The Iscariot Agenda by Rick Jones

tone. In the sky lightning flashed. Most likely the coming of a storm, he considered; the slight wind an obvious precursor.
    On most nights he would delight in such cool weather, but not tonight. Not when strobes of lightning would render the optics of his NVG inoperable.
    Not with the assassin a click or two away from his ranch.
    Are you out there ? he thought.
    At the trailing edge of Hawk’s thought, Dog responded symbiotically to his master by craning his head off the floor and staring off into the darkness, centering on something only he could see. A deep growl rumbled in the back of his throat, the red flag that Hawk had become accustomed to when they were not alone.
    Reaching over, Hawk scratched the dog behind the ears. “He’s out there, boy, isn’t he?”
    The dog remained as still as a Grecian statue, focusing, sensing, the growl abating little.
    Hawk then placed both hands on the rifle, then carefully popped off the caps covering the front and rear lenses of the weapon’s hi-tech scope.
    All he needed was one shot.
    In the not too distant skyline lightning flashes were becoming more pronounced, the wind rising to more than just the soft soughing.
    Damn !
    The brush began to sway and roll with the direction of the growing breeze, the landscape coming alive from all directions.
    Hawk stopped rocking.
    But Dog continued his growl at a leveled measure as he slowly got to his feet. The hackles on the back of his neck rose the same time the folds of his muzzle lifted to show off canines that were polished and keen.
    “Oh, yeah,” whispered Hawk. “You’re out there all right.”
    Hawk then spoke in a manner Dog had heard many times before, giving that one order geared to attack an opponent with the intent to kill.
    “Get him.”
    And Dog bounded off into the darkness with his jaws snapping.
     
    #
    The assassin lay quietly in wait. Behind him, coming from the west, a wind began to surge. The brush swayed all around him, the earth coming alive with movement that gave him aid, his Ghillie suit just another part of the living landscape.
    Through his NV scope he could see the Indian sitting serenely on the porch with his dog next to him, the Native American seemingly at ease but obviously suspect that he was not alone. Odd, though, that he would sit openly like that knowing he could be in the crosshairs.
    And then the dog lifted its head, staring, the creature looking uncannily his way and drawing a bead.
    The Indian stopped rocking.
    And the dog got to its feet.
    What a truly amazing sense of instinct and intuition, he thought.
    Reaching beneath the folds of the Ghillie suit, the assassin worked his way to the hilt of a KA-BAR knife and slowly retracted it from its sheath, turning the weapon over in his hand in order to get a better feel, and then a better grip. 
    If the assassin understood one thing, he knew that dogs were full of incredible fight with courage as stout as their loyalty. And that self-preservation was secondary to the welfare of their masters.
    He gripped the knife tighter.
    And then the dog launched itself in his direction, a straight line—the shortest distance between two points. But most noticeably to the assassin, its jaws were snapping in a manner to rent and tear.
    But all he could do was to lay in wait as the beast drew near.
     
    #
    Hawk loved the animal more than he loved most people, its loyalty immeasurable and its companionship always an unwavering joy. From the moment Dog took off from the stoop, Hawk recalled the entire moments of the dog’s life from a puppy with a penchant to play to the moment it ran off into the darkness. It was a quick collage of wonderful snippets filled with good remembrances.
    A horrible sadness crept over him, but Hawk remained stoic, his face betraying little as his emotions warred for the release of pent up sorrows in the form of tears.
    While Dog served as a distraction, Hawk bolted from the porch and ran into the darkness to set himself up with a