Sniper's Justice (Caje Cole Book 9) by David Healey (best classic books txt) 📗

What did he have? Nothing. He and Danny were totally unprepared. Hauer had made sure that he held all the cards. Cole wanted to kick himself for being so stupid.

Cole shook his head. A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature ran through him. This whole time he’d been thinking that the game between him and Hauer, which they were playing to settle old scores, had been to see who could shoot the most deer and boar in these mountains. But maybe that hadn’t been the quarry that Hauer had in mind. Perhaps the stakes here were much higher than Cole had suspected. Cursing himself all over again, he realized that Hauer had played him for a fool and that he had walked right into a trap—dragging Danny along with him.

Then full-on darkness arrived, flowing through the valley like a tide, and the silhouette at the forest edge was lost among the shadows.

Chapter Twenty-One

Cole didn’t like the idea of staying put, but he liked the idea of trying to hike back in the dark even less. One wrong turn, or one fall, could spell disaster. They had no flashlight and no way of calling for help.

While he thought it over, Danny was full of questions.

“If nobody is coming back for us, what should we do?” Danny wondered. “What is Herr Hauer up to, anyhow?”

“I wish I knew what Hauer was up to,” Cole said. “I’m beginning to think he has something planned for us, and it’s nothing good.”

“He’s going to kill us, isn’t he?”

“Not if I can help it,” Cole said.

“We could try hiking back.”

“Keep your voice down,” Cole urged. “Let’s not make it any easier for Hauer to keep track of us. As for hiking back, we don’t know the way and we don’t even have a flashlight. There’s no moon and it’s darker than a well-digger’s ass out here.”

“Huh?”

“If we go off the trail or fall into a ravine, we’d just end up in a worse pickle than we’re already in,” Cole said.

“Hans and Angela will wonder where we are,” Danny said. “The other hunters will figure out that we’re missing and come looking for us.”

“Maybe,” Cole said. “For now, we’re on our own, and that’s a fact. Our friends and family help us when they can, but in the end, the only person you can count on is yourself.”

“And you, Pa Cole,”

“And me,” Cole said with a grin. “I’ll tell you another thing. We aren’t going to sit here and wait for Hauer to creep up on us. We can at least move down the valley to a different spot. He’ll never find us in the dark.”

“Whatever you say,” Danny replied, fear evident in his voice.

“Follow me and keep quiet,” Cole whispered.

The cold and damp was like a curtain that he had to push through. Leaving the spot where they had butchered the boar, he followed the slope of the valley down, Danny on his heels. Moving across the open field wasn’t so difficult, but Cole couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead. He stopped when they reached the trees on the bottom half of the valley, moving quietly across a narrow stream that gurgled there. They took time to refill their canteens. He figured the water should be clean enough here in the mountains. As a soldier, he’d drank worse.

Cole felt pleased that Danny barely made a sound crossing the stream.

“Boy, you might not be a hunter, but you picked up a trick or two about the woods, didn’t you? Now, let’s see if we can get into those trees just as quietly.”

Danny didn’t respond, but Cole could almost feel him grinning with pride in the darkness.

They reached the trees and slipped several feet into the forest. He stopped when he felt the ground begin to rise for the forested slope that led up from the valley floor. He wanted some shelter, but at first light, he also wanted to be able to see Hauer moving across the valley.

The Butcher had a rifle, but so did Cole.

He thought about Hauer’s barely concealed disappointment when Cole had announced that he had a rifle and would not need the shotgun that Hauer had planned on him carrying. Now, it all made more sense. If Cole had a shotgun out here and Hauer had a rifle that could pick him off at long range, then Cole would have been as good as defenseless.

That old Nazi bastard was full of tricks, wasn’t he?

If he spotted Hauer first and shot him, maybe Cole could call it a hunting accident. He had a pretty good idea that this was just what Hauer planned to do to him and Danny. It wouldn’t be the first time that a hunting trip had been used as cover for a murder.

Cole took stock, cursing himself for not being better prepared. They had nothing to eat. No blankets. Not even a match to light a campfire—then again, the last thing Cole wanted was a fire with Hauer out there. What he did have were the canteens, a knife, and a damn fine rifle. In the end, what more did he need? Maybe legs that were decades younger, for a start. For that, he might have to depend on his grandson.

“I’m sorry you got dragged into this, Danny,” Cole said.

“What’s this all about anyhow, Pa Cole? Why would he be trying to kill us? Is he some sort of madman?”

“He’s a madman, all right, but there’s more to it than that.” Cole had not gone into his background with Hauer, in part to shelter Danny from some ugly stories. It was clear now how well that had worked out. It was time to come clean. “Herr Hauer and I have some history,” he said. “You know that we crossed paths back in the war. Right near here, as a matter of fact, in the closing chapter of the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans were winning