American Sniper: The Last Round – Episode 42
Automated rifles rose through the stadium seats in concentric rows, their targeting lights converging on the field and press level. Mercer had turned Rachel Fisher’s private challenge into an execution chamber. Every exit crossed at least three programmed lines of fire. The empty stands that had seemed merely abandoned now resembled a mechanical army waiting for permission to wake.
Carl Oliver dragged Rachel behind the lighting stand while Jane dropped beneath the press counter. The machines tracked heat and movement, but they had not fired yet. Mercer wanted them to understand the trap before he closed it.
His voice filled the stadium speakers. He thanked Black Widow for gathering the people who had damaged Meridian and congratulated Carl on winning a meaningless title. At midnight, Mercer said, the world would believe its famous shooters killed each other over pride.
Elena searched the control network from outside the stadium. Each rifle operated independently after receiving a master activation pulse. Disabling one would not affect the others. The pulse transmitter sat inside the scoreboard where the final target had risen.
Lewis had watched the target mechanism through his scope. Carl’s ricochet struck the plate but also bent the access panel behind it. A second shot through the damaged seam might destroy the transmitter. The angle existed only from Jane’s press position.
Jane found a competition rifle inside the emergency cabinet Rachel had stocked for the duel. Black Widow had loaded it herself, but Jane checked every cartridge after what happened to Alex. The ammunition was clean. She rested the barrel along the counter while targeting lights moved across her hands. Remembering the sabotaged round steadied rather than frightened her, because experience had taught her exactly what uncertainty demanded.
Carl needed to draw the machines away from her. Rachel offered to run because Mercer had marked her as expendable regardless of who survived. Carl refused to spend her life for an opening. He shot the stadium sprinkler main instead, filling the lower seats with cold water that distorted the thermal sensors.
The targeting lights scattered across the wet concrete. Jane rose, located the bent scoreboard panel, and fired. Her round passed through the opening and destroyed the pulse transmitter before Mercer could complete activation. Half the machines collapsed, while the others entered uncontrolled search mode.
One rifle fired toward the press level. Lewis struck its motor from across the stadium, then disabled another tracking Jane’s exit. His recovering body shook with each recoil, but his shots remained exact. Father and daughter moved through the trap as though the stolen years had narrowed to a single shared rhythm.
Rachel recovered her sidearm and destroyed the nearest control boxes. Carl crossed the field beneath her cover, directing Jane toward the service tunnel. The hidden sniper fired again from the luxury boxes and wounded Black Widow across the shoulder.
Instead of pursuing the retreating shooter, Carl stopped Rachel’s bleeding. She accused him of wasting time on someone who had tried to kill Jane hours earlier. He answered that choosing who deserved emergency aid was not the same as choosing who deserved justice.
Ruiz’s agents entered once Elena opened the exterior gates. They found the hidden sniper’s position empty except for a military radio broadcasting airfield traffic. Mercer had left another clue designed to hurry them toward the aircraft.
Rachel insisted the flight information was real. She had personally arranged the medical transport before the Capitol attack. Mercer expected her to die in the stadium, but he still needed the plane. The access code she gave Carl would open its defensive system for less than thirty seconds.
Jane distrusted the sudden alliance. Black Widow admitted she did not regret working for Meridian, only allowing Mercer to mistake employment for ownership. She would help stop him because betrayal required an answer. Afterward, she and Carl could decide whether their conflict remained unfinished.
There was no time to interrogate motives. Ruiz sent Rachel to a guarded ambulance while Carl, Jane, and Lewis transferred to tactical vehicles. Elena drove toward the airfield with the access code ready. The medical transport had begun engine checks ahead of schedule.
The aircraft waited on a private runway surrounded by Meridian contractors in emergency-service uniforms. Its defensive turret scanned approaching roads from beneath the fuselage. Civilian airport staff continued working nearby, unaware that a firefight could begin beside active fuel tanks.
Elena entered Rachel’s code. The turret folded into maintenance mode, and Ruiz’s vehicles crossed the outer gate. Mercer responded immediately, locking the system and accelerating the plane toward the runway. Contractors opened fire from behind service trucks.
Carl shot tires and weapon mounts rather than bodies, clearing a path for the agents. Jane and Lewis moved toward the hangar controls. If they raised the emergency barrier too soon, the aircraft could strike it at takeoff speed and kill everyone aboard.
The plane gathered speed. Jane saw a face through one illuminated cabin window and recognized Matthew Valentine strapped to a medical stretcher. Mercer had removed him from protective custody to prevent further testimony. Whatever anger she carried toward her uncle, she would not allow Meridian to erase him before he answered publicly for his choices.
Carl raised his rifle toward the aircraft’s front landing gear. The shot could stop Mercer, but a failure would collapse the plane and kill Matthew with the crew. As the wheels began to leave the runway, Rachel’s voice came through the radio: “Don’t hit the gear. He armored it because he knows that’s the shot you would choose.”