As you probably know, I was living in this place below the equator for a fair amount of time. It was supposed to be for a total of two years; exactly 730 days on the dig site.
Some of the archaeologists at the airport that day were telling my boss and I that they wished we could be on the dig site longer. They wanted to excavate certain bones or whatever that would require that they dig a certain depth.
"You'll get everything you need and more while you're there," my boss said. "Trust me. Two years will be more than enough in that jungle."
"What's it like in the jungle?" one archaeologist asked. He was clearly right out of college. I snickered when he said this. How could he not have considered the inhospitable conditions we'd be working in before he accepted the job on this dig?
"Well, we will set up camp in the middle of the deepest part of the rainforest. So it will obviously be very hot. And rainy. I hope you're all prepared to possibly re-do some of your hard work at times because it all got flooded out. How many of you have been there before?" The boss asked us. No one raised their hands except he himself.
"It's no picnic in the jungle in that place below the equator. It's on an island, too. You might be able to visit the beaches on your days off, if you have time.
"Are there any survival manuals on how to survive in those jungles yet?" I asked the boss. It was the first word I'd said since I got there.
"Oh, I apologize; I seem to have forgotten my manners. This is our guard, Sabrina Moran. And no, Sabrina, not yet. But if you'd like to write one or two, I'll sponsor you a few days living off the land."
"Thanks, boss."
"Now that we're talking about environmental dangers, I should probably tell you what you'll probably be getting into. This environment is not only hostile in terms of weather and geology, but it's got animals, too."
"Wait, what?!" I asked, raising my hand. "What kind? You didn't mention that during the interview?"
"Oh, I thought you'd know! Well, I know they've got apes, elephants, rhinoceroses, lizards, foxes..."
"Anything dangerous?"
"Well, they've got crocodiles and tigers, but I don't think you'll need to worry about those."
I began to pick my jaw up off the floor. Now, how the hell did I get signed up for this expedition again?
"I got you a gift, Moran. Close your eyes and hold out your arms," my boss said.
"I have to?" I asked, not wanting to leave myself unguarded even for a second. He laughed as I did as I was told.
"Just don't drop it," he said, smiling, as I began to feel it. Gun. Rifle. Has bullets in it, I began to think. I took the top off the long black box and saw a long, dark, metal weapon. It was a very futuristic-looking rifle-like gun, but I still had no idea what it was.
All I knew was that I'd never have been able to get my hands on a specimen like that unless it was gifted to me. I wondered what it costed. That little annoying voice in the back of my head told me. One-thousand dollars.
Holy shit, would that be deducted from my pay?
"What is it?" I asked in awe, staring at the long silver barrel on the machine. "This isn't a weird-looking machine gun, is it? In the shape of a rifle? No..."
"It's not. It's an air rifle, a Blackhawk Elite Stealth Sniper. Armed with this, you'll be able to kill most anything. Now for those crocodiles and tigers you were worried about..."
YOU ARE READING
Consulting Sniper (Moran's Story)
Hayran KurguA companion fic to The Autobiography of Mycroft Holmes. Not really a sequel since you don't need to have read the first book to understand this, but does reference events and people from the first book that will be explained. Ties in also with "Holm...
