Gods & Snipers by David Healey

Author:David Healey [Healey, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780967416205
Publisher: Intracoastal
Published: 2019-07-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

"Sniper!" someone shouted.

The warning wasn't really needed, considering that the crack of the rifle shot from beyond the village spoke for itself.

One of the men from Captain Norton’s squad was down in the square, a pool of blood already spreading out from beneath him. The man had died instantly. Cole scrambled for the fountain, Vaccaro close on his heels. A third man pressed himself against the stone, panting for breath. Cole was surprised to see that it was the general.

"You reckon this is the start of another attack?" Vaccaro wondered.

"No, they'll need time to regroup," Tolliver said. He added with a bitter note, "The Jerries are just doing this to harass us."

Cole said nothing, but watched the surrounding hills with his pale eyes.

Another shot rang out. A woman screamed, and Cole turned in time to see a puff of stone dust drifting away from the wall of a house. Margot had been carrying a pile of clean sheets and towels for the makeshift aid station that had been set up in her house. Margot stood there as if pinned to the wall, her eyes wide with terror.

"Someone get her indoors!" Tolliver shouted.

No sooner had the words had even left his mouth, then Frenchie came running out of the house, grabbed Margot by the arm, and pulled her inside. A couple of towels fell off the pile she'd been carrying and fluttered to the pavement.

Another bullet smacked into the stone where she had stood only an instant before.

Cole turned back to the woods. Low hills rose just beyond the village, which sat in a kind of hollow bowl beside the river. All that the sniper would have to do is get up in those hills, into one of those trees, and he could pick off the defenders.

Which was just what he was doing.

The problem was that it was almost impossible to determine where the shots originated. Cole couldn't see the muzzle flash—the day was gloomy, but not gloomy enough. The noise of the rifle echoed and bounced off the low hills, giving no indication of where the sniper was hidden.

As Cole's eyes searched and his ears strained for any clue, the sniper fired again. Someone screamed from one of the houses. The screaming went on and on, and he could envision someone standing over a dead body in horror. Someone must have been peeking out a window, and the German noticed. That sniper was good; he'd give him that much. But in rankled Cole that he was shooting at civilians.

Cole fired the rifle at the hills. He didn't even have a target. He ducked down, and an instant later a bullet smacked into the fountain. The sound of the rifle shot rolled and echoed toward them.

"What the hell?" Vaccaro said. "He knows we're here now."

"Now that we got his attention, he's not going to shoot at the people in town."

The general spoke up. "This is your department, son. We can't let a sniper pin us down until the next attack. We need to prepare.

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