Mendez clapped his hands. "Excellent, it is a fine morning indeed."
Holding her breath, Ashley drove past the stucco-walled estate as Faraday shook his head. "It's a damn fortress.
How's Tanner gettin' in there and out alive?"
Ashley continued down the road. "He says they have a plan. He wouldn't give me any details except for needing the truck." Slowing, she made a turn, stopped, backed up into a driveway, and pulled forward again. In seconds she was back on the road, heading toward the estate again. A quarter mile from the compound she pulled to the side of the road and rolled down her window. "Now we're supposed to wait. Once the delivery truck gets in--and that's a big if in my book--we're supposed to listen for gunfire. If we hear shooting, we're to call the local police and tell them we hear shots being fired inside the Mendez estate, then hang up. That's all he wants us to do."
Faraday rolled down his window and let out a sigh. "He's in way over his head on this. He say why he's doin' it?"
"Yeah, I asked him. He said it was his duty. Starr was his responsibility, he says, so he has to get her out of there."
"She might already be dead. He'd be puttin' his life on the line for nothing."
"He thinks she's alive, Ed. You know him; it's like talking to a rock when his mind is made up."
"What about the others who are with him? What's their reason?"
"I don't know, and I didn't ask, but I think they want to take Mendez out for personal reasons . . . it's a vendetta of some kind."
"How many of them are there?"
"Four plus Eli are going in."
"Four? Look at the damn place! It's huge! Mendez must have guards and dogs and no tellin' what else in there for security. Tanner must not have seen what he was up against.
Four people and him . . . uh-uh, no way."
"He said they had a plan."
"Yeah, they got a plan, all right. A plan to get themselves all killed. Come on, Sutton, you think they have a chance?"
Ashley looked at her passenger. "They have Tanner."
"Yeah, and he's eaten up with the duty-and-honor thing.
It's going to get him killed. The hell with waiting for the sound of gunfire. If the truck makes it through the gate, we're callin' right then and tellin' the cops all hell is breakin' loose over there. It's goin' to take some time for the cops to react, but at least they'll get here sooner and give whoever's inside a reason to worry. You agree? We call as soon as the truck makes it in?"
Ashley motioned up the road. "We're going to know if it makes it in real soon. Here it comes. Get ready to make that call."
Seated behind the steering wheel, Virgil glanced at his passenger. "That's it just ahead."
"I see it, man. Be cool."
"I'm scared shitless, Ray-sorry, but I am."
"No sweat, man. I ain't goin' to let nothin' happen to you.
We're sophisticated rich guys now. . . . Think of all them ladies we're goin' to score, man."
"Yeah, the ladies." Virgil turned into the short drive and came to a stop in front of the gate. He rolled down his window and looked into the security-camera lens as he pushed the button on the speaker box. Immediately a voice said, "We been expectin' you. Drive in."
The gate began sliding back and Ramon smiled. "A piece of cake, man."
Virgil shifted into first and rolled through the gate.
In the back of the truck Ted brushed the leaves of the plant away from his face and stepped toward the back door.
Holding a silenced Mac-10 in his hand, he glanced at Glenn beside him. "Team Two-two is back, Glenn. This is for them."
Glenn nodded as he raised his Mac. "For them."
Holding the Beretta Ted had given him, Eli stepped up beside the two men and said to himself, This is for you, Gus.
Virgil slowed as they approached the second gate and brought the vehicle to a gentle stop. Two men dressed in khaki uniforms opened a side gate and walked toward the truck.
"Where's their poles with mirrors?" Virgil asked out of the side of his mouth.
Ramon whispered, "Be cool; they're smilin' at us."
Both guards approached Virgil's side of the truck. The bigger of the two men motioned with his hand. "The man be waitin' on you. Go on." The gate began sliding back.
"This ain't the way it's supposed to go," Virgil whispered. "You gotta get inside the gatehouse."
Ramon whispered back, "Don't move." He opened his door. "Hey, amigos, I gotta take a shit first. You gotta john in the gatehouse?"
The big guard motioned again. "The man waitin'; go on."
Ramon hopped to the ground and hunched over. "I'm in pain, man; you ain't gotta john, I'm gonna shit over there by the wall. Ya got some paper?"
The two guards exchanged looks before the bigger guard nodded. "We got a john. We show you."
Ramon waited for the two men to step in front of him before he dug into the crotch of his pants and pulled out the silenced Beretta. He stepped up behind the bigger guard, placed the fat silencer against the back of the man's head, and squeezed the trigger. As the guard fell, Ramon took a step sideways, aimed, and squeezed the trigger again. The weapon coughed and sent a bullet into the side of the second guard's head. Stepping over the bodies, Ramon hurried through the small gate and entered the gatehouse. A guard sitting behind a console rose from his chair, trying to get his pistol from his holster. Ramon shot him in the face, then spun and fired at another guard, who had just poured himself a cup of coffee from a Mr. Coffee machine on a table.
The coffee drinker grunted as he twisted around. Ramon shot him again as he hurried past into the security room. A wide-eyed young guard sat behind a bank of security TV monitors. He reached out to slap a red button on the console. Ramon fired from the hip and the young guard's head snapped back, then rolled forward. He sat perfectly still, as if he'd fallen asleep. Ramon turned around, walked back into the other small room, and studied the console a moment.
There were two green buttons and two red. Not knowing which green button would open the second gate, he pushed both and ran for the truck.
Virgil put his radio headset on and spoke into the small mike in front of his lips. "Ray is back, the gate is open, and we're movin'. I'm takin' off the headset now."
In the back of the truck, Ted relaxed his taut shoulders and turned to Eli. "Ramon had to modify the plan a little.
The guards were going to pass us through without checking the back. Ramon got inside anyway and took out the guards watching the monitors. We're back on track."
Outside the compound, Ashley had driven up closer to the estate to see if the truck had made it through the second gate. Parking on the side of the road opposite the front entrance, she exchanged looks with Faraday, seeing that both gates were open and the white truck was rolling forward into the estate's grounds.
Faraday lowered the cell phone. "The cops should be here in a couple of minutes. Looks like they can pull right in as long as nobody shuts those gates."
Ashley closed her eye for a moment, speaking to herself.
Come on Eli, do it and get out safe . . . come on. Do your damn duty and get out of there.
At the entrance to the greenhouse, Carlos Mendez smiled as the white panel truck approached.
Raul glanced at his watch. "Colonel, our surprise for the DEA should be going off in seconds. We might be able to even hear it from here."
Mendez ignored him as he stepped out and patted the shoulders of his two bodyguards. "Stand back so I may see my new baby when they open the back of the truck."
Both men backed up and joined the other bodyguard, standing at the entrance of the greenhouse.
Looking into his side mirror, Virgil backed the truck toward the greenhouse and whispered, "There's two guys in suits. Which one is Mendez?"
"Don't worry about the suits . . . worry about them three big guys behind them. They're carrying. And we've got two security guards walkin' up on my side . . . rovers come to see the show."
"Ooh shit. W
hat are we goin' to do about the rovers?"
"Be cool. I'll take care of them."
Virgil braked, turned off the engine, and took a deep breath. Taking the clipboard from the dash, he exhaled slowly and opened his door.
Stepping to the crushed oyster-shell drive, he smiled and walked toward the two men in suits. "As promised, we're on time. Who is Mr. Mendez? I need a John Henry for the tree."
Ramon was already at the back of the truck and took hold of the latch.
"A tree?" Mendez said, stepping forward with a scowl.
"It is not a tree. It is a--"
Ramon swung both doors back, ducked, and pulled his pistol from inside his shirt, aiming at the closest uniformed security guard, who, with his other rover, had stepped closer to see what was in the truck. "Don't move, either of you!"
Ramon barked.
Standing in the back of the truck with a Mac-10 in his hands, Ted barked, "Freeze! Don't anybody move!"
Flanking Ted, Glenn and Eli both held identical weapons and had their pistols in their waistbands. They swung their Mac barrels left and right, covering the five men they could see. Glenn commanded, "Raise your hands so we can see th--"
The bodyguard closest to Mendez grabbed for the machine pistol inside his jacket. Virgil saw the movement and dived to the ground. Ted fired a short burst that sounded like dull thunks. The bodyguard's face and neck sprouted crimson mush as he jerked back and fell. Behind him greenhouse glass shattered from stray rounds. The bodyguard on the other side of Mendez ducked down and pulled his automatic. Glenn fired, stitching the crouching man from thigh to-neck, knocking him back. With a sickening high-pitched shriek, he crashed through the lower greenhouse glass and wood frame. As more glass fell and shattered, the remaining bodyguard charged toward the truck like a maddened bull, but Ted squeezed off another burst and the wild-eyed man staggered under the impact of bullets that tore into his chest and shoulders. His eyes lost focus, then rolled upward as he crumpled to the ground.
Raul Ortega stood in openmouthed shock, afraid to move.
Mendez had sunk to his knees and was staring at Eli in disbelief.
Ramon approached the two roving security guards. "On your faces! Now! You want what they got? Do it now!"
Ted hopped to the ground and commanded, "Virgil, get your Mac and watch those guards for Ramon. Ramon, get the rifle and get to the rear gate. Glenn, get out the claymores; somebody's bound to have heard that damn glass shattering."
Eli had already hopped to the ground and jerked Mendez to his feet. "Where is Stacy?"
"Y-You. No, it can't be you."
"It's me, all right. Where is Stacy? Where is she?"
Mendez closed his eyes tightly and shook his head from side to side. "No, no, this cannot be happening."
Ted stepped up and backhanded Mendez across the face.
"Where is she?" he hissed.
Mendez reeled from the blow and sank to his knees. Eli jerked him back to his feet. "Talk!"
Mendez's eyes opened but were unfocused. Ted wrinkled his nose and slapped him again. "Shittin' your pants ain't goin' to help you! Where the hell is she? Talk or I'll blow your fuckin' balls off right now!"
Bleeding from the nose and mouth, Mendez suddenly stiffened, staggered back a step, and fell like a tree face first onto the pavement.
Ted viciously kicked him in the thigh. "Don't faint on me, you son of a bitch!" Bending down, he pulled Mendez onto his back and was about to slap him when Eli grabbed his arm. "Look at him; he didn't faint--he's having a stroke."
Ted grabbed Mendez's lapels, jerked his limp body up to a sitting position, and yelled into his pale face, "You can't do this! I'm going to kill you, ya bastard! You can't die on me!"
Eli turned and pressed the silencer into Raul's forehead.
"You'd better know where she is!"
"Up . . . upstairs, se-second floor, third room on the right," he stammered.
"Show me," Eli said as he grabbed Raul's arm and pushed him toward the entrance.
"Down!" Virgil yelled as he threw himself to the ground and fired toward the guards' quarters.
Eli pulled Raul down just as bullets zipped overhead and struck the greenhouse windows that were still intact.
Glass fell like rain, shattering again on the pavement as Virgil and Glenn rose to their knees and fired their entire magazines toward the half-dressed men streaming from the building fifty paces away.
Ted leaned over Mendez, holding the barrel of his Mac against his head. "Look at me, damn you! You killed them and now you're goin' to pay! Look at me!"
Eli grabbed Ted's shoulder. "Ted, he's dying! You gotta have the team cover me. Stacy is inside the house!"
Ted squeezed the trigger and held it back for a full second, letting the weapon buck in his hand. Splattered with blood, he lowered his Mac and stood looking into what was left of Mendez's face. Turning slowly, he wiped his eyelids of the blood and barked, "Glenn, smoke and frags! Virg, you and me cover Tanner when he tries for it."
Taking cover behind the truck's right rear tires, Glenn was already pulling grenades from his pack as bullets hit the truck like hailstones. He pulled the pin on a fragmentation grenade, tossed it underhand toward the guards' quarters, and immediately pulled the pin on a smoke grenade. "Wait till the smoke builds to make a run for the house entrance!" he yelled.
Above the din of incoming fire, wide-eyed, Raul screamed in-Eli's face, "You'll get me killed going that way! There's another entry into the house through the greenhouse! I'll show you!"
The first grenade exploded with an ear-shattering crack.
Eli yelled to Ted, "He says there's a way inside through the greenhouse. Cover us!"
Kneeling beside Glenn, Ted slapped in a fresh magazine and yelled to Virgil, "Ready?"
"Ready!"
Ted nodded, then he and Virgil rose, took a step out from the protection of the tires, and fired toward the guards' quarters.
Eli pulled Raul to his feet and, hunched over, both men ran toward the greenhouse door.
Outside the compound, sitting in the van, Ashley winced and shut her eye, hearing the shooting and the second loud cracking explosion.
Beside her, Faraday slapped the dash. "Christ, it sounds like World War Three in there! Where are the cops?" He suddenly pulled his .38 and reached for the door handle.
Ashley grabbed his arm. "Don't be a fool!"
"I can't sit here and do nothing!"
Ashley released him and turned the ignition key. "Hold on!"
"What the--"
Ashley floored the accelerator; the van spun in the gravel for an instant before shooting forward onto the road. She made a hard left, crossed the other lane, and barreled down the drive, through the open gate.
Inside the compound, Ted kneeled alongside Glenn as he inserted a fresh magazine. "Glenn, their firin' is slackin' off . . . the smoke is workin' for us."
"It's the grenades that's got them shook up. I figure no more than six or seven are left that are makin' a fight of it.
The rest are dead or hiding."
Ted spoke into his mike. "Ramon, you in position?"
Thirty yards away, hidden by hedges and huge ferns, Ramon spoke as he knelt by the open rear gate. "That's a roger. It's clear and so is the dock. I can see it good from here. Your lady is on her way into it--about four hundred yards out. You get him?"
"Roger, he's history. We're waitin' on the news lady."
"Roger, I'll be waitin'."
Another grenade exploded, sending a tremor through the pavement. Virgil ducked down after tossing another. "Not many heroes over there, Ted. They don't know shit about fire and maneuver."
"Just keep tossin' them grenades and keep 'em down, Virg,"
Ted said. "They'll be gettin' over the shock soon enough."
Holding her issue Sig Sauer nine millimeter in the ready position, Ashley knelt behind the van parked to the right of the second gate. She peeked around the corner of the van and ducked back. "I see two bodies
by the small gate."
Faraday peeked around the other side. "I can only see thirty yards into the compound. Green smoke is covering what's going on. You mind telling me why you drove in here like that?"
"We have to make sure the gates stay open for the cops.
I'm going to make a run for the small gate. There's got to be a control panel inside the gatehouse. Cover me."
"Hold it! In that smoke, we don't know who the good guys and bad guys are. Just stay where you are. The gates are open; the cops can get in just fine."
Duty Bound (1995) Page 35
