He cut a stick to fit inside between the shoulders, almost as if it was on a coat hanger. He then hung the coat from the stub of a broken branch jutting from a tree. He’d basically made a makeshift scarecrow. It wasn’t perfect, but it might be good enough to trick someone at a distance.
“Trample the ground around here so it’s not clear which way you went, then hide behind that log. I’m pretty sure they’ll split up when they see we went in different directions. They won’t want to take a chance that one of us can slip in behind them. They’ll be wanting to get this over with sooner rather than later, anyhow.”
“It is a gamble,” Bauer said, but he nodded in agreement with Cole’s plan.
“When one of them comes along to your hiding place, shoot him. Remember that if it’s Messner, then he’s got a submachine gun, so if you miss, he’s got a lot more bullets to shoot back.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll keep going, and the other one will be on my trail. I’ll bet it’s that Jaeger fella, because Messner will want to go after you personally.”
Bauer nodded, then asked, “What if they both decide to finish me off first, and then go after you?”
“Then I reckon you’re a dead man.”
“Fair enough.”
But Cole had one more trick up his sleeve. He was betting that the two remaining Germans would indeed split up. The German officer would surely go after Bauer. That had been the whole purpose of his pursuit.
Leaving Bauer behind in his hiding place, he retraced their path. About seventy feet away, he reached a point where he would strike out on his own. He wanted to send a message to make certain that the Jaeger followed him instead of going after Bauer. He took a spent shell from his pocket and stuck it on the end of a twig. Then he started off into the woods, carving his own trail.
For the Jaeger, the spent shell from another sniper would be like a gauntlet thrown to the ground.
He wondered how he knew that.
The question was, Just how good was this Jaeger?
They were about to find out.
Cole hurried, pressing deeper into the snowy forest.
Messner and Dietzel followed the group’s tracks through the snow. To their surprise, the tracks separated. A blood-speckled trail led one way, while two distinct sets of footprints veered off in another — Bauer’s German boots unmistakable among them. Without hesitation, they pursued Bauer’s path, surmising that he and an American had split from the others to avoid being slowed down by the wounded soldier.
It seemed like a cowardly choice, abandoning the slower group to save Bauer’s hide, which wasn’t all that surprising where Bauer was concerned.
They would finish off Bauer first.
“They can’t be far ahead,” Dietzel said.
“Yes, let’s make haste,” Messner agreed, his voice tinged with anticipation. “The sooner we catch them, the better.”
The two Germans quickened their pace, now almost running through the dense woods, eager to close in on their quarry. But soon the trail forked again. The American’s tracks headed one way, while Bauer’s went another. The different boot prints in the snow were as plain to read as a road sign.
“Bauer went this way,” Messner pointed out, noting the difference in the boot prints, something that the Jaeger had shown him earlier. “We need to go after him.”
Messner turned in that direction. However, Dietzel hung back. He had noticed a spent rifle shell stuck on the end of a twig, clearly left as a calling card.
Or an invitation.
“What about the American sniper?” the Jaeger asked. “It looks like he went in this direction.”
“Who cares about him?” Messner snapped in reply. “It’s Bauer that we’re after.”
Still, Dietzel hesitated. “Perhaps you should pursue Bauer alone, Herr Hauptmann. I have a score to settle with the American. He shot Gettinger. Besides, we would be better off knowing that he can’t come after us in these woods.”
Messner was hesitant at first, then nodded his approval. This didn’t mean that he wasn’t somewhat exasperated by the Jaeger’s line of thinking. When he replied, he sounded impatient and annoyed. “Very well. I will track Bauer. It shouldn’t be that hard in this snow. You hunt the American.”
With a single nod, Dietzel disappeared into the forest. Messner, now alone, advanced cautiously. The trees seemed to conspire against him, closing in around him. Then he saw a glimpse of blue-gray — the familiar color of a German uniform — visible among the trees. Once he had spotted it, the uniform coat stood out plainly against the natural surroundings.
