"Hey, come over here!"
Walther saw Major Salles waving to them and, together with Daniela, they crossed the police lines demarcating the whole garden as a crime scene. By now they had changed out of their fatigues and were now wearing formal clothes under formless trenchcoats with their weapons hidden under them, so that to the general public they looked like detectives instead of the marksmen that the GIS deployed to deal with the two men that were now lying in front of them. Earlier Daniela had been acting quite strangely. After they had changed out of the uniforms, she had suddenly clung on to him and refused to let go. Anyway she calmed down after a bit and Walther made a note to take her to the engineering department the moment they got back.
"Careful what you touch," yelled Major Salles, tossing a pair of gloves at them. "This is still a crime scene." Then turning to Walther, he glowered at him. "You didn't tell me you were using hollow-point bullets."
"My handloads? I didn't use them, Daniela did."
"This isn't going to sit well with the higher ups when the coroner's report comes out," the Major sighed as he pointed to one of the bodies barely visible under layers of dead vegetation and jute fibres. "Shot in the head with no exit wound and numerous bullet fragments in the cranium says that I'm going to answer to a lot of upset people about the use of inhumane ammunition. Of course these are the same people who think terrorists are amicable and slightly misguided people who can always be negotiated with. They were using TRG-21 rifles, probably stolen from army armouries and looking at the way they camouflage themselves, they're both professionals."
He noticed Daniela kneeling on the ground beside the second body and peering at the scope. It was barely visible under the camouflage but it was quite obvious that it was shattered and blood was seeping out of it. Stepping over, he told Walther, "If Daniela was using hollow-point bullets; this must be your work. The bullet hit the scope, passed down the length of it and hit him in the eye before exiting and burying itself in the ground behind him, or so the investigators tell me. An excellent shot, though it would have been better if you could take them alive."
"Major, with all due respect, there is no such thing as an excellent shot. There is nothing so excellent about humans resorting to shooting at each other to settle their disagreements. Back then I saw movement and the sunlight reflecting off his scope. Apparently he was staring down my barrel when I fired. That is a well-placed shot, not an excellent one. As for taking them alive, I hope you don't mind this." Saying that, Walther knelt down beside Daniela and with a gloved hand he reached for the shooter's breast pockets. When he stood up he was holding a Beretta 92F pistol wrapped in a waterproof Ziploc bag. Unzipping the bag, he took out the pistol, pulled the upper receiver back and locked it in place. A single 9mm round flew out of the chamber and the empty magazine in the pistol grip was now clearly visible to Major Salles.
"A single bullet, Major, to be used if ever they were caught alive. The sniper's greatest weapon is not his rifle, but fear. You've seen what two men can do to a whole city. However, fear is a double-edged sword and if ever they are captured, they can expect no mercy whatsoever. Even if these two men in front of us were arrested and somehow escaped the gallows, do you really think they would be treated in a civil manner by the rest of Italy, especially after their faces appear in the newspaper? In that respect, we're the loneliest people in armed forces. It's been a long day and Daniela's probably tired. We'll be taking our leave now."
As Walther turned to leave, a thought struck Major Salles. "Walter, you're from the Border Guard right?" Dropping his voice a little, he carried on, "Years ago when I was training in the International LRRP School there was a GSG9 sniper by the name of Walther too. Never saw his face, but he should be an officer by now. If ever you meet him please let him know that he was an excellent shooter and an even better soldier." Walther muttered under his breath, "Of course I will. Don't worry about it." Then he turned to leave.
As the pair walked away, Major Salles called after them, "Hey, if ever you two need a job you can always look for me." Walther largely ignored him. Retrenchment wasn't the biggest threat to his job at the Agency.