Die for you (Chapter One Part One)
The windswept low across the grass and caused it to swirl and whip around under the force of nature's touch, Fighting against the warm current and stretching out along the ground, he pulled his knee upwards to spread his weight into a more comfortable position against the grass as he gripped the long rifle that he gripped in both hands and eased the weapon across the earthen ground and let it lay lengthways.
Above him, he heard the cry of what he thought was a male bird as it turned his head slightly to look up at the creature as it rose on an updraft and its cry dissipated into the warm midday sun and drifted away in search of whatever it was crying out for and driving it on?
He slid his hand along the length of the rifle and popped open the cap that covered the weapon's telescopic scope. he let it slip from his fingers and the cover dropped down but remained attached to the barrel with a piece of plastic that kept it from falling too far.
he eased himself slightly forward and placed his right eye against the scope and squinted slightly as he did so, his other hand moving to the length of the scope as he began to twist and turn the sights control as he let his vision adjust to the changing image he saw.
Slowly his vision cleared as the sight of the weapon blurred in and out of focus before he found the setting he sought. he adjusted his body once more against the grassy ground, and he felt a slight twinge in the small of his back before he found a position he felt more comfortable in
Above him he could feel the heat of the sun as the temperature was beginning to rise slowly, it was going to be another hot day and he would have to make sure he was prepared for such.
He rolled onto his back and looked skyward, his legs stretched out straight as he squinted at the sun in the sky and had to bring his hand up to cover his eyes to block out the glare that almost blinded him
The sound of another bird could be heard overhead and this pulled his attention from the sunlight as he tried to find the creature with his eyes, another cry came from it and he could tell it sounded quieter but called out to something nonetheless as it flew overhead and seemed to drift away on the wind.
He drew in a deep breath and then exhaled the breath into the air he rolled slowly onto his side and let his weight rest against his hip as it touched the ground for a moment and he could hear the air above him and felt the gentle touch of the wind against his face.
He closed his eyes and let the touch wash over him and listened to the wind and the now distant creature as he tried to heighten his senses having robbed himself of his sight.
With another slow languished movement he as back on his stomach and adjusted his weight across the ground, his knee came back up to aid in the distribution of his body's mass as he made himself comfortable.
He moved his head back to let his eye press against the weapon's scope once more and his hand rested on the scope's dial once more and he had to smile as he recalled his time at sniper school.
The thought of an incident when he and some of his buddies had put boot polish around the eyepieces of the scopes they had been training with, left their British counterparts with perfect black eyes to match their apparent gruff demeanours that they had seemed to master to perfection.
A good bunch of boys, well once you got past that cold aura of professionalism and learned to see the man beneath the soldier's exterior and oh did they know how to drink, he laughed to himself as he recalled comparing their drinking habits to someone who did not want to live and booze was as good a way of going out as any?
With another chuckle he dismissed the thought and turned his focus back to the task at hand, his hand touched the scope once more and he squinted slightly and pressed his eye a little tighter to the sight.
Slowly he worked the dial until he was satisfied it was where he needed it, the action a touch excessive but he had to have it exactly right or he could never escape that feeling of something was just not right.
Once he felt it was in place, he eased the weapon slightly and began to scan the area left to right to complete his mental checklist as he took in his surrounding this time with the aid of his weapon.
The first thing to catch his attention was the grey concrete of the highway and the multitude of vehicles that sped past on its hard surface, he focused his eye line on the level of the cars and trucks and observed the passengers inside.
They were oblivious to the fact that with the simple squeeze of the rifle's trigger, death could reach out at any moment and end any of their lives, it was a sobering thought and he could not help but hear it.
He let the weapon remain in place for a moment or two longer before he began to move it once more, his eye still did not move from where it was pressed against the scope and he took in every motion he saw.
He felt the muscles in his neck strain slightly as he turned his head with the path the rifle took before he brought it back down onto the ground and found a comfortable place for it to rest once more.
He let his head move away from the scope for a second and he rolled his neck in an attempt to ease the tension he felt in it, his shoulders also meant tense, and had to adjust his position once more to ease that pressure he felt.
Once he felt more comfortable he pressed his eye to the scope once more and began to ease the rifle around again as he seemed to search for something new to focus on
Without thinking he let his hand slide down his leg and to the pocket of his combat trousers and he fished inside with his fingers and pulled a small white Mp3 player from it.
his fingers eased the earphones from the tangled mess they had become in his pocket and worked them into a straight line and placed one of the earphones into his left ear and twisted it until it felt comfortable there.
He continued to guide the rifles movements until he found what he sought and eased the weapon back into a resting position once more, his eye now against the scope once more and he looked over the expanse of an office parking lot that seemed to be part of a much larger business park.
He slowly began to track the weapon across the parking lot as he saw multiple groups of people milling around aimlessly either seeming to be going to lunch or coming back from it, lost in their lives and living for the weekend to come and make the day-to-day seem better.
He stopped the movement of the weapon as something came into his view, he could see a security guard walk directly into his line of sight, he centred the scope on the guard and gently eased his finger against the outside of the rifle trigger guard as he fixed the telescopic sight firmly against the middle of the man's head.
He closed his other eye and focused his vision into a tighter focus and took a short calming breath as the target was now firmly in his crosshairs and only a gentle squeeze of the trigger away from oblivion.
He reached up and began to twist the controls of the scope and the image began to zoom out slowly, the action deliberately slow so as not to cause the scope to shift out of focus even for a second.
He could see the man dressed in the cheap uniform of some security company, a patch on the jacket of his left arm, it indicated the name of the business park and he stopped the scope from zooming any further back satisfied he could see all he needed to see.
The man was unarmed and only seemed to carry a radio in a case on his left hip and there appeared to be no connected earpiece to go with it, a simple pick-up-and-use system that mean the man would need to pull it from his belt and bring it to his face if he needed to call for help.
The threat now neutralized in his mind, he moved his hand from the trigger guard and touched the underside of the weapon, and continued to scan the length of the parking lot and easing the scope of the deadly weapon over each person he passed over, the barest of moments taken to assess the shot before he moved on with his search.
The scope finally came to a stop as he reached the entrance to a four-story office building, his fingers once more moving to adjust the scope's magnification as he pulled back further to get a better view of this structure.
above the doors that accessed the lobby was a dark red sign that appeared in the form of some corporate favoured font, the name in some form of neon that would glow in the blackness of night read Meditech Pharmaceuticals.
He eased the sight of the weapon slowly up the length of the building silently counting to himself one two, three four, as passed each new set of windows that indicated the next level of the building.
Stopping for a moment to look beyond the windows at the worker inside as they moved around like worker drones inside and milled back and forth in their pursuit of happiness and the almighty dollar.
He saw he had reached the top of the building and saw the overhang over the roof, he let the weapon ease down slightly and saw the window on the far side of the structure and began to move left to right and silently counted the windows in his head as he did.
He eased past the third window along and then stopped, cursed silently to himself and retraced the path, and was now focused on the 3rd window from the edge he had started at.
His hand adjusted the scope once more as he looked into the empty office space seeking to find something and smiled grimly.
Above him, he heard the cry of what he thought was a male bird as it turned his head slightly to look up at the creature as it rose on an updraft and its cry dissipated into the warm midday sun and drifted away in search of whatever it was crying out for and driving it on?
He slid his hand along the length of the rifle and popped open the cap that covered the weapon's telescopic scope. he let it slip from his fingers and the cover dropped down but remained attached to the barrel with a piece of plastic that kept it from falling too far.
he eased himself slightly forward and placed his right eye against the scope and squinted slightly as he did so, his other hand moving to the length of the scope as he began to twist and turn the sights control as he let his vision adjust to the changing image he saw.
Slowly his vision cleared as the sight of the weapon blurred in and out of focus before he found the setting he sought. he adjusted his body once more against the grassy ground, and he felt a slight twinge in the small of his back before he found a position he felt more comfortable in
Above him he could feel the heat of the sun as the temperature was beginning to rise slowly, it was going to be another hot day and he would have to make sure he was prepared for such.
He rolled onto his back and looked skyward, his legs stretched out straight as he squinted at the sun in the sky and had to bring his hand up to cover his eyes to block out the glare that almost blinded him
The sound of another bird could be heard overhead and this pulled his attention from the sunlight as he tried to find the creature with his eyes, another cry came from it and he could tell it sounded quieter but called out to something nonetheless as it flew overhead and seemed to drift away on the wind.
He drew in a deep breath and then exhaled the breath into the air he rolled slowly onto his side and let his weight rest against his hip as it touched the ground for a moment and he could hear the air above him and felt the gentle touch of the wind against his face.
He closed his eyes and let the touch wash over him and listened to the wind and the now distant creature as he tried to heighten his senses having robbed himself of his sight.
With another slow languished movement he as back on his stomach and adjusted his weight across the ground, his knee came back up to aid in the distribution of his body's mass as he made himself comfortable.
He moved his head back to let his eye press against the weapon's scope once more and his hand rested on the scope's dial once more and he had to smile as he recalled his time at sniper school.
The thought of an incident when he and some of his buddies had put boot polish around the eyepieces of the scopes they had been training with, left their British counterparts with perfect black eyes to match their apparent gruff demeanours that they had seemed to master to perfection.
A good bunch of boys, well once you got past that cold aura of professionalism and learned to see the man beneath the soldier's exterior and oh did they know how to drink, he laughed to himself as he recalled comparing their drinking habits to someone who did not want to live and booze was as good a way of going out as any?
With another chuckle he dismissed the thought and turned his focus back to the task at hand, his hand touched the scope once more and he squinted slightly and pressed his eye a little tighter to the sight.
Slowly he worked the dial until he was satisfied it was where he needed it, the action a touch excessive but he had to have it exactly right or he could never escape that feeling of something was just not right.
Once he felt it was in place, he eased the weapon slightly and began to scan the area left to right to complete his mental checklist as he took in his surrounding this time with the aid of his weapon.
The first thing to catch his attention was the grey concrete of the highway and the multitude of vehicles that sped past on its hard surface, he focused his eye line on the level of the cars and trucks and observed the passengers inside.
They were oblivious to the fact that with the simple squeeze of the rifle's trigger, death could reach out at any moment and end any of their lives, it was a sobering thought and he could not help but hear it.
He let the weapon remain in place for a moment or two longer before he began to move it once more, his eye still did not move from where it was pressed against the scope and he took in every motion he saw.
He felt the muscles in his neck strain slightly as he turned his head with the path the rifle took before he brought it back down onto the ground and found a comfortable place for it to rest once more.
He let his head move away from the scope for a second and he rolled his neck in an attempt to ease the tension he felt in it, his shoulders also meant tense, and had to adjust his position once more to ease that pressure he felt.
Once he felt more comfortable he pressed his eye to the scope once more and began to ease the rifle around again as he seemed to search for something new to focus on
Without thinking he let his hand slide down his leg and to the pocket of his combat trousers and he fished inside with his fingers and pulled a small white Mp3 player from it.
his fingers eased the earphones from the tangled mess they had become in his pocket and worked them into a straight line and placed one of the earphones into his left ear and twisted it until it felt comfortable there.
He continued to guide the rifles movements until he found what he sought and eased the weapon back into a resting position once more, his eye now against the scope once more and he looked over the expanse of an office parking lot that seemed to be part of a much larger business park.
He slowly began to track the weapon across the parking lot as he saw multiple groups of people milling around aimlessly either seeming to be going to lunch or coming back from it, lost in their lives and living for the weekend to come and make the day-to-day seem better.
He stopped the movement of the weapon as something came into his view, he could see a security guard walk directly into his line of sight, he centred the scope on the guard and gently eased his finger against the outside of the rifle trigger guard as he fixed the telescopic sight firmly against the middle of the man's head.
He closed his other eye and focused his vision into a tighter focus and took a short calming breath as the target was now firmly in his crosshairs and only a gentle squeeze of the trigger away from oblivion.
He reached up and began to twist the controls of the scope and the image began to zoom out slowly, the action deliberately slow so as not to cause the scope to shift out of focus even for a second.
He could see the man dressed in the cheap uniform of some security company, a patch on the jacket of his left arm, it indicated the name of the business park and he stopped the scope from zooming any further back satisfied he could see all he needed to see.
The man was unarmed and only seemed to carry a radio in a case on his left hip and there appeared to be no connected earpiece to go with it, a simple pick-up-and-use system that mean the man would need to pull it from his belt and bring it to his face if he needed to call for help.
The threat now neutralized in his mind, he moved his hand from the trigger guard and touched the underside of the weapon, and continued to scan the length of the parking lot and easing the scope of the deadly weapon over each person he passed over, the barest of moments taken to assess the shot before he moved on with his search.
The scope finally came to a stop as he reached the entrance to a four-story office building, his fingers once more moving to adjust the scope's magnification as he pulled back further to get a better view of this structure.
above the doors that accessed the lobby was a dark red sign that appeared in the form of some corporate favoured font, the name in some form of neon that would glow in the blackness of night read Meditech Pharmaceuticals.
He eased the sight of the weapon slowly up the length of the building silently counting to himself one two, three four, as passed each new set of windows that indicated the next level of the building.
Stopping for a moment to look beyond the windows at the worker inside as they moved around like worker drones inside and milled back and forth in their pursuit of happiness and the almighty dollar.
He saw he had reached the top of the building and saw the overhang over the roof, he let the weapon ease down slightly and saw the window on the far side of the structure and began to move left to right and silently counted the windows in his head as he did.
He eased past the third window along and then stopped, cursed silently to himself and retraced the path, and was now focused on the 3rd window from the edge he had started at.
His hand adjusted the scope once more as he looked into the empty office space seeking to find something and smiled grimly.
