Sharp Shooter

Childhood Friends

"I wanna get a big, Kevlar collar, and I wanna put my name, rank and all my shots and data on it.", Raji commented as we boarded the C-130 bound for 51.

"And why do you wanna do that for?", Vortex asked.

"Well", Raji said as we sat down, "for one, I'm really just a little more than a big dog. Dogs are man's best friend and they wear collars with all their data on them."

"Yeah if your a house pet", Val remarked, "your a US Sailor."

"Who says I can't be both?", Raji smirked, "I'm gonna have it etched on the back of the tag, "This Hound is property of Ren Raziel, do not touch under penalty of head shot."

Raji looked at me and grinned. I tried hard to stifle a laugh, but failed. Vortex didn't even try to hide her's.

"If you wanna be a house pet we can arrange that", she laughed, "what made you think of that shit?"

Raji grinned again, showing his long, white fangs. "Well I figure since I'm a little more than a German Shepard now, why not act like one? Shepard's protect their friends to the point of death, and their great with kids."

Vortex laughed, "everyone at A51 is a kid Raji, your days are gonna be full of games of fetch if you do that shit."

"Meh", Raji answered, "someone's gotta be the class clown, why can't it be me?"

"True enough", Vortex said, "by the way Ren, your uncle asked me to give this to you."

Vortex handed me a brown cardboard box that was pretty weighty. I ran my claw through the tape and pulled out a Styrofoam mold that held a brand new, customized M27 Automatic Rifle. It was decked out with a Magpul MOE pistol grip, Aimpoint Comp M4, an Insight Technology Range Finder and Infrared laser. A Tango Down Stubby Vertical grip and a Surefire Flashlight were also mounted to a long HK-417 Rail and long flash hider from an unknown manufacturer was stuck to the end of the barrel

"Until you get your flight back, I figured you could make some use of my old M27 IAR. I doubt your revolver would save you from a horde of Taliban, so here you go"-Uncle Thomas.

"Your uncle gave you an M27 for no reason", Raji said, "there better be at least some bacon in there for me."

I laughed, "never mind the fact that both my weapons are for up close or a mile off and I have no way to escape if I get cornered."

Raji smirked and lay down, "I still want bacon."

I leaned against him, using him like the back of a couch, which he didn't seem to mind, as I checked over the new gun. The note had said it was old, but I didn't believe it. I was very tempted to believe that Uncle Tommy had gone out and bought me this rifle brand new. The parts looked, felt, and yes, smelled brand new, like they were fresh off the press and had gone straight to the rifle. My name, rank and team was even engraved onto the receiver and the serial number was the same as mine.

"Hey Vortex", I said tossing her my tags and the gun, "compare my Id Number to the gun's serial number."

Vortex looked at them for a minute, "oh damn, that's cool."

"What?", Val asked.

"Ren's ID and the gun's serial number are the same", Vortex laughed, "you have a cool Uncle Renny."

She tossed me the gun, but kept my tags. Instead of handing them back, she handed me a new set that looked like Solid bronze and had all my military data, as well as the Biotech logo, on the back.

"All Biotech subjects get these", Vortex said tossing them too me, "wear 'em proudly Renny, you deserve it."

I smiled and hung them around my neck.

"So what are you gonna tell us about?", Raji asked, "you said you'd fill us in on something on the way back."

"We'll wait till we hit 51", Vortex yawned, "until then, get some sleep."

She closed her eyes and Val followed shortly after. I could see Raji smile out of the corner of my eye.

"So about that collar?", he asked, "I left it at home."

I laughed quietly, "Ah, I have one I can loan you, for fifty bucks."

Raji snickered.

"Actually it's not a loan", I said.

Raji smiled, "I should expect as much, you were always trying to get money out of me."

"It will never stop either", I answered, "you were riding around in a Ferrari, my family was lucky to have our old pick up."

Raji smiled, "I went with your Dad to help him with something once. I've been in cars that were fast scary, that was slow scary. I swear he hit a bump and the suspension punched right through the fender. It drank about a quart of automatic transmission fluid for the duration of our trip, it was like it was from Rio."

"Rio means river", I said, "so maybe it was like.."

"River of automatic transmission fluid flowing from that old pick up", Raji laughed, "I remember helping your dad fix that old thing. You remember my first car?"

"The 1992 Dodge?", I asked.

Raji laughed, "fist generation dodge viper. The transmission tunnel will give you burns on your right leg, the exhaust will give you burns on your left leg. I got a sunburn on my head, Allah forbid I was driving that thing and it rained I might have actually drowned in there. That car was 450 horsepower, no traction control, no safety features, there were a lot of good ways", Raji was laughing so hard, "to die in that car. All I had to do was follow someone a little too closely and I was getting rocks in the face. Remember when you and I went into Dubai that one day for my Dad?"

"I was ten wasn't I?", I asked, "I think you were about 15."

Raji smiled, "yeah, you were like ten and couldn't see over the windshield."

I laughed, "yet still I got rocks in my face, in my collar, I took a rock to the chest."

"People weren't just throwing rocks at us were they?", Raji asked.

"I think it might have been they knew we were Jewish", I answered.

Raji looked like he was about to die.

"Someone told them there were two Jews in town, driving a sports car with no top and people were like "I've been waiting for this day. My. Entire. Life."

Raji was laughing so hard he was shaking, "such a crazy car."

I laughed with him, "Vortex would have been scared of that thing. So many good ways that car could kill you. And weather or not you could keep it out of the sand..."

Raji snorted, "tried to kill us so many times, yet I'd give anything to get back into it."

I yawned, still feeling the effects of the sedative, "yeah, it's preferable to what we got now."

"Hey Ren", Raji asked, "if you could walk away from Fireblood tomorrow, what would you do?"

"Easy", I answered, "full time Navy. You?"

"I would open up a garage but", he showed me the pads of his paws, "paws, not hands."

I laughed.

"Honestly I think I'd do the same thing", Raji answered, "become a SEAL, step it up a notch."

"Amen brother", I answered, "SEALS ain't got nothing on us."

"Maybe someday, once this shit with the KA is all over, we'll get to do just that", Raji said, "now if you'll excuse me, I'm still feeling the sedative."

"Yeah", I said closing my eyes, "I am too. It's nice to have you back Raji."

"Yeah", Raji answered, "same for you."

Raji fell asleep shortly after that and I followed him.