said. “We’re going to settle this matter here and now. I’ll say it again, what are you thinking?”
“Okay, if you really want to know, there’s a new mission in South America. It involves a drug lord. We don’t want to kill him. We just want to rein him in. He’s shipping lots of hard drugs to the United States and our youth are literally dying because of him. So, we are going to kill his second-in-command, and we are going to do it while they are standing side by side. That way he’ll know we could kill him any time we want. Then he’ll get the message, and stop shipping drugs to the United States.”
“But—well—is this authorized?”
“Look, you know how these things go. There’s no paperwork that’s going to provide a trail back to us,” Hayes said. “The two snipers are the only ones in real danger, and only if they get caught. That’s why we formed this new team. They are new and young. They know this is a dangerous mission, but they have no idea how dangerous it really is. On the other hand, we need to do everything we can to help them succeed. So we took the valedictorian from the last West Point class, Lt. Jill Jacobson. Then we looked around and found the best sniper in the Army, and that’s Sgt. Jack Savage. Together they are the best of the best, and hopefully that magic recipe will not only accomplish the mission, but will also bring them back alive.”
“But, she’s a woman,” Morrison said. “I mean—well . . . you know what I mean.”
“She’s going on the mission.”
“Why?”
“Because she has to.”
“But why?”
“All right, if you really have to know, here’s the whole story. First, these missions don’t always go as planned. So we always plan on some sort of redundancy in case of a problem. In this case Sergeant Savage is the best sniper in the Army, but there is always the remote possibility that he could get injured, or possibly . . .”
“Killed?”
“Yes. If that happens we need the best back-up plan possible.”
“Just how is sending a woman is the best back-up plan?” Morrison asked.
“She’s the best shot of all the Army officers.”
General Morrison leaned forward and put both hands on the edge of the desk. “You want me to believe that with all the officers in the Army, we can’t find one that is a better shot than a woman? Do I look like an idiot?”
“If her father was still on active duty I would send him, but he’s retired.”
“Her father? Who is her father?”
“Shooter.”
“Shooter’s her father?”
“Yes. Now do you understand why she is such a good shot?”
“I know he had a daughter, I didn’t know her name. I guess all those father-daughter hunting trips that he talked about finally rubbed off on her.”
“There is one more thing you should know, Morrison. This is the Nineties, and the Army is looking for ways to promote women serving in the military. A woman on a sniper team will be great publicity. She’s young, attractive, smart, and gung ho. After she has a few kills under her belt, she’ll be transitioned to a high visibility position where she can be a poster girl for the Army.”
General Morrison slowly sat in the large leather chair in front of General Hayes’s desk. He intertwined his fingers and rested his hands on his sizable stomach that tugged at the buttons of his uniform. “Hmm, I see. If Savage and Jacobson succeed, we get a pat on the back, and maybe a promotion. If they fail, nobody knows we were involved. Then the parents receive a condolence letter stating their death occurred during a training mission.”
General Hayes smiled. “Thank you for understanding. I expect your full support.”
Morrison gazed at the ceiling as he pondered the situation, then he looked straight into Hayes’s eyes. “I understand the logic of what you did, but really, shouldn’t you have used a more traditional approach? After all, we’re talking about the possibility of a woman being captured, tortured, and maybe even killed. That will be a bad situation. And if word leaks out it will be bad for the Army, and even worse for us. Besides that, I will never be able to look Shooter in the eye again.”
“I don’t care what other people think,” Hayes growled. “I didn’t get this position by thinking like everyone else. And I really do think that this mission has a good chance of success. I read the files on both soldiers. They are perfect for this mission, and they are perfect for each other. Their skills and personalities will complement each other. I know it will be difficult for them at first, but when Savage gets comfortable with a woman leading the mission, everything will go smoothly.”
Morrison shrugged. “One more question: why not kill the drug lord instead of his brother?”
“The drug lord has connections to the Colombian government, and so the CIA considers him a potential asset. After he gets over the death of his brother, they think he will be scared for his own life and open to helping us influence the Colombian government officials.”
Morrison took a deep breath and pondered again. “Hmm, you think the mission has a good chance of success. Are you willing to wager a bet?”
“Certainly.”
“And the prize?”
“Same as always,” said Hayes.
“A steak dinner?”
“Yep.”
Morrison tilted his head back against the leather chair as he thought about what he had just done. He sat in silence and realized he just wagered a steak dinner against the lives of two young soldiers, one of which was a female, and the daughter of a friend. I never thought I would ever say this, but I hope I don’t win this bet with General Hayes.