by Scott Blade
“Narcotics?”
She nodded.
“Just different types of enhancers and things to keep them in a trancelike state. Over the years they tried everything on them to see what worked to make them better shooters and what didn’t.”
Widow said, “That’s why they were there that night.”
She nodded.
“We weren’t running from patrolling guards. They’re basically incompetent. We were running that night from the Rainmakers.”
Widow nodded, felt good about punching Tiller, twice. Felt bad he hadn’t done more.
“Tiller wanted my father for what he knew about the program. He probably wanted to recreate it. Or whatever.”
Lu looked out the window. Widow noticed and stared out with him, saw whiteness in the distance.
Lin said, “After my father was killed, the whole program went to shit. The North Korean leader expelled the program and jailed the remaining Rainmakers.”
“Jailed them?”
She nodded.
Widow felt the jet, felt a short burst of turbulence.
“Where are we going?”
Lin said, “Sorry about the jet and surprising you and not speaking up earlier. I didn’t know you were you until last night. I swear.”
“Where are we going?” he asked again.
Cassidy said, “Let her finish.”
“Sorry,” he said, “It’s my head. It hurts. Making me impatient.”
Lin nodded and looked at Lu.
“Get him something for that.”
Lu nodded and got up and went to the service area in the front.
Lin continued, “After my father was killed, the Rainmaker program went to shit. The leader of North Korea jailed the Rainmakers. He saw them as a failure and he didn’t want them roaming free. They all went to prison. And then several of them got out later.”
She paused a beat and said, “We’ve killed them all…All but one.”
“The one we’re facing now?”
She nodded.
“The Chinese government is okay with you hunting them down like this?”
“We have an arrangement.”
He didn’t ask.
Lu came back with two pills in his hand and a bottle of water in the other.
Widow eyeballed them.
“They’re good,” Lu said.
Widow nodded and took them, swallowed them, with the water. He drank nearly the whole bottle, fast.
“The one we’re after, what’s he doing?”
“He was let out of prison after the current leader’s father died. The son didn’t know who he was or why he was imprisoned. He was let out as some kind of new start. Like a reboot.”
Widow nodded and asked, “If he’s the last, who was the second shooter?”
“An accomplice. Maybe a trainee.”
Widow nodded.
“That one wasn’t as good as him.”
Lin said, “The Rainmaker is old now.”
“Was he there that night?”
“Oh yeah. They all were. That’s how they got so many shots on us. But I don’t know which killed my father.
“I don’t have a name for him. Not even sure they gave him one. But now he’s out. He escaped North Korea and he’s setting up shop. He’s made a target list to demonstrate his skill.”
“Who’s on the list?” Widow asked.
“The top five snipers alive.”
Widow drank the rest of the water bottle and crushed the remains, stuffed it into a cup holder.
“He’s already murdered four.”
Widow stared at her.
“He has?”
“Yes. He started with the fifth, a Russian, and has been flying around the world killing the others. Climbing the ladder to the top spot.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Lin shrugged and said, “That’s not surprising. Why would you?”
Widow shrugged.
“So where are we going?”
“We’re flying to a remote town called Doberman Lake.”
“Where is that?”
“It’s smack in the middle of Quebec.”
“Canada?” Widow asked.
“Yes.”
“What for?”
“The Rainmaker will go after the last sniper on his list.”
“You know who he is?”
Lin nodded.
“We know where he lives. After the Canadian sniper shot the world record, he retired from the Canadian Army.”
“Thought he still worked for them?”
She shook her head.
“They just say that to have a reason to keep his name anonymous. He lives outside of the Doberman.”
“Is it cold there?”
She nodded and said, “Don’t worry. We have extra winter coats. You both will get one.”
Lin smiled.
Cassidy said, “We should call the Canadian police. We should warn them.”
“The Rainmaker is already on his way. We know he’s done in the UK. The police won’t help. What can they do?”
“They can go to the last sniper on the list. Warn him. They can give him protection.”
She shook her head.
“We can’t allow that. It’ll tip off the Rainmaker. We have to set a trap for him. It’s the only way.”
Widow nodded, said, “She’s right. We gotta catch him. An ambush is the only way.”
Lin nodded.
Widow asked, “How do you know he’s not already there?”
“He’s not going to get there faster than us. We have a private jet and funding from the Chinese government. He’s pretty much on his own.”
“He’s got funding. The rifles in Ireland, they’re expensive.”
Cassidy said, “Plus, the flying around the world. And lodging. And the passports he’s using. They’ve gotta be fake and expensive too?”
“He’s self-funded.”
“You sure?” Cassidy asked.
“We’re pretty sure. He stole the money.”
“From where?”
“Here and there.”
Silence.
Widow said, “When do you expect he’ll show?”
“Probably a couple of days. We have to convince the Canadian to stay put with us. Till he shows.”
“How are we going to do that?”
She looked at Lu and said, “We have ways.”
Widow nodded. She was the little girl he thought had died. But she grew up to be a spook, not like Tiller, but not unlike him either.
They were all quiet for a moment and Lin asked, “Want coffee?”
He looked at her.
“I’d love coffee.”
“I knew you would.”
“How did you know that?”
She got up, started on her way down the aisle to fetch him a coffee. She stopped and turned and said, “I read it in your file.”
And she smiled.
CHAPTER 42
THE AIRPORT IN DOBERMAN had to be one of the smallest airports that Widow had ever seen in his life. It was a one-building, one-floor, one-runway thing, covered in snow, with no visible signs of what most airports call a tower.
They had plowed the runway so it was the only thing around, besides the roads, without white snow covering it. The good news was it made the runway stick out visibly from the air.
As the Gulfstream jet came to a landing, Widow saw roads headed away in great, unobstructed distances. The roads were the same plowed dirt.
Along the runway was a long, chain-link fence. Snow hung off it.
He wondered how deep he would have to plunge a leg into the snow before he hit ground.
The airport was painted blue, also making it unmistakable from the sky.
Widow knew better than to ask about flying with the Chinese MSS over international airspace and landing in a remote airport in Canada. They had made their arrangements prior to reporting the flightpath.
But Cassidy was curious and she asked Wai Lin, who gave her an
answer repeated from earlier. She said, “We have our ways.”
They landed the jet and parked it and the pilots came out and joined them at baggage claim, which was a single carousel that didn’t turn.
Lu and the pilots carried the luggage and Widow and Cassidy followed Lin, who checked in with a guy who looked like part airport manager and part local sheriff or whatever Canada had in rural areas as their law enforcement. Widow wasn’t sure. Was it the Mounties? Or did they have constables?”
Walking into the airport, he realized that he felt much better than he had when they were in the air. But then he realized he felt a little too good. He wondered what Lin had given him.
Cassidy must’ve anticipated his grogginess. She offered to help him stand straight and walk. Truthfully, he wasn’t so bad that he needed to be helped to walk, but he didn’t tell her. No reason to keep a beautiful Irish cop from standing close to him, like the night before, walking in the rain.
He felt her next to him. She was warm and stronger than she looked.
They walked to the front of the airport and stayed in departures, which was the same as arrivals.
Cassidy finally spoke to him without anyone else around.
“What do you think?”
“About what?”
“Them? That story she told? Is that true?”
“It’s true. I was there.”
“What’s the rest of it?”
“I’ll tell you some other time.”
“Seriously? I gotta wait?”
“It’s not the time. It’s a long story. Let’s just say it was a mission that went bad. A military op. I watched this sniper and his ilk kill her whole family.”
“You actually did leave her for dead?”
“I didn’t know she was alive. And I’m not the one who left her. Tiller ordered it.”
Cassidy nodded.
“Anyway, this guy killed my teammate in the process. He’s killed your partner. And he killed her family. I say we’re due for some payback.”
“What about this other sniper in Canada?”
“What about him?”
“He’s moved all the way out here. The middle of nowhere. How is he going to feel about a Chinese spy and Irish flatfoot and homeless man showing up at his door?”
Widow said, “He’s a guy like me. He’s military. He’ll understand. Believe me.”
She shrugged.
“Besides, what choice do we have? We’re here. Lin seems to know what she’s doing.”
Lin walked up behind them. She rattled a set of keys in front of them.
“We have wheels. Let’s go.”
They went out to the parking lot and followed Lin to a row of trucks that were identical, just different colors. They were all Ford Explorers about ten years old, but all tough looking. Weather-tested.
They followed Lin, who hopped in the driver seat. Lu got in next to her. The rest piled in the back. The pilots sat in a third row of seats. Turned out they weren’t just pilots. They were part of Lin’s team.
Widow saw them take out Type 05 submachine guns. They’re used by Chinese military all over the world. Their version of MP5s.
They had two of them. They locked and loaded them. Then they pulled out two more and did the same. One magazine each. Each ready for use.
They rested the guns back in a black duffle bag.
Widow looked forward over Lin’s shoulder.
He said, “You guys got a lot of hardware.”
Lu said, “A precaution. We might need it.”
“Got any sniper rifles?”
“What for?”
“The Rainmaker and his whatever, student, aren’t going to be in range of some submachine guns.”
Lin said, “If we go up against them with sniper rifles, we’ll all be dead in minutes. You know that.”
Widow stayed quiet.
Lu said, “It’s be like fighting the Jedi with laser swords. I am not good with a laser sword.”
Widow stared at him.
“Why fight a Jedi on his own terms?” Lu said.
Widow nodded. It made sense.
CHAPTER 43
THE HOUSE OF THE CANADIAN SNIPER was like Lin had said. It was north of the middle of nowhere. They drove for only about fifteen minutes to get there, but they covered twenty-plus kilometers because the roads were straight and plowed well enough and the land was flat and there were no other vehicles in sight. No speed limit signs posted. No police. Nothing.
Lin slowed the Explorer as she approached a solitary home. She spoke to Lu in Chinese. He listened and looked down at his cellphone.
A GPS map, Widow thought.
Lu spoke English.
“This is it.”
They drove up a snowy drive, unplowed, and uninviting.
Widow knew that they could be seen from the house.
The house was less than a hundred yards down a drive and was on a lake. Which would’ve made for a very serene home for someone, except the lake was completely frozen over. There were signs posted along the track, warning people not to try and walk on the ice.
Widow looked out over the lake and said, “Thin ice.”
Cassidy squeezed his arm, her tiny hand over his good bicep. He realized that she had never let go of it. Not since they left the airport.
She leaned in and whispered in his ear. Another intimate breath on his neck and skin.
“I’m having second thoughts about this.”
He looked at her, didn’t whisper.
“I am too.”
They saw no one on the drive.
The house was a brick colonial, painted white. It blended into the snowy terrain. Widow saw plumes of smoke coming out of one of two fireplaces. They stood tall and grand, constructed with thick brick.
“Nice house,” Lu said, and he made a whistle at the end of it.
“One day, maybe you’ll get one too,” Lin said.
“It looks like something out of a novel,” Cassidy said.
“Looks like it’s owned by a novelist,” Lin said back to her.
Widow stayed quiet.
He found himself checking the windows, checking the rooftop, checking the snowy knolls to the sides of the house. He looked at everything that was good sniper cover.
Once they got past fifty yards, he relaxed. If this Canadian sniper wanted to shoot them, he could’ve done it long ago.
They ended the drive and parked on the lake side. No telling what was meant to be driveway and what was yard because everything was snow.
The house had a couple of huge trees in the front yard, still asleep from winter. No leaves, but there was a tire swing, hung from a rope so thick it looked like it came off the anchor of an oil tanker.
No one else seemed to notice it.
There was a truck parked out front. Big, heavy, with big snow tires.
There was a big porch with a swing on it.
They pulled to a stop and Lin parked and turned off the engine.
She turned to Widow and Cassidy and said, “You guys should go up first.”
“Why us?” Cassidy asked.
Lin looked at Widow.
He said, “Because we’re white.”
Cassidy said nothing.
Widow said, “Four Chinese people who look like government agents, no offense, will cause them some alarm.”
“I think they’re already alarmed,” Cassidy said and she pointed at the porch.
Widow heard a pair of dogs barking and saw two huge snow dogs running off the porch and to the Explorer. They were huge. Widow didn’t know the breed, but they were not Huskies.
Lin said, “Go ahead. Charm them.”
Widow smiled.
Then a voice from the porch called out the names of the dogs.
And they went running back.
A man stepped out and let them back into the house. Widow saw someone else shut the door.
The man was about late thirties. He had a good build, athletic, but not a big guy. He had a full beard,
the kind that seemed to be popular with young guys nowadays, Widow thought. He had seen it a lot traveling across North America.
The man walked off the porch, but stayed far enough back from the Explorer. He held a pump shotgun.
“Hello. Who are you?” he called out in a Canadian accent. Not too heavy, but obvious.
“Widow,” Lin said.
He got out and walked around the Explorer to greet the man.
“Hello,” he said, his hands offered up like he was surrendering.
“Hello,” the man said back.
Canadians. Even with gun in hand, they were polite. Widow smiled.
“Hello,” Widow repeated.
“Are you lost?”
“No. We’re looking for someone.”
“You are? Who?”
“Well, you actually.”
“Me? What for?”
“It’s kind of complicated.”
“Complicated?”
Widow saw a window on the first floor, not far from the front door, slide up and open. There stood a figure behind it, in the shadows.
“Yeah. It’s not a shotgun-in-hand, standing-out-here kind of story.”
The man pumped the shotgun, the international signal for make it short.
“What kind of story would six strangers drive all the way out here to tell?”
Widow glanced back over his shoulder at Cassidy, then back at the man.
“It’s the kind of story that six strangers would fly around the world and drive all the way out here, just to tell.”
The man was silent.
“Look, we’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to save you.”
“Save me?” the man said and looked around, endless blue sky, the limitless blankets of white, and the nothing else in sight.
“Yes.”
“From what?”
“A man who wants to kill you.”
The man was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Widow said, “Three thousand, eight hundred seventy-one yards.”
The man was quiet for a beat. He stared at Widow.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That’s the world record for longest sniper confirmed kill.”
The man said nothing.
Widow said, “That’s your record.”
The man was completely still, completely silent. Widow saw into his eyes and realized he wasn’t going to shot him. He realized this man has never killed anyone in his life. He felt confused.
