Night Of The Hunter

Mission.

Now

Stationing the sniper rifle on top of a boulder, I flexed my hands, cracking my knuckles that snuggled inside the leather fingerless gloves.

"Target in site. E.T.A, five minutes."

"Roger that." I confirmed into my ear piece in a hushed tone.

Lowering myself down as I positioned into place, my fingers moving up the rifle as I adjusted the settings for an accurate shot.

"I can't believe we are being used as fucking back up."

I rose a brow at the familiar voice from inside my ear.

"I mean.. we're fucking Marines. We know how to do our job. And they send some random chick to be our backup without giving us a reason why?"

My lips curled into a smile hearing Corporal Davis rant, probably unaware I was able to hear it. He had been wary about my presence from the second I stepped foot into the desert yesterday morning for this mission.

"It's not that hard.. How hard can it be to take out a fucking target?"

I rolled my eyes as he continued on with his rant. He had every right to be pissed off. This was his job, and this opportunity to take out a high class enemy of America, and it was being made by a chick with abilities. They sent me here to do a quick job the government needed to be done. They couldn't risk this being a fail, so they sent one of their best to do it. Obviously being me. However, I was on my own mission, a different one to theirs but connected nonetheless.

"You do know I can hear you David, right?" I questioned in amusement, purposely messing up his name for further enjoyment.

The sound of hushed laughter appeared in my ears as the other soldiers with Davis, that was being hidden across the way, heard me.

"It's Davis." He emphasized, his voice seemed clearly annoyed.

"My bad Corporal. Where's the package?"

"Between my legs, sweetheart." He replied back.

A small group of laughter filled my ears and I rolled my eyes. Children. All of them. "Ahh no wonder why I couldn't find it." I retorted.

A bunch of low "ooooh's" filled my ear with some laughter and snickering. Davis began cursing at them before pausing.

"Two minutes, Callahan. Lock and load." He finally replied.

Taking in a deep breath, my eyes landed on the target as the dark beige jeep started to approach. Looking into the scope, viewing the targeted area as my finger lightly petted the trigger, awaiting for the correct time. It seemed like forever as I watched the jeep make its way down the bumpy sand pathway until it suddenly stopped five meters away from the designated spot. If I had to, I would still be able to lock onto the target with the current position.

Using my enhanced eye sight, I watched as the jeep stalled in place. Two people in the front, one in the back.. who was my target.

"What's going on?" I whispered to the Marines, not needing to know but wanted to see what they thought about this.

"Think they got spooked. Hold your position."

I moved my head away from the rifle, adjusting its position towards the jeep. I caught movement of the passenger side door as it opened slightly, a man stepping out with a rifle. He didn't look like he caught the site of the team, to which they were a few feet away. He was paying more attention to the road itself.

"I think they forgot where they put their own IED's."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that comment. It did look like that was what was happening, as the man walked further down the road slowly, inspecting the sand and rocks. My pupil's dilated further to get more of a read on the man's face. His attention was lifting slowly up from the road towards the hills around him, as if he was searching for anything unusual.

"That's Zubari." I confirmed softly. I recognized him from the numerous surveillance photos I was shown before leaving for this mission.

"We have orders to catch him alive." Davis whispered.

"That's not my mission, Marine." I clarified. "You want him, get at it. I'm after Aayan."

"Fine. We're going in now."

"I wouldn't suggest that." I said quickly, eyeing the situation before me. "I'll blow the car for distraction, you grab your package." There was a short pause, a few snorts from the other end of the line. Apparently my 'backup' was a couple of immature soldiers who found sexual innuendoes in everything. Shocker.

"Fine." He confirmed.

I locked onto the car's fuel tank, adjusting the settings quickly. Just when Zubari was about to walk back to the car, I pulled the trigger.

I heard it before I saw it. The loud explosion echoed around us as the noise bounced off the various desert hills, the fire created dark clouds of smoke that began to rise. I looked down at the scene I created with a devious smirk, seeing the car was now flipped over as it was covered in bright hot flames, and alpha team one came out running for their target.

After packing up the sniper rifle, I skipped down the rocky hill I stationed myself in, humming Enter Sandman by Metallica in my head, that randomly popped in my thoughts. My booted feet stepped on various amounts of rocks as I watched the pathway I created, being extra careful not to step on anything suspicious looking and accidentally blow myself up. Oh how ironic that would be.

"Nice shot, Callahan."

I looked up at Davis as he gripped his rifle at easy. Nodding once at his comment, I looked towards the car before walking through the thick cloud of smoke. I had to make sure my job was done. And I saw just that as I looked through the flames to see what I imagined a burning body to look like. The smell seeped in through my nostrils as I went for my phone in my pocket to take a photo for evidence. A crispy burnt blackened chard of bones.

"Morbid much?"

I heard Davis's voice once more making me roll my eyes as I put my phone back into my pocket and turned around on my heels. I looked at him, he had a few inches on me, and about a hundred more pounds. If he annoyed me anymore, I would easily take him out, abilities or not. "Got what you need?" I asked as I walked past him, becoming face to face with Zubari as the Marines forced him to his feet.

"Yep."

***

From helicopter to airplane, My feet finally touched down on New York's concrete once again. To say I wasn't enjoying the hot sandy desert of Iraq was a bit of an understatement, so as soon as I felt that cool breeze of the beginnings of Fall, I sighed in relief to be home again, until my next mission. Whenever that was.

Entering my cooled brownstone home, I dropped my bag in the hallway by the stairs and flicked on the light in the living room. I looked around, making sure everything was where it should be and not a single disturbance was made. I grabbed the remote and hit the on button, dropping the remote on the couch. The news came on, the reporter I constantly made fun of with her nasally voice and fake nose was standing in Central Park.

"Yes John, another body has been found on the west side near the infamous Gapstow Bridge, which is now closed off for investigation - "

I gagged at her voice as I walked into the kitchen. My stomach was grumbling like crazy for some food.

" - looks like the police are connecting this with the other three bodies that have been found this month in different parks in the state. No witnesses have stepped up and the police have no leads."

"Then why the fuck are you reporting this news, asshole?" I yelled at the television as I roamed my barren refrigerator in search for food, only to come up empty, so I settled for a beer.

Kicking off my boots in-between steps as I headed for the couch, I plopped down on it gracefully with a satisfying sigh. I moved the pillow to my liking and grabbed the remote that was digging into my right ass cheek and quickly changed the channel as I took a swig of the cold beer.

I was finally home.