This Little War Of Mine

Six - The Reunion

"It was eh.. difficult, the move." Josef put his cigarette out on the wall and paced around his room. "Have a seat, Dimitri."

Dimitri took a seat on one of the chairs and leaned back. "Where were you moved?"

"Sniper division." Josef shot back. "Best shot in the unit.." he nodded over to his Dragunov sitting in a locked gun case.

"My only friend in that division, was Mesut. He was from Turkey.. I told him... everything.."

***

"When I was a boy, my parents were taken by the KGB. They were from the Ukraine, and often spoke of there as their homeland. One of the neighbours must have denounced them, I do not know who. I was seven years old when they threw me into an orphanage."

My hands were shaking, and Mesut put his hand on my shoulder to comfort me.

"When I was nine, I was adopted. My foster parents were cruel people. They beat me whenever I spoke, told me I did not have the right as I was a foreigner."

"Josef, you do not have to continue, if you don't want to." Mesut kept his voice down, as to not alarm me.

"Nyet, it is okay. I need to tell someone." I took a deep breath. "As I aged, I started to talk back, but that only made my beatings worse. When I turned eleven, I ran off, and a boy named Sergei took me in. His parents treated me like one of their own."

***

"Mesut! Come, my friend. Set up over there. Take out the infantry further into the outpost. I'll take the snipers in the towers."

We lay on the sand in our ghillie suits, sniper rifles set up and facing the outpost. While the troops on the ground did all the dirty work, us snipers sat back and picked off the stragglers, and the ones that were difficult to get to from the ground.

"Supressors needed?" Mesut asked.

"Nyet." I replied. "The one on the radio is mine."

I zoomed in and zeroed in on the soldier firing on the ground troops. He would stop firing every so often to talk into a radio. I took a deep breath and held it, then squeezed the trigger. The soldier dropped and ragdolled over the the small fence surrounding the guard post.

"Nice shot, Josef. Now it's my turn. I take left, you take right."

I zeroed in on my target again, and fired just after his man had dropped. Suddenly, an officer burst out of the main building and started barking orders at his men.

"Five bucks if you shoot his fancy hat off, eh?" Mesut joked.

"You're on." The officer stopped and talked with one of the soldiers. I held his breath, and fired. The officer's hat flew into the air behind him, and Josef and Mesut laughed. "I think you owe me money, da?"

***

Josef chuckled to himself. "Those were.. good times, eh."

"So.. why are you not still out there?" Dimitri asked.

"Because I! I.. hah.. I was kicked out. That fucking Luitenant Zhao! Bastard just.. pushed me to the edge. Told me I was worthless! That I did not deserve to be here!" Josef's temper began to flare, but he took a moment to calm down. "When he mentioned my parents..that is when I snapped. I gave that svin'ya what was coming to him."

"Josef, it is okay. Look, a group of men came through The Gap and raided Petrov's bar. The man who organised the raid was Arvo Nevsky. Captain. Nevsky. If you wish to take that anger out and put it to good use, then you will help us out."