Screwing the suppresser onto his A-90, Lee tightened his gaze. “Any way I have to,” he declared. “Everybody clear on their assignments?”
The group nodded again and rose to their feet.
“Good. Danny and I will radio in once we’re in position at the fenceline. Hamish, you do the same from the airfield. Link, find a nest and get into position, but don’t drop the hammer on that watchtower guard until I give the word. Clear?”
Link frowned.
“And don’t screw with him either,” Lee added. “Need I remind you that this ain’t the game, so no clippin’ his beard, or blowin’ the Zippo out of his hand, or any of that crap. Eyes on the prize, understood?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Link droned. “No shenanigans… I got it.”
Lee turned to Lunley. “Hamish, you good to go?”
“Aye. It’ll take me a bit to navigate the woods and get into position, but I’ll radio ya when I’m there.”
“And after that?”
“After that, I get to the rocks for support fire.”
“Excellent,” Lee said, adjusting the mic on his earpiece. “As always, radio check-ins every 10 minutes, minimum. If you find yourself in a position where you can’t respond aloud, give a triple-squelch over the comm and that’ll tell the rest of us that you’re okay, you just can’t talk. Ruah?”
“Ruah,” they agreed.
“Alright, let’s move out.”
A few minutes later, having slipped the maze of tree vines, cypress stumps, and palmetto-y underbrush to reach the foot of the hill, Lee and Danny arrived at the edge of their cover, just ahead of the clearing that separated them from the compound’s fenceline.
“Wulver, what’s your 20?” Lee whispered behind a tree as the watchtower made its final luminous pass over their position before extinguishing.
“In position.”
“Jester?”
“Yeah, I’m set. The guard in the tower is reaching for his walkie as we speak.”
Lee stopped the timer on his watch and reset it to zero. “Alright, it’s been 15 minutes on the nose since this guy’s last check-in,” he said. “That means after about 20, we can expect his friends to start wonderin’ why they haven’t heard from him. Hit your marks, and get out as fast as you can. Jester, you have a go for the shot when he puts down the walkie; copy?”
“Five by five, bossman.”
****
Far more rattled than he’d ever let on, Lincoln Baxter laid morbidly still beneath a scattered pile of leaves and perspiration, doing his best to subdue his anxiety with the slow, even breathing he’d been taught in sniper school. Peering through the scope of his likewise camouflaged rifle, he covered, then re-covered his mental checklist in preparation for the single, cold-bore shot he was about to attempt—all the while chanting his instructor’s mantra in a low, subconscious murmur.
“One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill,” he whispered.
Target acquisition, check. Firing platform stability, check.
“One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.”
Estimated yards to target: 582. Wind factor: 9.3. Trajectory adjustment, check.
“One shot, one kill.”
His heart rate steadily slowing, Link exhaled a deep, calming sigh as the pacing guard halted for a final time in between his crosshairs, cued the walkie in his hand… and gave the final “all clear” of his life.
“This one’s for my friend, asshole,” he thought, then made the call to Lee. “Target acquired… check-in complete.”
“Take him!”
A single, pin-sized flash emanated from high atop the hillside, followed a long moment later by a high-pitched zip, and the faint thud of a lifeless weight crumpling to the tower floor above. Meanwhile, the moonlit jungle behind them chirped on, otherwise undisturbed.
“Clear,” Link breathed.
Sprinting for the fenceline, Lee watched as Danny produced a small cutting torch and went to work on the chain-link fence. Once through, the duo headed straight for the rear of the first building to the right, then held in wait for Link’s instruction.
“Two guards,” Link detailed, “moving south away from your position. On my signal, get ready to move west by 30 yards, then hold behind the tool shed on your right. That’ll put you into zone five. Alright, in three… two… one… Go.”
Slowly but surely, Lee and Danny navigated the compound’s grid of structures, moving methodically from building to building, row to row, and zone to zone behind Link’s series of “stop and go” commands. Eventually reaching zone one, the pair halted behind one of the warehouses adjacent to the command post cul-de-sac.
“Okay, hold up,” Link instructed. “You’ve got the four at the front door, but the perimeter guards are still in visual range. Stand by, and I’ll let you know when they’re gone.”
Anxious beyond words, Lee and Danny waited—their foreheads glistening with sweat, rifles raised and ready.
“Perimeter guards are clear,” said Link.
Lunging around the corner, Lee and Danny drew down on the four unsuspecting guards with a quick burst of low, muted pops, dropping them to the dirt as the duo scurried over to inspect their work.
“Nice job, Jester,” Lee tapped his earpiece. “We’re good to go if—”
Whirling around on his heels, Lee spotted a fifth guard racing toward him from the shadows, his sidearm already drawn and pointed dead at him.
A familiar zip bristled through the air, and the man’s head vanished in an explosive poof of red.
“My bad!” Link announced.
Lee leered back into the hills. “What the hell happened to us bein’ clear?”
“Listen, fearless leader,” the sniper retorted. “You never said anything about a service entrance on the side of the building, or the extra guard taking a piss outside! I handled it, so deal. Besides, have a little respect for the deceased already. I mean, how would you like to get mowed down in mid-flow?”
“Tick tock, bro,” Danny said, glancing at his watch.
Rolling his eyes, Lee snatched a keycard from one of the slain guards and cleaned the blood from its surface with his shirt, while Danny dragged the last of the bodies to their final resting place inside the warehouse next door.
“We ready to do this?” Danny asked, closing the door behind him and stepping back outside.
Lee threw him a lopsided look. “Ready as we’re ever gonna be,” he sighed.
Then, with a quick swipe of the keycard through the access panel, the door light flashed green, and the duo pushed inside.
****
Satisfied that she’d paced every square inch of her five-by-eight holding cell, Mac collapsed down against the concrete wall beside the bunk and wrapped her arms around her knees, staring thoughtfully through the iron bars that kept her there. For the moment, she seemed to be safe inside this cramped little space, and judging from the three empty cells next to hers, she appeared to be the only guest in the house, though she wondered if that was a good thing.
As the last effects of the drugs faded from her system, she knew it was only a matter of time before the interrogations would begin all over again, and while she’d managed to resist their potent influence the first time around, she had no desire to tempt fate a second.
Rubbing her eyes to stay alert, Mac surveyed the cell block around her to find a grand total of two guards on assignment there; one of whom sat slouched behind a computer terminal—his eyes fixed on something she guessed was far from official—while the second stood propped against the nearside wall, reading a magazine and munching on a piece of fruit.
Spying the security camera above the computer terminal, Mac’s attention jumped to the doorway at the far end that creaked open, and her pulse quickened when the stubbly, bald head of Captain Hourne appeared. Surprised by the unexpected visit, the two guards shot upright to salute their husky CO, and peering over his shoulder, Mac fully expected to see the fat-man doctor trailing behind, primed and ready with his next
dose. Oddly, he never came.
“Leave us,” Hourne ordered, sending the guards scampering from the room without a word.
Hearing the door lock outside, an icy-cold shiver ran down Mac’s spine upon seeing the captain step toward her cell, a dark, twisted smile stretched across his grimy face as he reached for his belt.
This was no interrogation.
Chapter 29: Prison Break
Moving cautiously through the structure’s dim interior—mindful to clear each room as they went—Lee and Danny crossed and button-hooked their way along the command post’s ground level in search of anything they could find regarding Mac’s whereabouts. Thankfully they’d only encountered one more pair of guards since entering—each of whom had been dealt with quickly and quietly—and they’d considered themselves fortunate for that fact, because god knows they were scared enough as it was.
Passing a pair of lift doors, which for whatever reason weren’t accessible by their stolen keycard, Lee halted at the sound of voices down the hall. Giving Danny the closed-fisted signal to do the same, Lee pulled a fiber-optic camera from his vest, plugged it into the GPS display, and nudged the tip of the pin-sized device around the corner.
“Two guards… one left, one right… both armed,” he indicated to Danny with a series of fingers and bladed hands. “I’ll take the right, you take the left. Move on three.”
Danny nodded and readied his rifle.
“One… two…”
“You get a look at that tasty little Auran dish they brought in on the Kamuir?” a guard asked, and Lee waved off the assault.
“She was a fiery one, wasn’t she?” said the other guard. “I just saw the captain heading down to her cell block on B-level a minute ago. Think he’ll actually be quick with this one?”
“Who knows?” moaned the first. “Quick, slow, dead, alive; the guy’s got the commandant covering for him. What does he care?”
****
Lee Summerston saw red, and Daniel Tucker knew it. Swinging wide past his friend as the duo powered around the corner, Danny dropped to one knee and sent a trio of muted shots rippling down the hall into his target, while Lee—visibly less collected—emptied three-quarters of a mag into his. Rushing to make sure both were down for the count, Danny spied Lee bolting for the stairwell and caught him by the arm.
“Take it easy, bro,” he warned. “We know she’s up on the next floor, but you’ve got to cool down before we get there. You go up like this and you’ll get us all killed.”
Jerking his arm free, Lee shot him a scowl. “I don’t have time for this, Danny,” he growled, skittering the depleted mag to the floor and slapping in another. “We’ve got—”
“Daredevil, Daredevil… you got a copy?” Link chattered through the comm.
“What?” Lee snapped back.
“We have a problem, boys. I was busy watching the command post when a guard from one of the other buildings must’ve slipped out for a smoke or something because I completely missed him.”
“And?”
“And he saw the big honkin’ hole you cut in their fence,” said Link. “I think I picked him off before he could call it in, but I can’t be sure. Best case scenario, you’re still working under your original timeline. Worst case scenario, you’re—”
The guard’s radio uttered a loud squawk from the floor as the corridor lights flashed hard red with the alarm.
“So much for the best case scenario,” Danny groaned.
“Damn it!” Lee shouted. “Wulver, what’s your status?”
“The goodie bag is in place,” Hamish panted on the run. “I’m en route to the rocks as we speak,”
“Listen, boys,” said Link, “every swinging sausage in the house is heading straight for your position, so whatever we’re doing, it’s gotta be now!”
Lee rubbed his temples. “Wulver, you far enough from the blast zone to execute?”
“Aye, but getting outta here is gonna be a chore if I do! This place just erupted with activity, and if I detonate, the bulk of that will turn and head right back in this direction.”
“You got cover where you are?” Lee asked.
“The warehouse ahead of me looks empty.”
“Do it,” Lee ordered. “Once you’re outta sight, blow the depot then coordinate with Jester to find a way back to the Sand Tiger.”
“What about you, then?” Hamish asked.
“We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, we’ve got a 20 on Mac, and that takes priority. We’ll check in when it’s done. Daredevil out.”
A low, baritone boom rumbled in the distance, and the lights of the corridor flickered with the blast.
“I love it when a plan comes together,” Danny said dismally, then bolted with his friend into the stairwell.
****
Scrambling frantically against Hourne’s grip at her throat, Mac kicked and clawed at her attacker, writhing and thrashing with every ounce of strength left in her to escape his vicious attempts to pin her to the bed. Straining hard against the weight of his legs on top of hers, she managed a single, wayward swipe at the captain’s jaw, but he dodged it with little effort, catching her hand by the wrist and slamming it back down to the dusty worn mattress that quaked beneath her back. Feeling his rancid breath against her neck—her nostrils filling with the foul stench of body odor and day-old meat—Mac hissed in protest and hurled what little saliva she had left into his face. Enraged by her defiance, Hourne wiped his forehead with his sleeve, smiled darkly, and coiled for a pummeling, closed-fisted response.
The security alarm yelped to life beyond the door and Hourne’s attention jerked abruptly to the hallway outside, which erupted out of nowhere with weapons fire and screaming soldiers. Listening still as the skirmish drew to a sudden end, the Alystierian captain jumped to his feet, snatched his would-be victim up by the hair, and shoved her in front of him just in time to see a bullet obliterate the lock on the cell door before him.
A single, muddy boot slammed through the entrance, and Mac’s eyes opened wide when a tall, familiar figure—wearing dirty green tiger stripes and one seriously pissed off expression—stormed into the room.
“Lee!” she shrieked before being muted by a thick, fleshy palm. Her squirming halted at once, however, when something hard and cold pressed against her right temple.
“Throw it down!” Hourne barked, gesturing to Lee’s raised rifle and nudging Mac’s head with the tip of his pistol. “Throw it down, or I swear I’ll kill her right here in front of you.”
“Do it and you’ll hit the floor beside her,” Lee snarled past the butt of his gun.
This drew a crooked smile from the bald soldier. “That may be true, friend, but I’m prepared to die for my cause today. Are you? What about your prissy little friend here? Is she?”
“Lee?” another voice called from outside.
“Stay put, Danny!” Lee commanded. “Just stay put!”
Seeing the sweat pouring profusely down Lee’s scarred face, Mac’s eyes bulged with fright as he lowered his weapon.
“Very nice,” said Hourne. “Now, throw it away.”
With a heavy sigh of reluctance, Lee leaned forward, placed the A-90 onto the ground, and kicked it into the corner.
“Now step back.”
In a single, maddening moment of pure adrenaline and fear, Mac watched in disbelief as Lee’s hard, vengeful demeanor shifted inexplicably to one of absolute calm, as if to suggest that everything would be fine and nothing—not the gun at her head or the psychopath holding it there—could ever change that. She had no idea why, but for whatever reason—call it body language, intuition, or just the simple truth of knowing someone down to their very core—but in that insane moment of complete mortal peril… she believed him.
Then, in a flash of revelation, it hit her… The holster on his right thigh was noticeably unbuckled.
****
Closing her eyes—her heart thundering in her chest—Evelyn McKinsey stood hel
pless and alone as the crazed world surrounding her fell hypnotically away; the gruesomeness of every sight, the stench of every smell, and the deafening boom of every noise submerged into a near dreamlike trance where even time itself seemed to stand still.
Far away in the distance, through the fog of her mind, she could almost make out the sound of Hourne’s reptilian voice—his previous barks of instruction now taunts of insult—though it was quickly drowned out by the roaring clamor of her heart and the broken wheezing of her breath. Even still, with the captain’s fingertips now viced for a final tear at her throat, Mac heard no response.
One way or another, this was it—had to be.
That was when a single, muffled pop rippled through the black… followed by silence.
****
The faint sound of dancing metal jingled across the void, and Mac flinched—her eyes nailed shut—when something warm and wet misted like sticky vapor across her face. Feeling the hold on her loosen, then release, she held frozen for a long, uncertain moment before finally peering ahead to see Lee Summerston standing in front of her—his tattooed arm outstretched and gripping his sidearm—a single, gold shell casing on the pavement beside him.
Stifled in shock, she glanced back to see Hourne’s lifeless body in a growing pool of red behind her. Then, reaching up with a set of trembling fingers, Mac dabbed at her blood-soaked face and shuddered.
“It’s alright,” Lee murmured, staving off an adrenaline dump of his own to sweep her into his arms. “It’s okay. He’ll never hurt you again. Nobody will. I swear to god, Mac, nobody.”
Melting into him as her pulse slowly steadied, Mac sighed with relief while the haze of her mind began to lift. She knew that the threat was far from over, and she had absolutely no idea how they’d make it out of the building, much less back to friendly territory. But here and now, in this oasis of safety and serenity she’d so desperately missed, he was all she needed, just as he’d always been.
Eventually finding the will to pull away, Mac closed her eyes once more, though this time not out of fear, but to drink in every last heart-throbbingly electric moment of his lips finally meeting hers.
Mako (The Mako Saga: Book 1) Page 44
