American variety show: Sniper Elite

Chapter 6 Intelligence Sharing
The morning mist in London, carrying a chill, flows slowly through the concrete jungle.

As the ghost who carried out an assassination mission in full view of Downing Street, Beta should not have returned to this city woven with the inescapable web of MI6.

But the intelligence network of the mainland hotels never makes mistakes. The information obtained in exchange for a gold coin clearly indicated that the reckless employer was hiding somewhere in the city.

Beta tightened the collar of his trench coat and stepped out of Heathrow Airport, which was now under the surveillance cameras. Facial recognition systems had been installed at every security checkpoint, and the patrol officers on the street corners had been equipped with new gear.

The city is armed to the teeth to capture him, and now he is walking into this inescapable trap.

Before the authorities could match the killer's identity with Beta's true appearance, his unremarkable face was the best disguise. Ordinary height, ordinary clothes, ordinary expression—an ordinary Londoner who blended perfectly into the crowd—this was the safest form of camouflage.

Beta deliberately avoided the Continental Hotel, a landmark in the assassin world.

He knew all too well that after the sniper killing that shocked the entire UK in Downing Street, all locations connected to the underworld would be under 24-hour surveillance by the security services.

He chose a business hotel called "Oak," located on the edge of the financial district, where the guests were all multinational company employees busy adjusting to the time difference.

After swiping her card to enter, Beta locked the door chain, pulled up the blackout curtain, and took her laptop out of her suitcase.

When the USB drive was inserted, the screen rippled with a faint blue light. The triple-encrypted chat interface appeared as expected, with only the cursor blinking regularly against a black background.

Beta leaned back in her chair, the coffee on the table long since gone cold.

One hour and seventeen minutes later, the system emitted a soft "beep" sound.

The file decryption progress bar flashed by, and an ID photo popped up on the screen: short blond hair, gray-blue eyes, and a jawline with typical Anglo-Saxon features.

The photo is captioned in 12-point font: Elliott Doyle, immediate family member of the Chief Superintendent of Scotland Yard.

Beta's fingertip lightly swiped across the screen.

This intelligence report, worth six figures in US dollars, provides all the answers in the most concise way.
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Conference room at the headquarters of MI6 (British Military Intelligence Bureau).

Meva Lake, the team leader in charge of the Downing Street shooting, sat opposite the head of the counterterrorism department, with thick stacks of case files scattered on the conference table in front of them.

On a huge projection screen, the head of the Munich branch of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is connecting via encrypted video link.

“Just 72 hours ago, a similar incident occurred in Munich.” The German adjusted his glasses. “The range was 3815 meters, 15 meters more than the range in your London case.”

The British supervisor frowned: "You mean it was done by the same gunman?"

The German on the other end of the screen shook his head: "No, the modus operandi is significantly different. The Munich case used an untraceable, homemade sniper system, while yours..."

He paused, then added, "They were using standard equipment, although the reporting records had obvious problems."

The British supervisor narrowed his eyes: "So? You went to the trouble of activating the encrypted channel just to share details of the case?" The German camera shook slightly, and the person on the other end adjusted their posture: "We've identified the Munich shooter's codename as 'The Jackal.'"

He pulled up an encrypted file: "We formally request your assistance in screening the files of all active and retired military and police personnel, with a focus on identifying suspicious individuals capable of sniping at distances exceeding 3800 meters. Based on ballistic analysis and on-site behavioral characteristics, this gunman, codenamed 'Jackal,' is highly likely to have British ties. We have discovered typical SAS Special Air Service (SAS) operational style in details such as the impact points of the spent cartridge cases and the retreat route."

The British supervisor slammed his pen on the table: "So you went to all that trouble to set up an encrypted channel just to pin the Munich mess on us? Tell me, Mr. Schneider, is the BND now using such absurd reasoning in its investigations? Huh?"

The German intelligence officer paused for a few seconds, then his fingers flew across the keyboard as he sent another encrypted file: "We have also confirmed the identity of the Downing Street shooter. Of course, for now, only his code name is available."

The British manager opened the document, and the screen displayed a nearly blank file. Apart from a lone Greek letter "β" in the center of the page, the entire file was frustratingly clean.

A German intelligence officer stated, "The professional assassin codenamed β possesses sniping skills that have surpassed the limits of conventional weapons."

He pulled up a 3D ballistic model: "In the 2018 Egypt case, he used a Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I rifle. This World War II rifle has an effective range of only 800 meters, yet he achieved a kill record of hitting the target squarely between the eyebrows at 910 meters."

The surveillance footage switched to the streets of Casablanca, where the bulletproof windows of the Mercedes-Benz showed spiderweb-like cracks.

“注意这个弹着点角度。“德国人用激光笔圈出碎裂中心：“2020年，他用莫辛纳甘M1891/30步枪配合古董级4倍PU瞄准镜，在785米外命中时速72公里的移动目标。“

On the ballistic analysis chart, an exaggerated arc is particularly striking.

"In Johannesburg, South Africa, the De Lisle carbine had a muzzle velocity of only subsonic." He zoomed in on a 3D diagram of the bullet's impact point: "At a distance of 644 meters, the bullet dropped 12 meters, yet still managed to penetrate the top of the skull."

In the photos from the scene, the trajectory of the second bullet as it passed through the chaotic crowd is circled in red: "Despite the interference of 17 moving obstacles, the second bullet still accurately struck the target's fatal spot 2.5 centimeters between the eyebrows."

Finally, he pulled up a world map, densely packed with red dots covering all continents: "Between 2022 and 2024, there were 37 globally consistent cases of long-range sniping."

The laser pointer drew a circle on the map: "We highly suspect it was all Beta's doing."

German intelligence officers pulled up comparative analysis charts of two cases, with the red dot of a laser pointer drawing a clear trajectory on the screen: "According to your country's media reports on the Thames Hotel case."

He zoomed in on the bullet hole: "Two .50 BMG armor-piercing rounds hit the same spot with millimeter-level error, penetrating Level IV bulletproof glass."

The scene switches to a ballistic simulation: "The Downing Street case is even more astonishing; at 3800 meters, a .338 Lapua bullet detected and locked onto an effective aiming area only 2.5 centimeters in diameter within a crowd."

The surveillance footage freezes on the moment the target falls: "Both cases demonstrate β's signature method: surgically precise sniping under theoretically impossible conditions."

Meva Lake pressed her pen against her lower lip: "So your conclusion is that β is essentially a living ballistic computer that ignores weapon performance parameters? You can just throw any old stick with a scope at him and he can use it as an anti-materiel rifle?"

The German intelligence officer adjusted his glasses: "To be more precise, as long as it meets the three basic conditions of 'rifling, firing mechanism, and optical sights,' it will become an invitation to death in β's hands."

(End of this chapter)