by John Ling
‘Locking down the Hosseinis and the PLC component in one location.’
‘Yeah. It makes all the variables easier to control,’ Adam said. ‘Remember – he’s already taken enough risks today. He has every reason to be conservative.’
‘I concur.’ Jim reached into his bag. He pulled out a tablet computer, and with a flick of his finger, he powered it on.
But unlike regular tablets, this one had a screen that used red light instead of white. It restricted the glare and kept it localised, and no one beyond their immediate vicinity would be able to spot it.
Jim launched an app and keyed in the address for the warehouse, and immediately, a wireframe model blossomed. A complete layout of the structure.
Kendra leaned in, her eyes squinting.
‘Courtesy of the Israelis,’ Jim said. ‘They’re constantly dealing with terror strikes within their borders. So they always have a complete collection of schematics for every building in their country. And, yes, the GCSB thought it might be a good idea to quietly do the same here.’
‘Big Brother personified.’ Adam whistled softly. ‘Usually, I’d be throwing a hissy fit and calling this an intrusion of civil rights. But, right now, hey, I’m just happy to have it.’
Jim swiped his finger and zoomed in on the virtual model. He panned this way and that way. ‘So... we’re looking at two levels here. The main floor of the warehouse itself, and catwalks and balconies on the second floor, with offices all around.’
‘It’s a damn shooting gallery,’ Kendra said, her nostrils flaring. ‘Look at all the overlapping fields of fire. Whether you’re up or down, you’re constantly exposed.’
‘Right you are, little girl. Which is why we won’t be going in loud.’ Jim reached into his bag and pulled out a strange-looking grenade. He tossed it to Kendra. It was all sharp angles and polished chrome. ‘We’ll stealth it like ninjas and rearrange the pieces on the board to our advantage.’
Adam grinned. ‘Copy that, Mr Gandalf.’
37
Kendra and Adam circled around and approached the warehouse from the rear.
It offered the path of least resistance. The sentries were mostly patrolling the front of the building or the sides. They weren’t really expecting anyone to intrude from the water’s edge, hence their rounds of the area were less frequent.
Kendra intended to exploit that.
She moved in a slow, careful shuffle, leaning into her UMP sub-machine gun, night-vision goggles clasped against her eyes.
Everything felt heightened now.
The grass brushing against her shoes.
The wind caressing her face.
Her laser dancing over the eerie green glow of the terrain.
There was almost no moonlight, thanks to the presence of a heavy cloud cover, and that reassured Kendra. So long as she didn’t stray too close to the lamp posts or spotlights dotting the warehouse’s perimeter, she would remain invisible to the naked eye.
Still, she wasn’t relying on shadows alone to achieve cover and concealment.
She had selected a route that took her through the most rugged parts of the terrain. Places where the topography rose or fell, further obscuring her silhouette.
Eventually Kendra stopped and went prone, flattening herself against a grassy knoll.
Beside her, Adam did the same. He set down his sub-machine gun and unslung the HK69 grenade launcher he’d been carrying. He braced it against his shoulder.
The paved parking lot was twenty metres ahead, and just beyond that was the loading dock. This was as close as they could get without coming into range of the CCTV cameras.
‘This is Sierra Actual. We’re in position,’ Kendra said into her throat microphone. ‘We’re good to go.’
‘Copy, I’m providing overwatch,’ Jim said. ‘Ready whenever you are.’
‘Wilco. Stand by.’ Kendra turned to Adam and nodded.
‘Executing now.’ Adam aimed his launcher skyward and squeezed the trigger.
The launcher thumped, and the grenade soared in an arc, spiralling as it did.
It disappeared somewhere beyond the warehouse’s rooftop.
A moment later, all the lights in and around the warehouse went dark.
The grenade had detonated without a sound, unleashing an electromagnetic pulse that fried all the circuitry within range, disabling not only the power supply but any communications equipment.
Kendra rose to her feet. ‘Moving.’
‘Covering.’ Jim said.
Kendra and Adam entered the parking lot. There were three cars here. Sedans. She recognised the one in middle as being the vehicle that had pursued her this afternoon.
Working quickly, she got her knife out and slashed their tyres. She didn’t want them going anywhere in a hurry. Then she was up and moving again, trotting towards the loading dock.
‘Hold up,’ Jim said. ‘Tango approaching at your two o’clock.’
With her breath caught in her throat, Kendra raised her fist and signalled Adam to drop to a crouch. Then she pivoted and aimed her weapon in that direction.
Sure enough, a sentry rounded the corner, a couple of paces away. He was smacking his palm against his radio, muttering in frustration.
‘I have the solution,’ Jim said.
‘Scorpio,’ Kendra whispered.
There was a pop, followed by a spray of blood and brain matter, and the sentry staggered and sprawled forward against the ground.
‘Tango neutralised,’ Jim said. ‘You’re clear to proceed.’
38
Kendra sidled up by the side door that led into the loading dock’s interior. She covered Adam as he inspected it for tripwires before picking the lock.
She counted down the seconds in her head. She felt her anxiety rise, and she really wished they could move faster.
But, no, they couldn’t just blast their way in.
By now, Onyx would be gauging the blackout as suspicious, especially since he had lost radio contact with his sentries on the perimeter. But he wouldn’t resort to executing the Hosseinis. Not until he was sure that an all-out assault was taking place.
So, for their sake, Kendra needed to preserve that element of ambiguity. Maintain the silence for as long as possible.
‘Open sesame.’ Adam unlocked the door and pushed it inward, hinges squeaking.
Kendra nodded, sweeping her weapon back and forth. ‘Making entry.’
They cleared the doorway and the common area beyond, then pushed forward into a maze of crates and containers and forklifts. The air smelled of polystyrene and plastic, and with the air conditioning disabled, the temperature was rising.
Kendra could feel sweat beading on her forehead and pooling under her armpits. She sliced the corners, eliminating the blind spots, and soon enough, she spotted a van parked on the far side of the loading dock.
It was the same one that had visited the farmhouse earlier.
With Adam covering her, Kendra slashed the van’s tyres.
That’s when Jim’s voice crackled in her earpiece. ‘Sierra Actual, listen up. The two other tangos on the perimeter are getting antsy. One looks like he’s going to enter the building through the front entrance.’
Kendra curled her lip.
Was the sentry heading inside just to grumble to Onyx? Or to warn him that something was afoot?
Ultimately it didn’t matter. She didn’t want the stress level getting any higher than it already was. So the choice was clear.
‘Knock them both down,’ Kendra said.
‘Ten-four.’ There was a pause, followed by the suppressed thump of the sniper rifle cycling twice, then the sound of Jim exhaling. ‘Tangos neutralised.’
‘Stay frosty.’
Kendra and Adam ascended a ramp and slipped into the corridor that led into the warehouse’s main floor.
39
There were voices echoing from just ahead.
Men were shouting back and forth in Farsi.
Kendra reached
an intersection in the corridor and crouched beside the corner. She strained to listen.
‘What are they saying?’ Adam whispered.
Kendra tilted her head. ‘Onyx is yelling for someone to turn on the backup generator. And another guy is yelling back. Saying he doesn’t know where it is. And Onyx is frustrated. He’s worried about corrupted data because all the computers have gone dead—’
Suddenly a light glowed from the corridor ahead, and Kendra’s heart skipped.
She eased back behind the corner.
Footsteps were approaching. A VAJA operator was carrying a flashlight. It was almost certainly an old-fashioned model. One that ran on an incandescent bulb, which was why it was still functioning despite the electromagnetic pulse.
The footsteps got louder and closer.
Kendra gritted her teeth.
The operator marched right past the intersection. He didn’t notice Kendra and Adam huddled against the wall, just below his eyeline.
Adam tracked the guy with his laser.
Kendra reached out and gave Adam’s shoulder a squeeze.
Adam hit him with a three-round burst.
The operator’s body seized up in mid-stride, and he fell. His flashlight clattered against the floor, rolling.
Kendra duck-walked towards it. She picked it up and switched it off.
40
For Kendra, functioning flashlights were a problem.
It meant that Onyx and his men weren’t totally blind. Sure, their field of vision was limited, and their situational awareness was impaired, but if push came to shove, they could still organise themselves and put up a fight.
Not ideal.
But Kendra reassured herself that the presence of flashlights could also work in her favour. Assuming each operator carried one, the illumination would act as beacons in the dark, making it easier for her to pinpoint their positions and react accordingly.
Also, the current situation was much better than the alternative – being forced to go up against operators equipped with night-vision. That wasn’t the case here. Even if they had that kind of gear, the electromagnetic pulse would have fried their circuits by now, rendering them useless.
Kendra wiped sweat off her brow and exhaled.
We still have the advantage here.
She watched Adam as he patted down the dead operator.
He looked up. ‘No body armour. Armed only with a Beretta 9mm.’
Kendra nodded, her confidence buoyed. ‘Good. Let’s hope it’s the same for the rest of them.’
‘Roger that.’
They continued moving. They crept to the end of the corridor and button-hooked into the hallway beyond. They entered the warehouse’s main floor.
They were faced with rows of pallet racks that soared, creating narrow aisles that evoked a feeling of claustrophobia.
Even more daunting was the presence of cantilevered balconies and intersecting catwalks hanging from above. It allowed operators on the second floor to simply peer over and observe the ground floor below.
Tactically, it was a nightmare. Overlapping fields of fire. Sight lines that were less than clean. And choke points everywhere.
Kendra grimaced. It was one thing to see the warehouse represented as a wireframe model, and it was another thing altogether to be actually here, experiencing it for real.
It’s a damn shooting gallery. Danger from up high. And danger from down below.
The only option now was to advance in a leapfrog fashion. Navigate the aisles slowly and cautiously.
So Kendra held her position and covered Adam while he inched forward a couple of paces. Then Adam held his position and covered her while she inched forward a couple of paces.
Over and over, they repeated the drill.
The seconds seemed to stretch into forever.
Eventually Kendra spotted signs of illumination coming from up ahead, where the voices echoed. So that’s what she zeroed in on.
Tension knotted up her stomach, and her fingers flexed around her weapon. She sidled up beside a rack. She peered through a gap between the two cartons sitting on the shelf in front of her. And – fuck – that’s when she saw Ryan.
41
That moment of moments was like a million pinpricks on her soul. Searing. Red-hot. And she felt everything at once.
Longing.
Anger.
Regret.
There he was, seated in a chair in the clearing ahead, facing a row of modular desks kitted out with widescreen monitors and towering workstations. Wiring and power boards lay at his feet, snaking all around.
On the far right were his parents, Leila and Saeed, seated in two chairs pushed against a wall. They were bound and gagged, looking terrified but otherwise unharmed.
Ryan, though, wasn’t so lucky. His face was puffy and bruised, and his posture was despondent.
Hovering close by was Onyx, flanked by two operators carrying flashlights. He was pacing back and forth, smoking a cigarette, its tip burning in the darkness. His movements were sharp and agitated, like he was on the verge of losing control.
Kendra lifted her gaze. There was another operator positioned on the catwalk directly above. That realisation caused her throat to cramp up.
If they launched an assault on Onyx now and tried to free Ryan, it meant that the operators could very well respond by turning their guns on Leila and Saeed. But the reverse was also true. If they tried to free Leila and Saeed first, Onyx could decide that there was nothing left to lose and proceed to murder Ryan.
Kendra shook her head. She settled on the only option left – a simultaneous assault executed with split-second timing. There would be no room for error.
Turning, Kendra looked at Adam and gestured. ‘You need to get up there. Take out the operator above.’
Adam nodded and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. ‘I will be waiting on your mark. And don’t worry. I’ll get it done.’
‘I know you will.’
Adam shuffled back down the aisle and disappeared around the corner. He headed for one of the stairwells that led up to the second floor.
Kendra inhaled deeply, then spoke into her throat microphone. ‘Sierra One, we have eyes on the principal and the precious cargo. And we’re going to go loud. I need you covering the front entrance. Cold zero.’
‘Roger,’ Jim said. ‘Cold zero.’
With her eyes fixed on Onyx, Kendra unclipped a stun grenade from her combat chest rig and readied it in her hand.
42
‘This is Sierra One. In position,’ Jim said. ‘Covering the entrance. Cold zero.’
Kendra waited for Adam, the edges of her mouth crinkling. She could imagine him creeping up the staircase now. He would be hugging the shadows, positioning himself to take out the operator on the catwalk.
Finally she heard his voice. ‘This is Sierra Two. In position. Good to go.’
Kendra could see his laser puncturing the darkness, hovering on the unsuspecting operator.
She swallowed. Everything had led up to this hair-trigger moment, and what it would come down to now was speed, surprise and violence of action.
Gritting her teeth, Kendra pulled the pin on her stun grenade. ‘Bang and clear. Three, two, one. Execute.’
43
Kendra hurled the stun grenade out into the clearing, and it detonated.
The concussive blast was like thunder and lightning combined, and Onyx and his operators flinched, confused.
That’s when Adam opened fire, hitting the operator on the catwalk.
He convulsed from the bullet impacts, his torso twisting, and he dropped off the platform, plunging straight down, landing with a god-awful crunch on the ground floor.
Kendra swung out of cover, adrenaline scorching her senses. She fanned her trigger, hitting the operator closest to her with a three-round burst, followed by another. He fell against a desk, overturning a workstation.
Kendra swung her aim around and tracked the remaining operator. But he already h
ad his weapon raised – a Skorpion machine pistol. She didn’t give him the chance to use it. She hit him with a three-round burst, then another, and he went down.
Kendra pivoted, trying to bring her gun to bear on Onyx—
But she froze when she saw Onyx grabbing Ryan, yanking him from his chair, using him as a shield. Onyx had his left arm locked across Ryan’s neck, his left hand holding a flashlight. In his right hand, he had his Skorpion raised over Ryan’s shoulder.
Shoulders tight, Kendra tried to line up a shot, but her hands were shaking, and she couldn’t do it.
Damn it.
That’s when Onyx aimed the flashlight in her eyes, and she felt her night-vision goggles dim.
Going on instinct, Kendra ducked and rolled as Onyx opened up on her, his gun’s muzzle flashing like a strobe, bullets ripping into the shelf in front of her.
A chorus of sparks screamed.
Shredded packaging misted the air.
The stench of gunsmoke was overpowering.
Panting, ears ringing, Kendra picked herself up and darted down the aisle. She swapped her half-spent magazine for a fresh one. Then she reached the other end of the rack, slicing the corner, repositioning herself to outflank Onyx, hoping to get a better angle.
But when she came around, she saw that Onyx and Ryan were gone.
44
Frantic, Kendra jerked her aim this way and that way.
Adam’s voice crackled in her earpiece. ‘Onyx is making a break for the entrance.’
Kendra grimaced and glanced at Leila and Saeed. They had fallen off their chairs and were now huddling in the corner, still bound and gagged. They looked frightened but unharmed.
Kendra nodded. ‘Roger, Sierra Two. Lock down this location, and keep the precious cargo safe. I’m going after the principal now.’
‘Stay frosty.’
