by Bobby Akart
As they zigzagged through the backyards, they spread apart, using a leapfrogging tactic known as bounding overwatch. It’s a military technique used when enemy contact was expected during an assault on a fixed target. Bounding overwatch allowed the forward-moving soldier to engage and suppress an enemy before the remaining members of the squad came under fire.
This buddy system was especially effective under the cover of darkness the recent power outage provided them, and the other fortunate stroke of luck—a new moon. Using the night-vision monocular, Alpha took the lead as they traveled into an especially tight area. Hayden caught up and continued with the next leap forward, or if Alpha considered it too dangerous, he’d take that leg himself. As a team, they quickly moved the mile to get into position, where they awaited the detonation of the explosives at the oil-change facility.
By 2:30, they were on Sheffield Drive with an unobstructed view of the roof of the seven-story office building. Periodically, someone would walk along the northern edge of the roof, glance around the surrounding neighborhood, and then move on.
“You’d think they’d have enough people to monitor the entire perimeter at once rather than a single patrol,” Hayden observed.
“Yeah, it’s the same guy every time,” added Alpha. “They may have people positioned in the windows, but your vision can be distorted looking through glass.”
“Alpha, I know we’re supposed to wait for the distractions to kick in, but we’re gonna need to scale the wall that separates that row of houses from the back of the building.”
Alpha thought for a moment. Without the benefit of Google Earth, they’d been unaware of the wall that appeared when they surveilled the houses with their night vision. He wasn’t sure how far it extended, and if they tried to circle around it, they’d find themselves right on top of Bravo-Charlie team, clustered together. That would make them a big target. The success of their assault from the rear was to have each of the teams covering the other as they crossed Bamboo Street to reach the base of the building.
“We could move in sooner. I’m not saying that we’ll scale the wall before the diversion, but at least we could be there when the time comes.”
Hayden reached for the night-vision monocular. She focused on the five houses within her field of vision. “Hey, I’ve got movement.”
“Let me see,” said Alpha. He stood and walked out of their hiding place between a hedgerow and a parked car. “Dogs. Two of them. They’re tied to a tree near a house at the end of the road.”
“They’re being used as warning devices,” said Hayden.
“What?”
“I think they’re strategically placed so they’ll bark if someone approaches. Folks in the country do it all the time. If a burglar approaches their house, the dog goes nuts, warning the homeowners.”
“It’s a force multiplier,” concluded Alpha. “That’s why they’ve only devoted one man to the rooftop. He’s got eyes on the ground and they’re attached to four-legged hounds.”
“Exactly.”
“We have to neutralize those dogs,” said Alpha.
“Or cut ’em loose,” said Hayden. “We need to get movin’. We’ll circle around and then I’ll bribe them with some beef jerky I have in my pockets.”
“Then what?”
“We’re gonna free Hannah tonight, and I’m gonna free these dogs, too.”
Without hesitation, Hayden darted across the street into the backyard of the homes facing the Varnadore. Alpha chased behind, glancing at the building’s rooftop to confirm they were undetected. Once Alpha caught up to her, she made the next bold move by crossing the street a few houses down from where the dogs were now lying in the yard. They weren’t asleep, but they certainly weren’t on high alert.
Alpha caught up to Hayden, who was crouched behind some trash cans. “How do you plan on doing this?”
“I’ll play on their curiosity rather than their sense of protection,” she began. “I doubt these two have been fed. Look at them. They’re hounds, not somebody’s AKC champion. They’ll have a great sense of smell.”
“Okay, so how’re ya gonna sneak up on them?”
“I’ll toss the jerky just outside their reach. They might notice the pieces of meat hit the ground and become curious. Then their noses will take over and make them ravenous. They won’t bark at something like that, and they’ll be too distracted to pay attention to me.”
Hayden pulled her knife out of the sheath wrapped around her leg.
Alpha was impressed. He had to ask, “Are you gonna gut ’em?”
“No, no way. While they’re stretching to get at the jerky, I’ll cut through their ropes from the back side of the tree. Once they’re loose, I’ll toss another piece farther into the street, and we’ll sneak into the backyard once they go after it.”
Hayden made her way through the shrubs to the back of the tree, keeping the large oak between her and the resting dogs. She carefully stepped through the grass, wary of any fallen twigs that might give away her position. When she was in position, she threw the first pieces of jerky just beyond the ropes tied around the dogs’ necks as leashes.
Hayden focused on the dogs, analyzing their reaction so she didn’t raise their suspicions, wholly unaware of what was happening behind her.
*****
As Hayden moved forward, Alpha noticed movement in the house behind her. It was just a shadow that crossed in front of a window. He inched forward to get a better look and then raised the night-vision monocular to his right eye. There was a faint light emanating from a bedroom window. It flickered, either from the distortion of the sheers or it was a candle. Either way, there was someone in the house.
Then he saw the signature of body heat as an arm appeared through a crack in the front door. Four fingers slowly pulled the door inward, exposing more of the man’s body, which was crouched low to the floor. In the darkness, Alpha couldn’t determine whether the man had a weapon, but under these circumstances, his voice could be just as deadly as the report of a gun.
Alpha moved quickly toward the garage door and then slid with his back against the cedar shake front façade of the mid-century rancher. He held his breath, expecting the man to shout at Hayden or the dogs, or even someone else in the house with him.
He reached inside the black coat provided to him by Blair and retrieved a throwing knife from his utility belt. The one-piece, black-coated blade was barely five inches long, but it was lethal when it found its target.
He’d practiced with it many times. It was fairly balanced but leaned toward being heavy in the handle. Alpha gripped the blade and focused on the spot where the man had emerged through the front door. He determined his throwing line. Alpha had practiced with this knife for years, and instinctively, he was able to draw back and release the handle with one fluid motion.
It sailed through the cold, damp air, slicing unimpeded with barely a whisper, until it plunged into the man’s throat. Almost simultaneously, Hayden finished sawing through the nylon ski rope used to tie off the dogs. It wasn’t until she heard the man’s body fall down the short flight of steps leading up to the front porch that she realized how close she had been to being exposed.
In a flash, Alpha was upon the dying man and reached for his knife, twisting it several times in the man’s neck before removing it. Hayden slowly retreated from the tree and looked down at the man’s dead eyes, which stared skyward.
The two never said a word, but rather, nodded and gestured toward the side of the house. While the dogs sniffed around the yard and street for more of the delicious beef jerky, Alpha and Hayden reached the brick wall that separated the neighborhood from the noise that used to emanate from the once busy expressway.
Tonight, it was deathly silent, with the only sound being a slight breeze rustling the oak tree’s limbs.
Chapter 19
The Varnadore Building
Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina
Alpha and Hayden found a stack of cinder blocks near a storage shed in
the backyard. They quickly set the blocks in place to use as steps to reach the top of the wall. First Hayden and then Alpha scaled to the top, where they remained perched under the tree’s protective canopy. They were fortunate to be under a red oak, a tree whose leaves turned brown as fall turned to winter but stayed on the tree during the cold season.
“Why did we get stuck patrolling the outside?”
The man’s voice startled Alpha team, causing them both to draw their sidearms. The voice appeared to come from their right.
“Man, I don’t know, but they promised we could rotate inside at four,” another man responded. “Look here, man. This isn’t what I signed on for. I like to break stuff, you know. Really, I was hopin’ to fill my place with some new furniture. Maybe snag a Mercedes or somethin’ like that.”
“Dude, I know. We’re bustin’ into these rich neighborhoods and comin’ out empty-handed. What’s the point?”
Alpha leaned into Hayden and whispered, “They’re coming closer. We gotta take them out or they’ll walk right into Bravo team.”
Hayden slipped her handgun into its holster and removed her rifle from her shoulder. She quietly placed it on top of the brick and block wall. Then she slowly removed her knife from its sheath and whispered to Alpha, “Lie flat on top of the wall. When they’re directly underneath, roll off and plunge your knife into the base of their skull. It’s the best way to get a silent kill.”
Impressed, Alpha nodded and emulated her position after removing his rifle. The two assassins lay prone on the top of the wall, face-to-face, waiting for their marks. The men stopped talking, but their lazy, shuffling footsteps gave them away as they got closer. They were mere feet away from death when an explosion rocked the quiet of the night.
The detonation of the oil drums to their south occurred right on time. Alpha and Hayden, rather than being ready to breach the rear of the building, found themselves with two previously bored sentries who were now frightened, looking in all directions for the source of the explosion.
Alpha nodded to Hayden and they both flipped over the wall, landing on their feet in a crouch. The two patrolling guards turned, but it was too late for them. With catlike quickness Hayden had picked up from Prowler, she thrust herself out of the crouch and drove the blade of her knife into the throat of the man closest to her.
“Hey!” the other man exclaimed before Alpha slashed the man’s face, ripping the flesh off his cheekbone. Before he could scream in agony, Alpha whipped his hand back, deftly repositioning the blade so that it carved a gash across the man’s carotid artery. Any words he attempted at that point came out as a garbled mess.
Alpha turned to Hayden. “Guns, fast.”
“We gotta get back up there.”
He clasped his fingers together and held them low near the wall. “Step in here. I’ll hoist you.”
Hayden moved in front of Alpha, placed her hands against the wall, and put her foot in the makeshift catapult. With his massive arms, Alpha flung her too high up the wall, almost causing his hundred-and-twenty-pound partner to fly over the other side.
“Jeez, big guy,” whispered Hayden as she struggled to stay on top of the wall. She gathered herself and located their rifles, quickly tossing them down to Alpha.
“Jump. I’ll catch you.”
“I’ve got this.” The fiercely independent woman rejected his offer.
Once they were reunited, they raced across Bamboo Street and joined the Bravo-Charlie team, who were huddled under the canopy of a former bank drive-thru window. Out of breath from the sprint, Alpha fist-bumped the two former soldiers.
“Nice of you to join us,” said Bravo.
“I had to drag Foxy away from playing with a couple of puppies,” whispered Alpha as his eyes darted in all directions.
“Shut up,” said Hayden under her breath. “Let’s get our girl.”
Alpha led the way, hiding under the canopy of the building, which had a slight inset around its entire perimeter. The design was beneficial to the two teams, as they were able to access the rear of the building without being seen from above.
The two teams flanked the rear service entrance to the building. The steel doors had been left ajar with a brick, allowing the patrols to come and go as necessary. Alpha leaned over to Bravo and asked, “Where is everybody?”
“It was like a magnet. When the explosion went off, the foot patrols ran to the front to see what happened.”
“How many were back here?” asked Alpha.
“Three sets of two, but you eliminated one and we took out another,” replied Bravo. He looked back and forth, then added, “I’m not saying this is gonna be easy, but we’re not up against people with training. Hell, they’re not even wannabes.”
Alpha shouldered his rifle and drew his sidearm. He motioned for Charlie and Hayden to lean in as he spoke. “The drawing shows the service elevator directly behind this wall. Foxy and I are gonna enter the shaft through the roof of the elevator, and then we’ll scale the walls until we reach the top floor. Once we’re there, I’ll key the mic with three steady bursts. That’s your go signal. Lead with the smoke; flush them out or take them out, your choice. Then move up the stairs to the next floor.”
“Roger that,” said Bravo. “You hit the elevator; we’ll lock up the rear exits and wait for your signal. See you on the outside!”
Alpha took a deep breath and flung the door open, leading with the barrel of his sidearm in search of a target. The roar of excited voices rumbled through the concrete ground floor of the building, but all their attention was focused toward the front of the building, where people had exited to see the black smoke obliterate the stars on the clear night.
Alpha pointed his hand to the right, indicating that the Bravo-Charlie team was safe to go in that direction. Hayden was the last to enter and followed Alpha to the elevator that stood open in the dark hallway. Just as they approached the elevator cab, they heard the barely audible metallic click of the disk locks closing off the rear exit to the building.
“Are you ready for this?” asked Alpha as he put on his Energizer headlamp and flicked on the LED light.
“Hoist me up,” Hayden said in response. She illuminated her headlamp as well. “The hard part will be dragging you through the trapdoor.”
Just like the two had worked together when Hayden scaled the brick wall moments ago, Alpha created a stirrup for her to step in, and she was easily raised into the opening. She turned and looked down to her partner.
“Pass me your gun.” Alpha quickly obliged, and then he waved her out of the way.
“Is the frame of the opening steel? X-Ray said the newer elevators require it for stability.”
“Yeah.”
“Good, stand back,” he instructed.
Alpha, exhibiting an athleticism that Hayden hadn’t seen in a man of his size, took a running start toward the side of the elevator, placed his left foot against the steel handrail bolted into the cab, and then pushed off so that his body moved upward and toward the ceiling near the emergency hatch. With his arms raised overhead, he gripped the steel frame that held the hatch door, and swung like a child hanging onto monkey bars. Finally, with a grunt, he hoisted his two-hundred-forty-pound frame of muscle through the hatch and onto the top of the elevator cab.
“You’re nuts,” said Hayden dryly as she replaced the hatch door to mask their intrusion.
“Yeah,” he said with a deep breath. “I always liked doing pull-ups. Now for the fun part.”
Alpha pulled out his tactical flashlight and lit up the interior of the elevator shaft. Hayden looked up with him and asked, “Sixty feet?”
“Seventy-two, per the drawings,” he replied. “It’s like climbing a ladder. Follow my lead and footing. Sometimes you’ll need to stretch, and I might need to grab you by the hand to pull you up.”
She gestured for him to get started. “We’ll knock it out. Let’s go.”
The team worked together to scale the inside of the Varnadore’s ser
vice elevator shaft, which was wider than the office elevator servicing the building. The additional width provided ample room to move and a variety of plates, connections, and braces to use as footholds. It was somewhat like scaling a climbing wall at a gym, only the opportunities to step were far apart at times.
It took them ten minutes to climb to the top floor. As they moved upward, they listened for voices near each of the floor’s elevator doors. It was remarkably quiet.
Once they reached the top, Hayden and Alpha got a foothold on the threshold on the back side of the elevator door. This was their moment of truth. They were in a precarious position, barely holding onto the steel frame around the door. Alpha would be required to drive the blade of his knife into the crack separating the closed doors in order to pry them open. Hayden, using her handgun, would have to be prepared to shoot any threat on the other side.
Both would have to hold on until the hostile was eliminated, and to keep their balance in case they were surprised by gunfire.
“Ready?” asked Alpha.
Hayden nodded and pointed her pistol toward the opening. Using his left hand, Alpha carefully inserted the blade between the doors and then twisted it ninety degrees to create a two-inch opening. He slowly removed his knife, hoping that the doors didn’t automatically close. When they remained open, he allowed a big grin to come over his otherwise serious face. He held his hand up and leaned toward the opening he’d created.
“Clear,” he whispered barely loud enough for Hayden to hear, but his body language said it all. She holstered her weapon and mimicked Alpha as he pulled his rifle off his shoulder.
Alpha reached up to the collar of his jacket and keyed the microphone to his radio. He pressed the button three times, indicating to everyone on the channel that the battle was about to begin. He adjusted his earpiece, which was connected directly to the two-way radio. He was ready to accept advice and instructions from X-Ray.
With a nod to Hayden, they put on their respirator masks and slowly readied their AR-15s. Each inserted their fingers into the crack and pulled the elevator doors open, careful not to lose their balance and fall backward into the shaft. A rush of fresh air enveloped their bodies, replacing the dank, stale air that had surrounded them during their brief time inside the elevator shaft. It was a welcome relief and provided them a boost of adrenaline as they entered the dark hallway together.
