Brothers In Arms (12 page)

Dougard came forward and let his submachine gun dangle from its straps. He reached into the canvas courier bag he wore tightly across his back and shoulders and took out a small explosive charge, a lock cutter. He set it on the door between the doorknob and the jamb, then turned a switch and stepped back. Marie raised her hand and counted with her fingers the five seconds.

The charge detonated with a loud bang that rang through the dark and Marie threw open the door and led her assault team into the darkened house.

Even though they were ready for an attack, the sudden explosion and flash of the detonation jarred Dale and his crew; but now they knew there was an attack and which direction it was coming from. Harrison ducked into Uday’s room, threw the big man to the floor, and covered him. Ford covered his arc, which provided security back toward the front entrance, leaving Charley and Dale to cover the assault coming from the rear of the house. Dale extended his firing
hand, his Browning High Power in his fist, and reached with his other hand for the light switch that controlled the hallway lights. He hit the lights and then put both hands on his weapon and began to acquire targets.

The sudden flash of light drove fear like a spike into Marie’s stomach; the sudden lights flared and blurred her vision in the night optics she and her team wore. Worst of all was the realization that the element of surprise was lost and she was running into a prepared group of gunfighters.

Through the optics she saw the dim shape of men crouched in the hallway; she brought her submachine gun up and fired a three-round burst at the first of them.

Charley saw the submachine guns and pressed his AR-15 into his shoulder and rolled the trigger. One shot, one squeeze, but he had to attain fire superiority right away, and he pulled the trigger quickly,
crack crack crack
as fast as he could across the front of the approaching gunmen.

Dale took his time and put his front sight on the chest of the lead assaulter and double-tapped the leader, then tracked his sights onto the next one even as they fired at him.

Marie felt Dougard press up beside her and the two of them opened up full-auto down the hall despite their hampered vision. Surprise was lost and violence of action was their only hope at this stage. That meant superiority of firepower. They were the only two inside and they faced a wall of rifle fire from the AR-15s. Marie stumbled as two bullets slammed into her chest; the heavy body armor she wore absorbed and dissipated the blow, but it still felt as though someone had stabbed an iron pool cue into her
chest at close range. She felt Isabelle behind her steady her with one hand even as she opened up full-auto with her MP-5.

“Fall back!” Marie cried. “Fall back!”

Charley saw one of the assaulters, the point man, stumble, and then shout, “Fall back!”

It sounded like a woman.

Marie and Dougard retreated out the door, emptying their magazines on full-auto as they went. Doors and woodwork splintered down the hallway, and one light went out. The two of them, reloading on the run, ran past Andre and Isabelle, who covered them as they came.

“Back!” Marie shouted. She led the way, running and stumbling a bit from the pain in her chest, to the rally point she’d designated on the far side of the little hill beside the center.

Charley and Dale stood shoulder to shoulder, covering the back door.

“Secure the principal!” Dale shouted.

“Roger that,” Ford shouted back. He moved till his back was directly against the door to Uday’s room.

“I’ve got him!” shouted Harrison.

There was shouting and screaming from the other rooms and the upstairs.

Harrison and Ford stayed poised to defend Uday’s room, while Charley and Dale moved forward, each covering the other, till they were at the back door. A string of bullets cut through the door, forcing them back into the relative safety of the hallway.

“Immediate evacuation!” Marie said into the handset of her portable radio. Just outside the grounds of the center, Marika Tormay and her
partner started the two minivans they waited in. Moments later, scrambling through the bush, the assault team, all four members, came into the clearing where the vehicles waited. They went, two by two into each vehicle, and then drove slowly away, heading away from where the responding police units from the campus police would come.

“Are they gone?” Charley said.

“They’re outside and moving away,” Dale said. “Ford! Call the campus police!”

“Roger that!” Ford called back. He took his cell phone out of his pocket, and rested the rifle against the wall while he dialed direct the dispatch center for the campus police.

“Campus police, what is your emergency?”

“This is a private security detail at the Torture Rehabilitation Center at Sixteen-fifteen River Road,” Ford said. “There’s been an attempted home invasion by several armed attackers and shots have been fired.”

“Do you need an ambulance?”

“Not at this time, just police.”

“Please stay on the line.”

Ford relayed directions to the dispatcher, who guided the responding units in to where Dale stood, his pistol holstered, waving them in. It took less than five minutes for the police to arrive in full force. As the ranking officer came to meet him, Dale said to Charley, “This is going to take a while.”