In the pre-dawn hours of September 29, 1983, a helicopter carrying two men flew over the central plains of Russia. Their mission was to assassinate their target: a very powerful weapons dealer known as “Doc” who was selling nuclear missiles to communist countries. The helicopter pitched violently upward as it slowed to a hover. “All right were here. Good luck!” the pilot yelled over the roar of the helicopter’s rotor blades.
The two men gave thumbs up and descended out of the chopper. As they crouched in the darkness, the chopper pulled out of the drop zone to return to the military base it had originated from. The two men could hear the whoop-whoop-whoop of the chopper’s rotor blades, and felt their sense of security leave them. They crouched, alone and cold, but ready to carry out their mission. The two men then dropped to their stomachs and began inching their way through the moist plains of the Russian countryside. The sun began to rise over the horizon. The two men’s hearts began to race as the cover of darkness left them, but they were confident in the fact that their gillie suits were constructed well so the enemy would never see them. Late into the day the two men stood among grass as tall as their chests. Lush green trees surrounded the area, along with massive boulders larger than two fully grown men.
“That is where we need to be,” whispered Second Lieutenant Rinehart. He was young, maybe 25, and he was part of the 197th Army Infantry Brigade. He pointed to an old abandoned house about a quarter of a mile away. They had to make their way through advancing columns of enemy troops and tanks and other enemy patrols in the










area. “Why do we need to be over there? Why can't we just go find this guy and take him out?” Asked second Lieutenant Rinehart, who was the second sniper accompanying Captain Winston. Captain Winston whispered in a low and harsh tone “SHHH. Why do you think I am whispering, ‘cause I feel like it? You need to be a lot quieter or your going to get us killed! There is some intel in that house left by our informant. It will help us find our target.”

Finally Winston and Rinehart were upon the house. The small one story house stood riddled with vine plants on the outer walls and broken windows. It seemed untouched for decades. As they opened the cracked, dark wooden door, its hinges screamed almost loud enough for any troops in the immediate area to hear. Once inside they sifted through garbage and looked in cupboards and other places such as pots and jars. They found a letter that gave a detailed explanation of where Winston’s and Rinehart’s target would meet with his next buyer. It also included an up-to-date photo of Doc. He looked like an older man, wrinkled and bald with a gray beard. He wore a black leather jacket, with a white shirt underneath, black leather gloves, jungle style combat boots, and heavy black pants. Two body guards always accompanied him. “The next deal will be held near an abandoned factory about 27 miles from here. Man I can’t wait to take this guy out.” said Lieutenant Rinehart with a hint of excitement in his voice.
As the two men readied themselves to leave the safety of the abandoned house, they dropped to the floor while the ground shook violently as enemy troops and tanks passed right outside the house. Captain Winston slowly approached the front door and cautiously opened it. As he did it screamed once again, but the roar of the engines and
tracks of what sounded like enemy troop carriers or tanks drowned out the creaking of the door. His heart beat through his chest he as could see nearly 300 heavily armed enemy troops and around 17 Russian BMP troop carriers. As the troops passed, Winston waited for the right moment to dash out of the house to a tree line 200 yards from the house. “Ready…..GO!”
Winston and Reinhart bolted from the house and reached the tree line, narrowly escaping the enemy. “Now that’s what I’m talking’ about!” gasped Reinhart, as Winston and Reinhart maneuvered through a thick, wooded forest. Slowly they started a gentle incline, and when Reinhart and Winston reached the top they heard a large splash and muffled voices of the enemy. The two men dropped down and began prowling their way through the dry landscape until they had a good overview of what was in front of them. “I can make out about 9 of them. There are two next to that pond and a few more patrolling the area. We should try and sneak past…” Before Winston could finish he heard the unmistakable muffled sound of Lieutenant Reinhart’s M-24 fire a round at one of the men down range. Before Winston could say any thing the man hit the ground with a thud and the rest scattered. One man had been killed. There were eight men left, and they had to be killed or the two sniper’s secret would be found out by the rest of the enemy. Winston saw one of the men hiding behind an old abandoned helicopter and took him out with one shot to the head. Over the next couple of minutes Rinehart and Winston took out the remaining seven men. “What in the world were you thinking Rinehart!? You could have gotten us killed!” Said Winston with a hint of irritation in his voice.
“Those were civilians they were throwing into that pond!”








“That doesn’t matter. We have a mission to complete. If you compromise us like that again I’ll kill you myself!”

As Rinehart and Winston proceeded through the countryside, they came across a junkyard full of destroyed military vehicles. Eventually they reached the outskirts of the city were their target would hold his next meeting. Rinehart’s heart exploded in his chest as he made his way through a small courtyard. He scanned the surrounding area. Rinehart yelled with a quick snap, “HELICOPTER GET DOWN!”, Rinehart and Winston dropped to the ground and froze. They could hear the whoop-whoop-whoop of the chopper’s rotor blades, and they felt a large gust of wind hit them as it passed directly above them. When the sound of the chopper disappeared the two got up and proceeded with their mission. More apprehensive than ever, Rinehart was on the look out for anything.
“Watch out theirs a wild dog ahead” Winston warned. Rinehart kept his gun on the animal until they were out of site. “There is the target building 150 yards straight ahead.”

Rinehart and Winston knew that there were enemy troops in the area, so to avoid being seen they low crawled the next 150 yards into a building that appeared to have been a large shopping mall. When they reached the back of the building Rinehart and Winston crouched. Rinehart approached a door and peered around the corner to ensure no troops would be on the first floor. “It’s all clear,” whispered Rinehart. He and Winston then made their way through the first floor. When they reached a staircase leading to the second floor, Rinehart again peered around the corner of the doorway to ensure no enemy troops were there. He and Winston repeated this process until they reached the top story











Rinehart un slung a .50 caliber Berretta M-107 sniper rifle which he had been carrying for just one shot he laid it down along with the photo of the target and waited.

“When does that letter say that the ol’ doc will be here?” asked Rinehart.

“Be patient Lieutenant. I know you’re not too good with that.” Captain Winston laughed. The two snipers waited two and a half days for doc to show up. Finally troops began arriving about 1.5 miles down range. Rinehart glanced at the photo. Bald, black leather jacket, black heavy pants, jungle style combat boots, black leather gloves.
“All right. I have eyes on the target. He is in the second vehicle. There is a red flag on the top of the car,” announced Captain Winston.

“Copy target in second vehicle with red flag,” replied Rinehart. With the M-107’s powerful scope Rinehart could easily make out every detail of all the men he aimed his rifle at and eventually his target exited his vehicle. Bald, gray beard, black jacket, gloves, pants, and jungle style combat boots…yup that’s the target Rinehart informed Winston, “Our target is carrying a briefcase…I’m not sure what is in it though”. The target laid his briefcase down on a table set up directly in front of his vehicle. He opened it and revealed the case of money and blueprints.
“Okay we have a slight gust moving from east to west and distance to the target is 1.25 kilometers,” Winston informed Rinehart. There was no response from Rinehart who at this point was ready to pull the trigger, At that moment a deafening shot rang out across the abandoned city. The bullet swerved to the right and hit a body guard. With the semi automatic M-107 Rinehart was able to fire off one more round quickly enough to hit the target. Just as soon as Rinehart’s bullet hit its mark, a Russian Mil Mi 24 Hind











hovered directly ahead of Rinehart and Winston. “GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!” shouted Winston. As both men bolted down the stairs, they could hear the hissing of the hind as it unloaded its payload of rockets into their building. They could feel the earth shake and the roof collapse on top of them. Rinehart and Winston slowly gained their conciseness and Rinehart pulled his comrade out of the rubble. He could hear the sound of enemy troops running towards his position so he and Winston moved as fast as they could away from the enemy.
Rinehart and Winston made their way through the city, knowing that the drop zone was on the outskirts of the city only three or four miles away from their position. With the thought of only three or four miles between freedom and death, Rinehart moved with more enthusiasm than ever. “C’mon just two more miles to go,” Rinehart said to motivate himself. Just then he heard the sound of bullet’s ripping up the air around him. One bit him in the back of his leg, and he heard Winston hit the ground with a thud. He picked up his fallen commander and slung him over his shoulders and he fired with his pistol back at the enemy. He could feel a sting where the bullet hit him and warm blood oozing from his leg. I can’t stop now. I can see the landing zone. The landing zone was in the middle of a courtyard area in a park. Rinehart found cover behind a stone wall and rested Winston against the wall. “Mother bird, mother bird. This is Bravo 2. I have reached the LZ but Alpha 1 is out of commission. I have enemy troops all over my position!” Rinehart was cut short as an enemy soldier charged his position. He shot the man at point blank range with his pistol.
“Bravo 2 this is Mother bird. We are inbound to your location in 30seconds.”

Rinehart picked up the fallen enemy’s weapon and began to return fire on the enemy troops. He lobbed a grenade over the stone wall and heard the sound of a chopper touching down in the center of the courtyard. The pilot shouted over the radio, “YOU HAVE 45 SECONDS TO GET ON THIS BIRD BEFORE WE PULL OUT!”
Rinehart quickly reloaded his weapon and threw a flash bang into the enemy position. With Captain Winston slung over his shoulders, Rinehart stood and moved toward the chopper while firing at the enemy. Rinehart made it into the chopper and set Winston down on a seat as the chopper began to take off. Rinehart fired at the enemy until the clip was empty. The doors of the helicopter then closed. That was way too close! I almost got the Captain here killed, along with myself, and almost compromised the mission. Rinehart looked out the window at the beautiful Russian countryside.