Telescopic sight

-violent themes-

Robert worried he could never really know what someone else was going to do.  How can he know their intent, know their heart?  He was a spotter for a sniper team. His role is to see people, to know whether they mean harm to the soldiers and facilities he watches over. He views someone's actions, and he makes assumptions. What if he misses something? 

Robert joined the Army to make the world  a better place. He saw the world in black and white, good or bad. That he ended up as part of an Army sniper team was because of his best friend, and crack shot, Ace.

Ace was supposed to be in the Humvee that day, for the trip back to Al-Tanf Garrison from maneuvers, but there wasn't room.  Robert was trying to understand Staff Sergeant Jacko’s explanation of the movie ‘The Matrix,  and his pet theory about reality, when his world went upside down. 

Robert woke in the hospital scraped up, but physically OK, the only survivor of the IED explosion.  Everything in the Humvee was destroyed, except his M151 spotters telescope, which they told him was found in his hand.  The scope was scratched and dented, however it worked fine when he tested it on the shooting range. It became his talisman of life, of survival. 

Except he was not OK. Something mystical had happened.  Robert only noticed the headaches at first. The explosions of pain in his skull even affected his eyesight, sometimes. Not until he looked through the spotters scope at actual people that his world changed. The 12-40x magnification of the scope has always allowed him to see far-away things more clearly.

And now, he can see in-side of people more clearly.  At first he didn't know what it was, what he saw when he looked through his scope.  Eventually he figured it out.  

When Robert looks at someone through his banged up M151 spotting scope, he sees through them to their soul. 

      ***------------****-----------****-------------****

It took a few weeks after the accident for Robert to be cleared for duty. He still had raging headaches, and occasional dizzy spells, but he was a soldier, he could handle it. The first time out it  was a routine overwatch, with nothing to do but to observe his assigned Squad cross a market from a high point above them. He was back out with Ace, his sniper partner, and friend. 

Robert thought that the scope was broken. He looked it over, and ready this time, looked again through the telescopic sight.  The glowing light was still there, coming from inside both the woman, and her child. Moving his head up he looked with his bare eyes and did not see the colors, just the woman and child walking.  He refocused the scope on other people standing in the square.  Each time he focused the scope on a person, he could see an inner light coming from inside of them, a deep color that vibrated and buzzed.

“Ace, can you check out my scope?  It works but-”  Robert moves the scope and tripod over to Ace.  

“It seems fine to me.”  Ace says, looking through it. 

“You don't see any extra colors , or-”  Robert stopped, not sure what to ask.  

Each person Robert looked at through his scope had a glow, an internal color emanating from them, which pulsed and trembled, and it was beautiful. He looked up from the scope, again, and the colors were not there.   He could only see them through his scope.   

 Robert followed an individual until they crossed paths with some else, and then he would follow that person. The colors were amazing, blues and greens, browns and oranges. And each color gave him a feeling, some sad, some happy.  One woman was bathed in a deep yellow light, and her color pulled Robert to her.  He was obsessed with her glow and the deep calm it created in him. Eventually he was conscious of what the golden-yellow, glowing woman was doing, she was tending to the sick children in a hospital courtyard.  There was a spark of insight, he understood. Each color was connected to the quality of the soul. Robert’s tears blurred his vision

The first red soul he saw confirmed his theory.  The man’s red glow was horrible to look at, the crimson color felt wrong. When he saw the man later, he knew the red stain was pure evil. What else could it be but their true soul?

For Robert, looking through his scope, the quality of a person's soul was as readily apparent as their hair color, their height.  She is tall, he is short-  it was an easy way to differentiate people, he is good, she is bad. He can see through to each person's core, to really know what their true intentions are.  Through his scope he can really see people. Now what does he do with this information?

Sniper cells have a lot of time spent waiting.  Robert tried to talk to Ace about it.  

“Do you believe people have souls?“ He asked.

“The soul? Of course. There are no atheists out here.”  Ace waved to the bombed out building and harsh landscape they were in.  “I grew up Pentecostal, the Holy Rollers. The whole screaming and yelling and being possessed by the Holy Spirit.  So yes, I believe in the immortal soul.”

“Do you believe someone can see your soul?” Robert says.

Ace paused, never looking up from his sniper's rifle scope, continuing to observe his assigned area. “I believe you can see someone's soul through their actions in life, is that what you mean?”

“I guess.“ Robert said. “Do you think there is such a thing as an evil soul?”

 Ace finally turned and looked at him, “That is what we are for right? To rid this world of evil? “

“I don't know. What if you could see someone's soul? Know they are good, or evil, just from looking at them?  What would you do?”

Ace grunted. “You're talking to a sniper, my man. I see evil, I pull the trigger.”

Robert did not know how to respond. With his new found sight, maybe Ace was right.

The first time it happened was just a regular patrol.    

Robert saw through his scope the Squad they were protecting, exiting the building with the rebel leader they had gone in to collect.   

Reviewing the scene through the scope, Robert sees each person has their own color, mostly blues and greens again, some brown and even a purple.  Around a corner ahead of the patrol group he sees two men from the village, one glowing blue, the other with a dark red color, vibrating fast.  They were acting suspicious. Looking anxious they came together, one handing the other something. Robert sees a glint off a dark metal object. 

“Damn, Ace- target at  2 o’clock, 2 o’clock, the red glow!” 

“On it! …What do you mean red, there is no red? And there are two men?”   Ace says.

“Sorry- not red, -tan! The one one in a tan shirt and jeans, holding his hands together- I saw the glint of metal, that is a grenade!” Robert says. 

“How do you know which man has it?”   Ace asks.

“ I just know.”

The man begins to move toward the squad.

“Ace, now” Robert says. 

High velocity, long-range 7.62 mm rounds from a M24 sniper rifle leave a vapor trail as they fly through the air. Robert watched the vapor trail through his scope right into the target.   The grenade falls from the man's hand,  the pin released, it explodes several feet away. 

He watches the red glow, fade and dissipates into the air. 

So they began.  It took some doing, but every time Robert saw a red soul, he set the target on them for Ace,  and Ace took them out. Ace went along with everything Robert said. Maybe because of his guilt for not being in the Humvee that day, or maybe he trusted his partner. Robert felt he was finally making a difference in the world.

Robert struggled to come up with reasons for the kills, at first. The evil doers were rarely doing evil right when he found them.  However it turned out there was always an excuse.  It was easy enough to find weapons, or suspicious plans, or if need be to set up the scene. Robert had no problem planting evidence, he knew these were evil people, and had Ace convinced too. Captain McNair loved the work they were putting in, and the results.  Soon their sniper cell started getting noticed for the huge number of kills, and the reputation they had of taking out the bad guys.

Ace had brought his concerns up, once. 

They were on an overwatch again.  Robert saw a short, thin man, walking with an older woman, getting close to the Squad they were protecting. Through his scope, he saw them man's dark red soul, and felt his own head growing tight with an ache deep in his skull.  He felt the evil rising from the evil-doer like a cold wind and called out the target to Ace. 

Target, 10 o’clock. The short man, blue shirt, jeans. 

“Copy.  Wait, I don't see a target, just a kid and his mother.”

No, that is a rebel, I can see… I can see a gun!  He has got a gun!  And that is not a kid! 

Robert follows the vapor trail to the target and sees the red color dissipate into the air. The feeling of evil fades, and is replaced by the woman's screams.  

Ace keeps looking through his scope. 

“That kid is not even out of his teens. I don't see a gun anywhere. Robert- What are you doing?”

Robert looks at Ace. “I am writing it up as a good kill, target with a gun, walking up on our Squad who are just a few blocks away. Do you want to contradict me? You pulled the trigger.”  Robert stares at Ace, then smiles. “Congratulations- that is your kill number 120!”

Ace didn't talk about it with Robert again.  It was just understood, Robert had a gift for fingering the dark souls, those with bad intentions and taking them out.  

Robert had avoided looking through his scope at his own platoon.  He had seen a glimpse here and there of some red tones among his own, and he found it easier just not to look.  Not looking meant not knowing. Until today. 

Today, Robert wished he would have picked a more protected spot, with some protection other than a thin tree. The overlook they were on had a good view of the main street of the small town, and the entrance from the main road.  But other than that all he could see was rock, and sand, and sand-colored buildings in the distance.  Their sniper cell was protecting a Squad of soldiers searching for a rebel target, when everything started happening at once. 

Ace, armed with his M24 sniper rifle, and Sig Sauer side arm, and Robert with only a handful of ammunition for his M4 assault rifle- they knew they were not wanted here, but were unprepared for the fire fight.

Robert knew from experience the ringing in his ears from the mortar blast would linger a few more minutes before fading. The blast hit 10 meters away, but the shock waves and rubble covered him and  Ace.  His legs hurt where the broken concrete fell on him.  It brought back all the fear and pain from the IED explosion.  With shaking hands he cleaned both lenses of his M151 spotters telescope before he grabbed the metal stand to stabilize himself to look through it. He needed to do their job. 

They had to protect their Squad. They were intermixed among the town people during a busy market day, when the rebels attacked. The ringing in Robert’s ears is still going. He is starting to lose focus. The concussive force from the blast has reverberated in his head, making his headache worse. 

Robert is falling behind on his job as a spotter.

Ace yells “Robert, where are you, pay attention. Give me some targets! 

Robert glances with his bare eyes at the melee below, and listens to the radio calls from the Squad to get his bearings.  

He looks through his scope. The rainbow of colors are gone, now each person is emanating red, deep throbbing blood red.  Robert feels the hate, the evil flowing up to him along with the sounds and cries from the battle. 

He begins calling out targets, focusing on the darkest of the red, the most evil among the battle below. 

2 o’clock,  man, camo gear!

11 o’clock, woman, green dress!

9 o’clock,  woman, camo gear! man, camo gear!

“Those are our own men! “ Ace yells

Robert keeps yelling out targets. “They are all evil!  Kill them, kill them!“

Robert looks over and sees Ace has stopped shooting. “Why did you stop? We need to do our job!"   Robert swings his M4 assault rifle around, leans forward into sniper position and pulls his scope in front of him. “ I will do it then!” 

Robert looks through his scope and sees a haze of glowing dark red. His head is pounding, but he needs to make it right. It is up to him to rid the world of evil.  He begins to systematically pull the trigger. 

Robert doesn't see Ace put down his M24 sniper rifle to pull out his Sig Sauer side arm and level it at him.