The Diamond Eye

One . . . the first cool, measuring glance at the target, the moment the soul falls silent and the eye takes over.

He was the stupid bitch, to come at me like this. To assume a real sniper would ever, ever enter a duel unarmed.

The forest is like a temple, I remembered Vartanov saying. Be respectful, and the woods will reward you.

“Go home, keep fighting, and tell your friends that America is coming.”

I think I have come to know something about snipers by now. An eye like a diamond, yes. But a heart”

“I’ll miss all of you, even Mr. Krasavchenko and his rather endless anecdotes of his Komsomol days . . . but of everyone, dear Lyudmila, you’re the one I wish I could keep.”

Surgeons see bone and muscle, not hair color and posture.

no one should waste time if there’s a chance to be happy.”

There was range expertise and there was real expertise, the cold kind practiced until it was part of the blood. He’d seen a flash of it when she first handled her rifle—and then she’d taken position on the firing line, and he’d seen Lady Death unhood her eyes

“ ‘Look at that cute Russian girl eyeing me over there.’ His friend says, ‘Why not go say hello?’ His friend replies, ‘Because she’s eyeing me with her scope.’ ”