The Detachment

only am I here,” Dox said, in his serene sniper voice, “but I’m looking at you at this very moment right through my little reticled scope. I’m glad we worked out all our animosity earlier, aren’t you?”
    There was no answer. Dox said, “Hey, man, I’m just kidding.”
    “Goddamn it, don’t kid like that!” I said, fearing another eruption, hoping my intervention would placate Larison.
    We hit a pothole and the van almost went into orbit. “Jesus!” I said, pulling my seatbelt tighter.
    Kanezaki, serene as Dox, said, “Sorry.”
    He kept it pinned until we turned off the two-lane, and by the time we came to the dirt road to the granary, he had it under the speed limit. We kept going for another quarter mile, and then he pulled over to the side in a dip in the road. “I’m not waiting in the van,” he said. “And we don’t have time to argue about it.”
    He was probably right. “Okay,” I said. “Stay to my left as we approach. When we get to the granary, you circle left, I’ll circle right. Let me engage Gillmor first, okay?”
    “Why?”
    “It’s not about the glory. If the drone’s still on the ground, we can just shoot him, or you can, it doesn’t matter to me. But if the drone’s up, we have to try to make him bring it back, right?”
    “That’s a good point.”
    “Yeah, I try to think of things like that.”
    “Okay, you engage him first.”
    “Good idea. Also, let’s not assume he’s alone. Keep your eyes open. If Gillmor’s at the controls and you see someone else, then by all means, shoot the other guy, he’ll just be security, and that’ll be one less thing we have to worry about.”
    “Got it.”
    He looked scared. It wasn’t confidence-inspiring.
    I glanced at the HK he was holding. “You know how to use that, right?”
    “I’ve had the training, yeah.”
    Which was another way of saying, but not the experience.
    “Okay,” I said. “Remember. Aggressive stance, gorilla grip, front site on the target, press the trigger.”
    He gave me a tight grin. “Dox always said you micromanage.”
    Damn it, he was right. He was either going to perform or not. Whatever I said to him at this point wasn’t going to make the difference.
    “All right,” I said. “Let’s go.” For the benefit of the others, I said, “Kanezaki and I are moving in on the granary now. Should be on target in five minutes.”
    We headed north a quarter mile across flat grassland, then west, keeping low and moving quickly. There was a stand of trees between us and our objective, but, other than that, no cover or concealment anywhere. I tried not to think about snipers and what we would look like if one were watching us from that granary. When we reached the trees, we paused. I could see the granary. It was circular, about twenty feet high, but it was crumbling and offered no sniper hides, at least nothing that looked in our direction. Thank God. I couldn’t see around it. There was a truck partly visible next to a pond to the right, which might have been good news, but no sign of people. We were going to be in a hell of a jam if Hort’s intel was wrong, and there was nobody here.
    “Children going in the front entrance,” I heard Dox say in the ear-piece. “Lots of ’em. Walking in from the neighborhood and some getting dropped off by their parents. No sign of our shooters.”
    “My side’s clear, too,” Larison said.
    “Same,” Treven said.
    “John, I hope you’re in position,” Dox said. “Our timeline’s getting kind of tight.”
    I didn’t want to speak, but I tapped the boom twice with a finger.
    “Roger that,” Dox said.
    I looked at Kanezaki. He was pale. I hoped he was going to be okay. I inclined my head toward the granary. He nodded once and we moved in, our guns up now. I didn’t know who’d trained him, but I had to admit they’d done a good job. Despite his obvious fear, he had his HK out at high-ready, his head was swiveling to increase his range of vision, and he propelled himself with a nice, smooth shuffle.
    We reached the wall of the granary. It smelled of earth and hay and I had the urge to cling to it you always get just before you move out from your last position of decent cover. Still no sign of anyone at the truck.
    I signaled left to Kanezaki. He nodded and moved off. I headed right.
    At the limit of the structure’s circumference, I crouched and darted my head around and then back. In the instant I’d been exposed I’d seen Gillmor, a