23. Ready... Aim...

Papa Branković takes aim at Chrissy's head. A short, but intense chapter.

Papa Branković smiled as he watched the American woman walk across the parking lot. She had fallen for the trap. Americans were so stupid. It would be so easy to shoot her from this far away. He could easily pick her off from twice the distance.

He had no qualms about killing her. He hated the Americans! He and his Serbian comrades had been winning the war in Bosnia until the Americans and their goddamn NATO allies stuck their noses into things. 'Ethnic cleansing' they had cried. It was none of their business! The Serbs were simply taking what rightfully belonged to them and ridding their land of the Bosniak, Croat and Muslim trash. Damn their meddling!

It was unfortunate that the child had to die, too. But that was collateral damage. Those were the fortunes of war.

As the American woman neared Radic, his son, Papa Branković sited through his scope. All he had to do now was wait for the signal from Radic that he had the card. He forced himself to concentrate. Sometimes the easiest shots were the ones that missed. He stilled himself and went through the routine in his head that he always followed before taking a shot. He lined up the cross-hairs of his scope with her head. Any moment now...

He was concentrating so hard that he didn't notice a shadow fall across him. But he did feel the cold steel of a gun barrel press against the back of his head and hear the click of a hammer being cocked.

Then he heard a rather pleasant woman's voice say, “Careful, Papa. No sudden moves. I startle easily.”

Author's Note

It's not over yet. Chrissy still has to deal with Radic.

Reviews

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Still love this chapter. Amused I'm rereading the same day you stumbled across my villain chapter! Ohhhh Papa. My one question is about the ethnic cleansing. I was very young when all the Bosnia drama was going on, but weren't we saying genocide while the Serbian side called it ethnic cleansing? Or was it both we called it? I know Muslims were a major target... Just surprised I remember much. Then again, I was a really advanced kid, reading the paper while others were learning to read. Then again, could be remembering wrong? (Needless to say, my reading wasn't censored and I was hardly sheltered)

[Craig2591]

To be honest, I don't really remember myself. I'd have to go back and research it again. It was an incredibly complex situation with several sides that kept switching their alliances. I always thought that 'genocide' was killing a certain group of people while 'ethnic cleansing' was driving them out. Either way, there was a lot of both going on on all sides, though the Serbs were definitely the worst!

[C. Rose]

should sited be sighted?
Yay for the good guys :D

[Craig2591]

Oooh, good catch. I'll have to change that.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Ahhhh, I absolutely love this! This was very short, sweet and to the point, yet you still give insight into the motivations behind Papa's atrocities. I also like how you draw upon history in the early 1990s. Awesome writing.

[Craig2591]

Thank you for the review. This is the first time I have ever gotten into a villain's head. It was rather fun.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

It is really fun to enter the twisted mind of a villain and get a sense of their motivations, is it not? I did the same thing with one of my books. Speaking of books, I am exceptionally intrigued by this chapter and may just have to read the entire thing (=

[Craig2591]

Please do... and recommend one of yours for me to read. We can trade reviews.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Sounds like a good plan! I'll start with one and drop a review on every chapter. My book in progress is Fallen Ones, and at once one I feel has most potential and needs most work thus far. It's also the aforementioned one that has a villain focused chapter (Slip of the Tongue.) I'm debating sticking a couple of chapters in the beginning before "As the Year Dies" that'd have more exposition and a silly scene or two to show friendship developing. There may also be one inserted between "Wilderness" and "Return to Normalcy"

[John Lauterbach]

I like the change of perspective to Papa B; gives us a little understanding as to why he's behaving so badly.

[Craig2591]

Yeah, I enjoyed getting into his head.

[K.]

Upload more, upload more, upload more! I didn't see any problems with the chapter other than that you left us hanging at a good part!!

[Craig2591]

Thank you. I have to finish the next one. Soon! I promise!