The night sky was filled with stars and underneath it; there was a sense of dread and anticipation in the city of Rome. Just the day before it was announced nationwide that the GIS would not negotiate with the shooter's demands. Instead, he would be treated as a terrorist and one of Italy's best marksmen would be dispatched to hunt him down before he could carry out his threat of killing another randomly selected person in Rome. Naturally Major Salles came under fire from his bosses for trying to turn Rome into a shooting gallery. However, one thing was for certain. The shooter posted a fiery reply in response to the announcement, stating that he was far superior to "mere policemen" and would kill the marksman then carry on with his plan to kill a random person. Someone would die that day.
It was under these dire circumstances that at two in the morning an unmarked van stopped near a half-finished building and dropped off two very oddly-dressed characters. Major Salles had managed to get two sets of uniforms in the correct sizes for both Walther and Daniela. As Walther had requested, the print on the uniforms were pixellated and in varying shades of gray. To match their uniforms, black camo cream was applied to replicate the same speckled gray pattern on every bit of exposed pale skin that the uniform couldn't cover.
Slowly and silently the pair made their way about the half-finished building. In areas where darkness was plentiful they proceeded carefully, stopping every few steps to check their surroundings for anyone who may be watching. However, sometimes they did not have that luxury, like a corridor with windows that let in illumination from nearby street lamps, and had to exercise even more caution by getting down on their bellies, crawling as close to the floor as possible and carrying their equipment along in drag bags. Walther had chosen this building because it offered a good view of the city and was nearing completion, so there would be a lot of places for a sniper to hide. Every window and every pile of construction material could be a potential hiding place and it would be extremely difficult for the enemy shooter to visually inspect every one of them. After the building had been decided on, Major Salles had made some quiet arrangements with the company to give him the construction site for the day.
Finally at about five in the morning they finally reached their planned hiding spot. It was a half-completed attic on the top floor with the roof practically non-existent and the builders had left piles of bricks, mortar and other building materials lying all over the place. This not only afforded them an excellent view of most of Rome, the building materials gave them adequate clutter to blend into. However, they were still on the top floor and couldn't take the risk of standing up and silhouetting themselves against the night sky, lest the shooter was already waiting nearby and happened to see two suspicious figures wandering about on the roofs of half-completed buildings. So, keeping as close to the floor as possible Daniela concealed herself behind a few bags of cement lying about haphazardly and slowly slipped out her DSR1 from the drag bag just ask Walther crawled up next to her.
"Daniela, while you're setting up please listen to me. I know you think annoying me is good sport but avoid doing it altogether for now. You know full well that mistakes cannot be tolerated this time round," Walther whispered, almost pleadingly, "Our enemy this time round isn't your regular terrorist whose knowledge about shooting comes mainly from computer games. These two are well-trained in the art of camouflage and shooting and any mistake means death for one or both of us." Daniela gave a silent nod. By then she had the DSR1 out and was ready with it pulled firmly into the small of her shoulder. The DSR1 is a very accurate sniper rifle used almost exclusively by the GSG9. The bullpup design made it a very compact weapon, which Walther had found useful when getting into tight shooting positions. One of its unique features is the spare magazine holder in front of the trigger guard. Walther knew that in an urban setting, snipers could get very creative when hiding themselves and a recent fad involved the use of vehicles. Should this scenario play out, Walther certainly didn't want to be disadvantaged. The spare magazine in Daniela's DSR1 held five incendiary .308 rounds and on his order, she would change her ammunition and end the duel with a bang, literally.
Seeing that Daniela was quite ready, it was Walther's turn. He took out from his drag bag his H&K 417. Though it was meant to be a "designated marksman's" rifle, it was still fairly accurate with a 16 inch barrel built for accuracy and since Walther was to play a support role this time, that was sufficient. Since one of the his biggest worries at this time was the possibility that vehicles would be involved his translucent polymer magazine was holding armour-piercing rounds, just in case he needed to shoot someone in an armoured car. Slipping the stock into the small of his shoulder, Walther was suddenly in his comfort zone. Yes, this was his speciality, he thought to himself as he put his cheek firmly on the stock. He shifted his elbows ever so slightly so that bone, not muscle was in contact with the floor. As he peered through the scope he saw the crosshairs quivering ever so slightly, but this couldn't be helped, for there was a rhythm in the quivering. That rhythm was caused by the pulsing of blood through his veins and matched his heartbeat.
Without taking his cheek off the rifle, he whispered to Daniela. "I'll be your supporting shooter this time, so you'll have to do the wind and distance measurements yourself. Don't worry, for if you've memorized those maps I gave you and listened to everything that I've taught you you'll be fine. Remember that we're looking for two men using jute to break up the human outline so it's likely that they will be hiding in foliage. Take note that Rome is near the coast and he's using the winds coming in from the sea to mask his location. At first light I want you to start scanning the city, focusing on patches of vegetation." Daniela replied with a soft, "yes."
Walther knew that the biggest advantage they had now was the fact that their uniforms made them better suited for an urban duel. The pixellated pattern created an optical illusion of sorts that helped blend into the straight lines and the shades of gray was crucial in helping them blend into the drab urban landscape. Their enemy, on the other hand, was using jute to break up the distinctive human outline and blend into the sea of brown and green. In a jungle he would have millions of places to hide but this was the concrete jungle and his hiding places were limited. Of course Walther couldn't discount the possibility that they weren't using their ghillie suits this time. In that case, Walther would have to trust his experience to select the best hiding places and examine them more closely.