First Impressions - Hannibal & Face - Part 3

[indigo_angels]

..3..

Hannibal bangs his clenched fist against his forehead in frustration. He’s screwed up here, made a massive miscalculation and they are well and truly stuck because of it. He edges up to peer across the boulder they are sheltering behind and checks his options once again.

 

The canyon behind them is blocked by the landslip, there is no way on earth they can get out over that, not without it all coming down on top of them again. The walls are sheer rock face. With the right gear they could make it, but then they’d be sitting ducks for that sniper at the other end of the gully. Maybe in the dark, but he doubts they are going to last that long.

 

The rebels know they are here, but they aren’t sure where exactly. They’ve left three men at the head of the gully while they presumably go back for reinforcements. Once they arrive, Hannibal knows they will just advance down the canyon, flushing his team out as they go, and picking them off one by one until they are all dead.

 

Frustration boils within him. He shouldn’t have brought the guys down here, should have guessed that the heavy rains would have collapsed the sides of the gully. He’s lead them to their deaths.

 

A movement at his side brings Bunter up to his shoulder, the side of his face scratched and torn from his own attempts at getting over the landslip. “We’re running out of time, boss...” he mutters.

 

Hannibal sighs. Bunter wants to make a break for it now, before the reinforcements arrive, but Hannibal knows that they wouldn’t get to the end of the gully with those three guards left there. They obviously know what they are doing – from their chosen vantage points they can easily cover the entire canyon. Jonno wants to try and pick them off, but even Bunter knows that’s not going to happen. No one can make a clean shot from this distance, and it would have to be a clean shot otherwise all it would do is alert the guards as to their exact position, make it so much easier to pin them down once the reinforcements arrive.

 

Frustration churns within him, what the fuck has he done?

 

Hannibal turns and shuffles back down the boulder to where his team is huddled and he looks them over one by one. Bunter, his XO, loyal and brave and just wanting to get out of here. Jonno, trying to look like he’s not bothered but Hannibal can see the fear in his eyes. Piper, calm and unruffled as always holding onto the picture of the baby girl he’s never met. Sharkie, black eyes unreadable as he crouches in the dirt like a coiled spring. And, Hannibal’s stomach heaves with fresh guilt, Face, leaning up against a rock, his eyes fixed on his CO, just waiting for Hannibal to sort all this out. Ever since Hannibal gave him that second chance in his first week, Face has looked at him like he’s some kind of fucking god. It’s unnerved Hannibal before today, but now, when Hannibal knows full well he’s got his boys into this mess, it’s inappropriate in the highest degree. It’s the kid’s first trip out with them. Hannibal has kept him sidelined for three months, wanted to be sure he could trust him, wanted to be sure the kid was ready. Turns out it’s a bit of a mistake; the kid isn’t ready, not for death. But then, thinks Hannibal, who is?

 

He makes the only decision he can. “Rights boys, we are moving out...” Bunter breathes a sigh of relief while everyone else seems to tense even more. “Each man will move independently, stay to the sides, use any cover you can, and just keep moving. Once we leave here we’ll be vulnerable.”

 

“We’ll be sitting ducks, sir...”

 

Hannibal can tell Jonno is trying not to be disrespectful so he takes a deep breath before turning to answer. “There’s no other choice, Jon. We stay here we’re dead.”

 

“We should take them out...”

 

This, Hannibal had expected. “You can do that? Cleanly? All three before they get behind cover and just radio our position back to their boss?”

 

Jonno shakes his head and Hannibal sighs. “I thought not. We’re moving out. Get ready.”

 

There is movement and muttering all around him as his men turn to check their packs, but then a single voice stands out. “I can, sir.”

 

Silence falls, thick and heavy as every man freezes and turns to look at Face. Hannibal doesn’t speak.

 

“No way...” this is Bunter. “I know you are good, but no one can make that shot. You need three direct hits one after the other, bam, bam, bam otherwise we’ll just be running up a big target above our heads!”

 

Face is unperturbed, “I can do it.”

 

“No!!” Bunter’s eyes are wide as he turns to his CO, “He can’t boss, it must be half a mile to the mark, there’s a wind coming up the gully and if he misses then they will drop out of sight and radio us in! It’s suicide!”

 

“Better than being sitting ducks...” Jonno mutters.

 

“Bunter’s right,” Piper puts in, “The kid can’t do this, it would lose us our only advantage.”

 

“Yeah Hannibal,” Sharkie agrees, “we move out.”

 

Face ignores them all and keeps his eyes on his CO. “I can do this boss,” he repeats.

 

“Hannibal!” Bunter entreats.

 

“Quiet!” Hannibal barks and everyone falls silent. He looks at Face for a long time, weighing him up, considering the options. “Bunter’s right,” he eventually says, “you miss, then you screw the only chance we have of getting out.

 

Face nods. “I know. But I won’t miss.”

 

“You sure of that?”

 

Nod.

 

“All three?”

 

Nod.

 

Two minutes of silence.

 

“Okay kid, you’re on.”

 

“Hannibal! Sir! You have got to be kidding-” Bunter is silenced with a look while Face starts getting his gear ready. 

 

The tension in the air is choking. Hannibal and Face edge back up to the top of the boulder while the others, packs ready to move out in a hurry, wait down below.

 

“I’m relying on you here kid,” Hannibal mutters as Face squints through his sights, “If you aren’t 100% sure, then don’t take the shot.”

 

“I got it, boss,” Face mutters, adjusting his grip and shuffling flatter onto his stomach.

 

Hannibal looks long and hard at him, then turns and raises his binoculars to the mark, “In your own time then, Face.”

 

He can see the three guards. They are standing together at the head of the gully, only their chests and upwards visible behind the covering rocks. They are attentive, but relaxed, not expecting any attack, but keeping a watchful eye out to see if they can spot the hiding Americans. Two of them are smoking while the third casually toys with his radio.

 

Face is suddenly deathly still beside him and Hannibal knows he is going to make the shot, he almost loses his nerve there and then, almost grabs the kid and aborts the mission. Almost but not quite. Instead he flicks the record button on the binoculars and starts streaming to the hard drive.

 

It’s all over in a fraction of a second. The sounds of the shots echo up and down the gully while the three guards drop almost instantaneously behind the rocks. But it’s too quick, Hannibal couldn’t see if the shots found their mark or not, he and Face quickly slide back down the boulder and drop to the ground while Hannibal frantically hits the reply button on the binoculars, reviewing the hits.

 

“There were only two!” Bunter’s frantic voice buffets Hannibal’s concentration, “There were only two fucking shots Face! You missed one!”

 

Hannibal glances up to find Face on his knees, skin grey and waxy while he dry heaves over the dirt.

 

“There were loads!” This is Jonno, “We all heard them, man!”

 

“They were fucking echoes!” Bunter sounds apoplectic, “He’s fucking missed!”

 

Hannibal reviews the film and his heart starts pounding against his ribs, unwilling to take in what he can see. He tunes the bickering out and reviews the film once more.

 

“Why do you think he’s puking Jonno!” Sharkie sounds almost as mad as Bunter, “It’s because he knows he’s screwed up!”

 

Face is scrabbling for a drink now, hands shaking as he tries to unstop the seal on his bottle.

 

“Fucking hell, boss, he’s just a boy! Why’d you let him do this to us?”

 

“Stop!” Hannibal knows his own hands are shaking as he lets the binoculars drop to his side, “He got them. All three.”

 

There is a moment’s stunned silence.

 

“But...” Bunter looks to where Face is still kneeling in the dirt, “there were only two shots...”

 

Hannibal holds the binoculars out to his XO, “He got two with one bullet...” he whispers, still not quite believing his own eyes.

 

Bunter grabs the binoculars off his boss and holds them up to his eyes as Hannibal reaches over to rub Face’s still heaving back, the adrenalin ripping out of him, “Take it easy there, kid, you did a fucking top job...”

 

“Jesus Christ...” Bunter breathes as he reviews the evidence for himself.

 

“Saddle up boys,” Hannibal takes hold of Face’s arm and heaves him to his feet, “We’re not out of this shit yet. Let’s go before the posse arrive.”

 

“Holy fuck...” it’s Piper’s turn with the binoculars and his words ring in Hannibal’s ears as he steers his lieutenant round the base of the rock, the first steps back to safety. Holy fuck indeed... just what did he have on his hands here?

Part Four