When clearing a room or doing other dangerous tasks, it is helpful to have a friend cross the line of sight of the enemy prior to the assault. The target may or may not have a clear shot, but will attempt to acquire the runner, who quickly ducks into cover, or in this instance runs past the building, keeping safe from at least one enemy.
In the example, the enemy Grunt has been flanked while his attention was focused in another direction. Always gang up on your enemy, never take them head-on to avoid losses of health or units. See Room Clearing for a plan of the assault, and how the Medic drew the enemy's fire during the assault.
As far as having a Grunt stepping out and drawing fire while a Sniper steps out immediately behind him and shoots, that was my preferred way to remove Snipers. I'd use a Sniper or a Commander as the shooter. In an ideal world I'd have the enemy Sniper spotted during the plotting phase so that I could Red-Line him. The Grunt would step out first and run laterally across the Sniper's fire lane. 1/4 second later My Sniper would step out and fire. I would try to get the Grunt back behind cover by 2.5 seconds, but I couldn't, I'd run him laterally until he reached cover. The combination of his Lateral speed and the enemy Sniper's small firing cone would usually keep him safe.
The timing works out the same as an Launching Exposed (or an Escorted Launch), except that you're protecting a slow shooter instead of a Grenadier.
You can ensure that the Grunt gets locked on by the enemy instead of your shooter by having him move straight at the enemy position while your shooter steps out behind him. Have him start moving laterally after about 2 seconds of exposure to draw any aimed shots away from your shooter. That way your shooter will only be exposed for just over a second - long enough to finish firing and stepping back behind cover.
It's very satisfying to watch the enemy laser pass harmlessly between your two guys as the enemy takes one in the face.
-------------------------------------------------- contributed by Crank