Bush Snipers. Greg Pius

Not even defeated by such a blatant display of a total lack of self confidence from her sister Hera said in a mock tone of resignation,

      "Then we will have to go back to the city leaving Dad to fend for himself."

       Hannah knew when her big sister had outsmarted her with that rat cunning she seemed to possess. So she reluctantly assented to Hera's plan,

       "Okay Hera as usual you win. But you'll regret putting me in charge of such a big family business."

       Knowing better than to crow in public, she would save that for later, Hera said in a confident tone of voice,

      " My plan of action will have this hospital and those lazy nurses at peak efficiency or my name is not Hera Ermentine Feelgood. No make that Head Nurse Feelgood, no need to give junior nurses any edge in mind games."

       Any further debate was forestalled when Doctor Ruffe came back to declare,

       "Your daughter is out of danger. You can all see her now."

       Three smiling, happy women raced into the intensive care ward.

       In the surprisingly suddenly vacant emergency room, poor Doctor Ruffe fretted about how he could convince Nurse Feelgood to help him cope with ever pressing loads of medical demands. He had no idea that Hera had already decided to help make that base hospital the best country hospital in Australia.

      Summer entrapments

       In the heat of summer the sun can kill anyone without water. Many of the Australian native bush fauna are deadly! But the deadliest animal in Australia is the human hunter. Lieutenant Doras was a trained killer. She could use her sniper rifle like few others in the Australian Army. As the convoy of trucks approached her position, Doras took deadly aim at the first truck. One shot was enough to kill the driver. Now her team members started firing. All the trucks were peppered with bullets. Doras killed five drivers. Her team of commando snipers also killed convoy guards, UN observers, anyone at all in that convoy. No witnesses were to be allowed to live to later tell of what actually happened. Only the last three trucks had any shelter from the carnage. That was what Doras had planned. She wanted the cargo in those trucks intact and undamaged. But this also gave three truck drivers a chance to escape. They fled their trucks and ran back the way they had come. Not that this concerned Doras one bit. She had placed two of her best team members to intercept and kill any survivors. The escaping drivers were racing into certain death.

       What Doras had not planned on was the presence of Cain Flint. Shakata had sent Flint out to shadow the convoy into the camp. Other convoys had been held up by opportunistic thieves. In every refugee camp these opportunists hid just waiting for just such an opportunity. Shakata had sent Flint out to discourage any looting. But Flint had known something was wrong from the moment he entered the glade outside the camp. Like with the refugee convoy he had escorted from the city there was no bird sounds. That was just before it was attacked from an ambush. Flint was a country boy used to seeing wildlife everywhere in the bush. Today he saw nothing but rats and insects. This meant that big predators were nearby. When Flint found no tracks he knew at once which predator had scared away the animals. So he used his stealth skills to locate there hideout. Almost stumbling on the first commando, Flint quickly took a wide berth. Over time he located signs of as many as eight commandos. Now Flint knew it was a government ambush.

       With no time to call up reinforcements, Flint found some high ground. His brief from Shakata was to protect the cargo in the last three trucks. They were not to be looted by anyone. If that meant destroying the trucks, then Shakata told Flint to do just that. When Flint asked why, Shakata told him that those trucks carried weapons and ammunition vital to the rebel cause.

       Flint saw the ambush unfold. He watched impassively as all the convoy people were killed. When the last three drivers ran away, Flint just knew they would also be killed. After all that is what he would have arranged. But the last three trucks were undamaged. Flint saw a woman in black jungle dress walking towards the trucks. He had to act fast! So he used his sniper rifle to puncture the petrol tanks casings of all three trucks. Flint's shots sent the government commandos back into cover. Flint was able to crawl to the nearest truck and set fire to the dry bush scrub. The wind did the rest. A bush fire in summer travels fast! The flames engulfed the first truck, then the next one and finally the last truck. Having done all he could, Flint used the fire as cover to make his escape back to the camp.

       As he was leaving Flint thought someone had screamed out his name. Convinced he had imagined it, Flint hurried towards safety.

       Back at the ambush site the commandos tried to save as much of the cargo as possible. The bush fire was out of control and they were fighting a losing battle. Soon Lieutenant Doras called out,

       "Leave it. We don't have the time or the fire fighting equipment. We have to get out of here before the UN helicopters arrive to inspect the damage. Everyone move out. Meet back at our army base north of the city."

       Her second- in -charge came up to congratulate this dangerous woman,

       "Well done lieutenant. Pity about the fire but accidents will happen."

       Doras was not in the mood to be placated. She yelled back at him,

       "Accident? That was no accident. I saw Cain Flint just as well as I see you now. He started that fire. Can't you smell the petrol? And to think he must have been here all the time we were shooting those people. I could have had my revenge. Its just not fair!"

       Thinking his team leader was just stressed out, the second in charge remained silent. However he knew that there would be a mission enquiry, so he put his thoughts into words,

       "We were told to stop the convoy and we did. Our orders were no witnesses to be left alive and they are all dead. Mission accomplished."'

       Doras did not respond. Her brain was elsewhere. She had understood that if she had really seen Flint then he must have come from the refugee camp. She now thought that she had found out exactly where Flint was hiding. This was all Doras needed to know to finally get her revenge. She would get Champion to visit that camp pretending it was a surprise security check. Doras planned to go along as his sniper cover. Only she intended to kill Flint not save Champion's life. If Champion died in the crossfire with Flint so be it. In her overactive imagination Doras could even feel that moment when her bullet burst into Flint's body. She walked back to their transport vehicle smiling an evil smile. Seeing this smile, her second in command felt pity for whomsoever his team leader was focusing on. Having been on many black ops with Doras, he found that every time she smiled like that someone died a horrible death.

      

       .