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

but they were out of options. All that they could do was run and hide.

They made their play to put Hauer on a false trail. By the time the sun was starting to sink below the hills, they had made it back down the mountain, making a wide loop to dodge Hauer.

“Almost there,” Cole said, encouraging Danny.

“Downhill isn’t any easier.” Danny grimaced. “Boy, this ankle hurts. Are you sure it’s not broken? I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

Cole cast about for some way to keep Danny distracted. Their predicament brought to mind the story of Cole’s cousin, Deacon Cole. Like Cole, he had served in the war, but in the Pacific, fighting the Japanese.

“Did I ever tell you about Cousin Deacon?” Cole asked.

“Didn’t I meet him?”

“Sure, once or twice when you were a young ‘un. I’m surprised you remember.”

“I remember him a little.”

“Well now, Cousin Deacon was mauled by a bear when he was just a boy. He was trying to protect his sister and that bear chewed him up good. He had the scars to prove it. It’s a wonder that bear didn’t kill him. It took him months just to get around again.”

“I remember the scars,” Danny said. “They were hard to look at. I remember being scared of him.”

“Cousin Deacon used to say that during the war he went through some hard times, all that fighting in the islands, but he kept going. He said that he figured if the bear hadn’t killed him, then he sure as hell wasn’t going to let the Japanese do it.”

“That’s a good story, Pa Cole, but I twisted my ankle. I didn’t get attacked by a bear.”

“The point is that Deacon Cole was tough. That bear made him that way. Who’s to say this ordeal ain’t your version of the bear?”

Danny fell silent, thinking it over. He didn’t complain again about the pain in his ankle.

Cole thought it was too much to hope that Hauer had taken the bait and followed the false trail down the other side of the mountain. Under different circumstances, the majestic surroundings of the Vosges Mountains and the European forest in autumn would have been stunning in and of themselves. However, Cole and Danny were injured, hungry and cold, and hunted by a deadly opponent. By the time they reached the valley below, they felt exhausted.

For now, they were sheltering at the edge of the forest, keeping to the cover of the trees with the open valley visible. He hadn’t wanted to spend another night in these hills, but here they were. They had not eaten anything in more than twenty-four hours, and with their injuries and the cool autumn weather, it was starting to take its toll.

“How much longer do you think we’ll be out here?” Danny asked. “I’m starving.”

“Me too,” Cole said. “One way or another, I promise you that we won’t be out here another night.”

“What about Herr Hauer?”

“It’s me that he’s after,” Cole said. While coming down the mountain, he had begun to slowly put a plan together that might mean at least one of them would survive this mess. The time had come to share his plan with Danny. “I’ve been thinking that I’ll lead him off into the woods, and he and I will finish this, one way or another. While we’re doing that, you can head down toward the neck of the valley and find the trail out of here. If we cut you a crutch, you should be fine.”

Danny shook his head. “No way! With your arm and shoulder like that, there’s no way you can shoot back at him.”

“I can still shoot,” Cole lied.

His grandson shook his head emphatically. “We are in this together, Pa Cole. There’s no way I’m leaving you here by yourself.”

If Danny was going to be stubborn, then so was Cole. Stubbornness was a family trait. “Boy, I’ve got to be honest with you. I don’t know that I can beat Hauer at this game. At my age, I’ve lost a step or two. Hell, maybe I’ve lost three or four steps. The best that I can hope to do is buy you some time to get to safety. One of us needs to survive this.”

Danny didn’t say anything for a while, and Cole felt relieved. He was sure that Danny was going to agree to the plan. Considering the shape he was in—cold, hungry, and in pain—who wouldn’t opt for a way out?

But Danny surprised him. The light was fading fast, but Cole could see that his grandson’s eyes, which were normally a soft brown, had turned dark and hard. Those eyes reminded Cole of Norma Jean’s when she was feeling determined.

The boy had plenty of fire in him, that was for sure. If their circumstances hadn’t been so dire, Cole would have smiled.

“I’m not leaving,” Danny said. “You’re the one who said this might be my bear. I’ve got to face the bear, not run away from it. And listen to you, Pa Cole—it sounds as if you’ve given up.”

“I managed to get you dragged into this, but it’s not your fight. I should have known better than to walk right into Hauer’s trap. I wanted one last chance to show him who was boss. Like the Bible says, pride goeth before a fall.”

“There’s no point in blaming yourself,” Danny said. “Listen, I know you never talked about the war, but I read that museum exhibit same as everyone else. You killed an awful lot of people.”

“It was war, Danny. It’s nothing to be proud of. I was doing my duty.”

Danny fixed him with that hard stare, the one that showed he was determined to hear the truth. “Are you sure about that? I see how people who knew you then treat you, even Colonel Mulholland—like they’re a little afraid of you. Even now. I don’t care if you’re old. I don’t care if you’re hurt—or that I’m hurt. You need to show that