The Siege (10 page)

     The other two were off duty. One was
asleep in the adjacent apartment. Apartment 101. It used to be Sami and Brad’s place.

     It would be again.

     The fourth was across the hall in apartment 102. He was off duty, but couldn’t sleep. He was watching a movie.

     Mark
knew the two unseen men would hear the gunfire and would be come running. After that, there was no way of knowing where they would go or what they would do.

     Mark drew a bead on the man inside the door. As soon as he heard
Bryan’s shot from the mountainside, Mark would fire three quick rounds through the door’s window, and into the body of the man posted there. Because of the angle, he knew there was a chance the first bullet might ricochet off the heavy glass. But surely it would shatter it, so that the second bullet wouldn’t be impeded. The third shot was just for good measure.

     After the three shots, Mark would hold his ground, in cas
e one of the other men exited the building. If he did, he’d be taken out as well.

     The seconds ticked by. Mark had the man’s upper torso in his sights, and waited for the crack of
Bryan’s rifle.

     Then the man
made the most unexpected move imaginable. And the most boneheaded as well. Obviously complacent from many hours of inaction, he got sloppy. He leaned his weapon against the corner of the hallway.

     And he stepped outside to pee.

     “Well, I’ll be damned,” Mark said under his breath. How could anyone be so stupid? He wanted to take the shot, but couldn’t. If he shot first, the man on the roof would take immediate cover. And Bryan’s shot would be ruined.

    So instead
he kept his composure, and kept his sights locked on his target, awaiting Bryan’s gunshot.

     On the
side of the mountain, Bryan had his own sights set on Hance’s chest.

     Hance was sitting on a galvanized steel ventilation box in the center of the roof, smoking a stale Marlboro Red. He knew enough to move away from the edge of the building before lighting up, thinking that no one would be able to see the bright red glow on the tip of his cigarette.

     But Bryan could see it clearly in his StrikeFire scope.

     What Hance couldn’t see as he stared off into the sky was the red dot
glowing in the center of his chest.

     And after all, how often does a man lean over and look at his own chest?

     Bryan had once studied theology in college and had flirted with the idea of being a minister. He was still devoutly Christian. He said a brief prayer, and asked God to forgive him for what he was about to do.

     Then he moved his index finger from the trigger guard and rested the pad of the finger firmly on the trigger itself. He adjusted his stance one last time, took a deep breath, and exhaled half of it.

     Then he squeezed the trigger.

    
Hance instantly tumbled from his perch, the cigarette expelled from his mouth and sent flying. He lay upon the asphalt roof on his right side, eyes glaring at the glow of the still burning cigarette.

     But he couldn’t see it. He’d never see anything again.

Chapter
20

     Joe, standing in the feed barn at the entrance to the tunnel, heard the shots and keyed the radio mike four times. The group at the security console heard the signal and understood its meaning: the deed was done.

     Now, they collectively prayed that they’d hear nothing else. Five bursts
on the radio would mean there was a firefight going on.

    
Immediately after Bryan fired, Mark did as well. Davis never had a chance. He crumpled to the ground, dead, his body blocking the exit door he’d walked through just seconds before.

     Hance
and Davis were the only two men in the decimated gang who’d had any backbone. And now they were gone.

    
Bennett, the man who’d been unable to sleep, ran to the center of the building, to the lounge area next to the dining room. And he hid behind a couch.

     Bennett was a scared little rabbit. He knew that Hance would have returned fire from the roof, if he was still alive.

     But there was no return fire. Only the single shot, from outside the compound. He put two and two together. And two plus two equaled a dead leader.

    
There was only Bennett and O’Neal now. And they had no radios. There were spare radios in the compound, but they were well hidden and only Mark and John knew where they were.

     So the two had no way to communicate. They froze into place,
Bennett behind his couch and O’Neal in Sami’s apartment, trembling. Sure that an assault was imminent, and that they’d seen their last sunrise.

     At the console, the group couldn’t see
O’Neal. The apartments didn’t have cameras. But they could see from the hallway cam outside of Sami’s apartment that he had never come out.

     And another camera showed
Bennett, curled up in the fetal position behind the couch. They could clearly see the look of terror on his face.

     Brad commented, “Look at that fool. He ran off so fast he didn’t even bring his weapon with him.”

     Brad continued, “Maybe we should have sent in a couple more people to storm the building. Before they get their wits about them again. We could have taken him easily, probably without firing a shot.”

     “No,” John said. “The guy in 101 is still a wild card.
He could come out of there at any time, guns blazing, and catch one of us dead to rights in the hallway. It’s better to back off, formulate our next move, and then hit them again when they’re not expecting it.”

     Brad appeared visibly disappointed.

     “So now we wait a few more days?”

     But John had another trick up his sleeve.

     “No. That’s what we did the last two times, after the tunnel collapse and the ambush on the men at the gate. It’s what they’ll be expecting. So we’ll throw them another curve ball. We’ll go back later today. In the daylight. You guys go get some sleep. Meet me back here at thirteen hundred.”

Chapter
21

     “Did everybody get a chance to eat their lunch? I don’t want any stomachs growling and ruining my meeting.”

     John’s attempt at humor fell flat. There was a lot of tension among the group. Some of them were having their reservations.

     “Look, this isn’t a dictatorship. I’m not the boss. As the head of security, I’m giving you my best effort at an effective strategy. I know some of you aren’t comfortable with going over there in the daytime. All I ask is that you keep an open mind. Let me explain my logic, and my plan. Then we can debate it, and if I’m outnumbered I’ll back off. Fair enough?”

     He looked around at the group. A couple nodded their heads. A couple more shrugged. He noticed that Sami was hanging on to Brad’s arm with a death grip.

     “Here’s my logic… the biggest advantage we have is the element of surprise, and thus far it’s worked quite well for us. But there are a couple of other things we have working in our favor today that may not be there tomorrow.

     “One is that neither of them have slept in quite awhile. The one who was
hiding behind the couch last night has been up for more than twenty two hours, according to the log book at the security desk. We know he couldn’t sleep before the shooting, because we saw him on the monitor coming to the doorway to shoot the breeze with the door guard several times.

    
The other one, the one who was in apartment 101, disappeared into the room and out of the camera’s eye at just after 2200 hours. That means he had at best three hours sleep.

     “While you all were snoozing this morning, David sat at the console and kept an eye on them. Neither of them got any sleep after the shooting. I knew they wouldn’t. They’re both too tense. The second
man eventually came out of apartment 101 and low crawled to the kitchen and found the other one. They’ve been huddled there ever since.

     “Here’s another thing that’s to our advantage. They’re both scared shitless. You can tell by the way they’ve stayed in the same close quarters for hours. One of them even went and pissed into the kitchen sink because he was afraid to leave the kitchen area to find the bathroom. Those fools are terrified.”

     John suddenly smiled. It was uncharacteristic and out of place under the circumstances. He grinned like a Cheshire cat. Like he knew a great secret that no one else knew.

     “And here’s the best part
. When the second guy came out of 101 and low crawled to the kitchen, he took his AK with him. But he left the magazine in the room.”

     He stepped up on the security console and pointed at the rifle, in the corner of monitor 7.

     “It’s been leaning against a table in the kitchen ever since. And neither of them has noticed that it has no magazine in it.”

     Mark pointed out the obvious.

     “There could still be a round chambered.”

     “That’s very true, Mark. They may have one shot. But the other
guy isn’t even armed. So at best they have one shot between them.

     “I think if we go soon, before they get over their f
ear, while they’re exhausted and confused, we may be able to take them without firing a shot.”

     “When do you want to go, John? And who?”

     “I’ll go myself, if two of you will volunteer to go with me.”

     Mark and Bryan stepped forward immediately.

     Brad looked at Sami and then stepped forward too. He said, “How about three of us?”

     Sami’s hand immediately went to her mouth, but she didn’t say anything.
She wanted to scream, but she stayed strong.

     John said, “Okay. We have our team. The girls can do the coordination and spotting. I wanted to wait until this evening, to give them more time to get worn out, maybe even doze off. But I think the missing magazine is a gift from heaven, and something we can’t pass up. I say we go now.”

     Bryan said, “Agreed. Let’s go.”

     He looked at Mark, who didn’t say anything, but who walked over to the gun rack next to the security console. He took an AR-15 from the rack and handed it to Brad
. He handed two more to Bryan and John and then took another one for himself.

     For the next half hour, the group put their heads together and formulated their plan.

Chapter 22

     Just after four p.m., the group of four approached the same section of wall where Bryan left his ladder a few hours before. The ladder was still in position, precisely where he’d left it.

     All four of the men had radios clipped at their shoulders, and ear pieces stuck in their ears. At the control center, Hannah was providing a running commentary of the goings on in the big house every thirty seconds, unless there was a significant change.

     Since reception was spotty between the compound and the deeply recessed mine, Joe stood just outside the mine’s entrance and relayed Hannah’s words.

     The team of four stood by the ladder while Joe recited the latest update.

     “One man is in the kitchen and appears to be making a sandwich. The other man is in the lounge, on a chair, with his head in his hands. The one in the kitchen is about twenty feet from the rifle. The rifle still has no magazine.”

     John knew that neither of the men could see their activity. This was a good time to go. He waved to Bryan, who picked up the ladder and moved it about forty feet west north along the fence line.

     Once the ladder was in place, he climbed to the top of the fence and looked over, to the right and to the left.

     Then he scrambled back down the ladder, moved it another twelve feet, and repeated the process.

     He was trying to line the ladder up with a similar ladder on the inside of the fence.

     Each of the four
interior walls had a ladder leaning up against it. The ladders served a dual purpose. Their main intent was to throw any attackers off their trail if they had to evacuate the compound through the tunnel. The thinking was that if the evacuation took place before the compound was breached, the invaders would assume that the group evacuated over the walls instead of through the tunnel. They’d waste their time searching in the woods for them, when they were actually in the safety of the mine.