Page 55 of Silent Target

Caleb adjusts his rifle.

A shot cracks across the valley.

The floodlight above the eastern fence explodes.

Shattered glass rains over the yard, and every guard turns in the wrong direction.

Caleb fires again.

A security camera vanishes.

A third shot destroys a communications antenna.

A fourth sends the rooftop alarm into a shower of sparks.

Men start shouting.

“East perimeter!”

“Movement on the west ridge!”

“We’re under attack!”

Confusion spreads through the compound.

I stare at Caleb. “You aren’t shooting the guards.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“They expect me to.”

Below us, Walter stops beside the main building.

His calm expression changes.

Only slightly.

But I recognize the moment he understands.

Caleb isn’t trying to kill him.

He’s dismantling the systems protecting him.

Walter grabs a radio.

Operators rush toward the damaged equipment.

Exactly where Caleb wants them.

His radio crackles.

Cobra’s voice comes through. “What in the world are you doing?”

“Creating traffic.”

“You always were strange.”