Sniper 2

Jesus!

Cease fire! Cease fire!

You sons of bitches!

-You almost blew my head off! -Sorry, Beckett.

-What"s wrong with you? -l saw something.

l thought l saw it too.

Christ, man.

You thought you saw something?

l saw a deer, maybe.

A deer, maybe.

Do l look like a fucking deer to you, asswipe?

-Where are they? -Probably lost. No, they are lost.

-l"ve gotta find them. -Shouldn"t be too difficult...

...you being the great white hunter and all.

-You can"t just leave like this. -Watch me.

They"ll want refunds. lt"s coming out of your check.

Fine. l"m tired of dealing with assholes...

-...paying to shoot caged animals. -Not sporting enough for you?

l suppose the people you picked off had a better chance?

Every man l killed could as easily have killed me.

Military lntelligence.

-Thomas Beckett? -Do l know you?

l"m Colonel Dan McKenna. This is James Eckles. He"s with--

ClA?

How"d you know?

l don"t know. You just kind of got that look.

Do you have a minute for us?

Sorry.

Boy, you"ve bounced around a bit since your discharge.

Had trouble holding a job....

Trouble holding a relationship, trouble sleeping past 6 a.m.

Trouble adjusting. Trouble with my pension--

-Mr. Beckett. -Sir.

l understand your difficulties, and l"m sorry. But that"s not why we"re here.

You won the Kodiak marksmanship tournament last month.

You beat the Marine Corps team and seven SWAT members.

So? What are you, the awards committee?

-No. We need a sniper, a good one. -The best.

Didn"t my dossier happen to mention my medical discharge, unfit for duty...?

Apparently they made a mistake.

How is it your proposition entails hiring a 50-year-old former scout sniper?

Can we talk about this?

Everyone figures the Balkans are clean since we took Milosevic down.

But there are others like him waiting for us to turn our backs.

Our lntelligence has tracked resistance in what NATO calls "" no man"s land.""

They"re led by a rogue general named Mulik Valstoria.

He"s commander of what he likes to call the ""23rd Home Guard.""

Look, this guy is running a stealth operation...

...of ethnic cleansing in Muslim towns along the border.

We"re removing the general before it escalates into something bigger.

Well, why me?

Why not Heister or Baker? Those jarheads are still doing tours.

-This one"s off the books. -You"ve got an impressive career.

Former record holder on the long shot, 1 .1 miles.

Baker broke it. Hit an al Qaeda guard at 1 .24 miles.

No, the record"s 1 .47.

A Cuban general near Guantanamo Bay.

A Cuban general hit a man at a mile and a half?

l killed a Cuban general at a mile and a half.

-That"s the record, for the record. -Look, l"m not gonna bullshit you.

-This is gonna be tough. -You mean suicide.

There"s a group of separatists in Gilau that"ll help you.

l used to do this because l was following orders...

...but what"s in it for me?

The risk is great. We"re authorized to offer you anything you like.

-Anything? -Anything.

Look here.

lf you"re willing to offer me anything...

...then l have to assume that you don"t plan to pay off.

You"ve already chalked me up for dead.

Yeah.

But then l look around here, and....

So you"ll do it?

You know, whenever l do die, l want it to be as a Marine.

So, what l want is my former rank back.

l wouldn"t expect you to understand that, but l know you do, sir.

So do we have a deal?

Yes, we do, master gunnery sergeant.

Roger that, sir.

All right....

A mission like this into hostile territory, gotta be a two-man operation.

So, what l want is a good observer.

AMERlCAN EMBASSY BERLlN 1 0:05

Colonel McKenna.

Good. Send him in.

He"s here. They brought him straight from the plane.

How is a man in the joint for killing a federal officer suddenly cut loose?

lt"s not easy, believe me.

lt seems to me he"ll stick out like a sore thumb.

Come in.

Reporting with Mr. Cole as ordered, sir.

Thank you, gunny.

Sit down, Mr. Cole.

Freedom.

-Shall l refresh your memory? -l don"t need no refreshing.

One mission.

lf l fail or try to escape or even take a shit where you say l can"t...

...it"s back to death row, right?

Master Gunnery Sergeant Beckett...

...meet Jake Cole.

l don"t think he likes me.

Must be that Army thing.

No.

Colonel, Mr. Eckles, may l have a word with this man in private?

By all means, master gunnery sergeant.

Says here you speak the lingo where we"re going.

Enough to keep your sorry old ass out of trouble.

-And you were an Army sniper? -Former Delta, 85-41 out of Quantico.

Urban sniper, SOTG.

Seven real-world missions.

Four as an observer, three as a shooter.

Three confirmed.

Couple questions, sergeant.

We"re at 750 yards at a 1 9-degree angle.

What"s the difference between the points of aim and impact?

-Well, how tall"s the target, man? -Five feet, 1 0 inches.

23.1 7 inches high.

And you"ll need to dial six up three.

And when your time comes, what will you say?

l ain"t gonna say nothing. l"ll just shut up and die like a soldier.

Roger. Verify touchdown of Snake Eater at ballpark at 1500. Over.

Roger. Touchdown Snake Eater.

Big Eye verifying ballpark is clear. Over.

Roger. I copy. Out.

You ever try using one of these?

No. Still use a compass.

Just old-school, l guess.

Rendezvous points, radio freqs as per S.O.P.

Two minutes out. Initiating approach.

Roger that.

Once again, we drop in here, seven clicks from Gilau.

At St. Stephan"s church, we meet our contact.

The partisans will provide us with weapons and photos.

lt"s too bad it"s not the Basilica. l"d like to see that.

-Say again? -The Basilica of Gilau.

lt"s one of the most beautiful Byzantine churches in Eastern Europe.

l spent a lot of time reading travel books and shit in prison.

l must have read every AAA Guide and National Geographic ever printed.

Why?

To keep the dream alive.

lt"s pretty easy to let them break you in the house.

Most guys on the row are actually looking forward to the day they die.

We"re here to put a bullet in a man and let God sort it out.

You better just pray we get out of this country alive.

All your dream shit...stops here.

30 seconds to drop.

Roger.

Aviano AFB, Sicily

Snake Eater, specify transmission. Over.

-Getting a lot of interference. -Home run. Snake Eater out.

-Any problems? -Negative.

They should make contact at 1 630.

Remove your cover.

l am the one you are looking for.

She"s our contact. Goddamn!

Get on your knees, son...

...while l pray for your soul.

My name is Sophia.

We were expecting someone... older.

Not many people grow old in this business.

Did you bring our package?

The photo of Valstoria is only a few days old.

The others are of the buildings around the Ministry of Defense.

The one with the corner window is very high and close.

A clear shot.

l think maybe that is where you want to be.

l"ll decide that.

lt"s nearly 300 meters away.

Maybe it"s too far.

-Three hundred and twenty-six yards. -l agree with her.

We should be closer to the action.

You just call it, l"ll hit it.

Valstoria arrives at the ministry every other morning, 7:30 exactly.

He will walk up the steps.

lt"s six meters from the car to the building.

-And he"s 1 84 centimeters tall? -Yes.

l"ll need a guitar case.

As you can see, the streets in this part of the city are very narrow and old.

lt will not be easy to escape.

Sergeant Beckett"s rifle was our one priority.

That"s the best we have with our limitations.

No, it"ll do just fine.

l must leave to make sure everything is arranged.

The city will be in chaos. You need to get to the church.

lt"s built on top of Roman catacombs.

We can move beneath the city.

We"ll get to the church on time.

You just make sure you"re there.

What he means is, thank you.

Okay.

That Sophia....

-Not what l expected. -Stay in the bubble.

lf the diversion device works, we"ve got five minutes.

l want you shadowing me. No sightseeing. Understood?

-Roger that. -Get your gear together. Let"s go.

Three hundred and twenty-eight yards. Give me three up one.

l"ve got wind coming from the right at four to six.

Of course, that could change in the morning. East is at our backs.

Sunrise is at 0637.

We could have some shadows on the target from the buildings at 0730.