Drones Page #3

Well, how do you know that?

Psychic powers?

Judging by how his wife's hair is moving,

it's pretty windy.

She wouldn't put up

that banner unless she had to,

'cause it might blow away.

Not bad, Sherlock.

Not bad at all.

I wouldn't be surprised if

this makes it on TV tonight.

You know, we turn on fox news,

"U.S. military forces"

just killed another

Al qaeda operative

- "in eastern Afghanistan today."

- Hey, vehicle coming.

Establish auto-track.

Auto-track established.

- Telephoto.

- Uh, telephoto.

That's him.

All right.

Command, this is reaper 13,

airman bowles.

- Go ahead, 13.

- Kahlil is heading to the location.

- We need our go ahead.

- Nine-line is pending.

- I'm waiting on colonel Wallace.

- Major, you've got to help us.

He's a mile away.

If we take him out now, no civilians die.

Or wait two minutes and we take

out his whole family. Over.

- Working on it. Standby.

- We need to arm up in case

- we're authorized in time.

- Copy that.

- Code weapon.

- Weapon coded.

- Weapon status.

- Weapon armed.

- Select laser.

- Laser selected.

- Arm laser.

- Laser armed.

Reaper 13, what have you got?

Colonel, we have

30 seconds to prosecute

before he gets home

and we have to kill his family.

- Are you sure it's him?

- We're sure, sir.

- Have you met visual confirmation criteria?

- Yes sir. 10 seconds.

- God damn it!

- I beg your pardon, airman?

Excuse me, sir.

I'm sorry.

He just...

he just arrived home.

We did anticipate

this possibility

when we selected the location.

So have you

v.I.D.Ed the target?

Affirmative, sir.

I mean, he's playing with his kids now.

I am sending you the image.

Roger that. I'll contact centcom

and get the nine-line asap.

They'll be

extremely pleased. Out.

Jesus.

F***ing bureaucrats.

It's the whole reason

we lost Vietnam.

Those kids are like...

Six and eight?

You're gonna earn your stripes on this one,

lieutenant.

Hey, why is

she outside sweeping?

Her husband's already here?

Why would she be outside cleaning

if her husband's already here?

I don't know.

She's f***ing compulsive like my mom.

Are we positive that

that was mahmoud kahlil?

I am.

Are you not?

Well, airman, do you have

a copy of that photo?

This is him

10 years ago getting wasted.

This is him two seconds ago.

- See? It's the same guy.

- No, look at their faces.

- He grew a beard.

- Look at their foreheads.

Well, I mean, that's what happens

to guys when they get older.

They lose a little bit

of their hair.

Yeah, did he get a nose job?

Disarm.

Hey, listen,

we just got a f***ing break.

If that's not kahlil,

we can still hit him on the road.

All right, but he better f***ing

show up soon. Bring up the m.T.S.

Reaper 13, you are cleared to

engage for immediate attack.

No sir, there's...

I'm sorry.

There seems to be

a small hitch in the mission.

We happened to have

I.D.'Ed the wrong guy.

It's not...

it's not mahmoud.

- Are you shitting me?

- I'm sorry, sir.

I just called the secretary

of state about the wrong man?

Yes, but that's because

they look awfully alike, sir.

So what are you saying, airman?

All towelheads look alike?

Get some f***ing glasses,

you idiot.

Sir, we are trying

to avoid killing civilians.

This is exactly the kind

of half-assed bullshit

that drives centcom

up the f***ing wall.

We can rectify it, sir.

We believe that mahmoud's still coming.

You'd better pray

he's still coming.

I'm not blaming you, lieutenant.

Obviously you outrank

airman bowles,

but today is your first day.

This isn't your fault.

- I appreciate that, sir.

- As for you, airman bowles,

if this hvt isn't

blown to hell real soon,

I'll see to it

that you never fly again.

Now you are under strict orders

to engage mahmoud kahlil

the moment you see him.

But not without indisputable

visual confirmation.

- Yes sir. Thank you, sir.

- Out.

Out.

F*** me.

Is it my fault

these guys look the same?

- I didn't know what to say when he...

- Don't apologize.

I get it.

We all have to cover our ass.

I just wanna know who this

guy is if he's not mahmoud.

I'm thinking

he's the wife's brother.

Or maybe mahmoud's brother.

I wouldn't feel like such a dick

for mixing 'em up

and almost killing him.

F*** it. He's probably Al qaeda too,

or at least Taliban.

These guys are tribal.

Even the women hide

kalashnikovs under their burkas.

I bet every single one of the

hajis knows about his plan

to attack the U.S.,

you know?

If kahlil gets home and we have to

drop the hellfire on the hut...

We'll probably

take out five terrorists.

And two children.

Five to two is pretty damn good.

If we got that percentage

on every one of our missions,

we'd be jumping up and down.

We'll get kahlil when

he's coming on the road.

Everything will be fine.

Auto-tracking operational?

- Auto-tracking, check.

- Telephoto function?

Telephoto, copy.

As soon as we see him, boom.

Okay? It will be a precise

f***ing kill this time.

Have you ever had a kill

that wasn't precise?

We're fighting a war.

Compared to any other war,

the sh*t we do here

is pretty clean.

And the other percentage

is even cleaner.

- What other percentage?

- The percentage of us who die.

Zero... unless you count

guys like desean.

He died?

- Yeah.

- How?

After he trains with me,

he becomes one hell of a pilot.

I mean everybody loves him.

Very likable guy.

He gets assigned

to operation slingshot.

He's in one of the trailers

across the way.

Well, luck just so has it

he's the pilot

who drops hellfire

on the h.V.T.

When you do that,

you have to stick around,

take photos to confirm

but usually

you just see char and smoke.

Oh.

We're all celebrating,

high-fiving him.

He looks happy.

But that night he goes down

to the half moon bar

where you and I are gonna

get some drinks tonight.

Sits in the corner,

throws back 10 shots,

gets in his car,

drives off a f***ing cliff.

Son of a b*tch

grew up in Compton.

He probably witnessed

a thousand drive-bys.

And this is what gets him?

In my opinion, lieutenant...

- Desean thought too much.

- I know.

We just gotta blast

this terrorist son of a b*tch

and fly away.

Exactly.

I mean, we're not like

the fighter jocks

who just drop iron and take off.

We gotta stick around

and watch for squirters.

- Squirters?

- Yeah, squirters are

people who survive the splash

and then take off running.

We deal with them as ordered,

then we vid the body parts

- of the dudes we just took out.

- Oh, Jesus Christ.

Hey, sue, we're not

getting paid to bake

oatmeal cookies.

And make babies.

A few f***ed-up dreams come

with the territory.

- Go full on the road.

- Copy.

I wish they'd get

the hell inside...

That way they won't see their

dad getting blasted to bits.

I'm sorry I told you those stories

about desean and the squirters.

I'm just trying to get you

prepared for what you need to do.

My dad always

used to tell us stories...

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