Maxwell Cain- Burrito Avenger

by Adam Smith

  Ahead of them, up the lawns toward the house and standing guard directly in their path, two more rock piles came to life as the gunners swiveled to aim at the intruders. The guns were too far out to hit them but would be in range within moments.

  Another sound punched through Max’s concentration and caused his face to twist up in confusion. A moment later, Kate provided the explanation.

  “ATVs coming up behind us!” the blonde baker shouted from the back seat. She was already lifting one of the black automatic rifles from the floor as she rolled down her window.

  Max glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a quartet of the four-wheelers churning across the lawns after them. Each vehicle had a driver in front and a passenger seated behind, and each passenger was armed with a rifle. All the approaching attackers were dressed in black combat fatigues with black motorcycle helmets.

  “Nick, focus on the emplacements. They’re arranged to hassle us all the way to the house and we can’t get through until you knock them out. Kate, keep those ATVs off Nick. He can’t expose himself to fire grenades while they’ve got line of sight on him.”

  “Roger,” said Nick.

  Kate gave a thumbs-up. “Got it, Max!”

  Gunfire cracked inside the car as Kate opened fire with her rifle. The lead ATV driver jerked as bullets tore through his chest. Behind him, the passenger jittered as the bullets exited the driver and drilled into him as well. The bike slowed to a stop as both men dropped over the side and hit the ground.

  The remaining three drivers swerved into evasive maneuvers as their passengers returned fire. Kate was forced to duck back inside her window and hunker down under the door as burning lead smashed against the side of the SUV.

  Bullets rattled the front of the armored vehicle as the enemy artillery reached their effective range and opened fire on the SUV.

  Max steered the besieged vehicle toward one of the mounted machinegun nests. In the seat beside him, Nick tried to leap up and aim the grenade launcher, but Max grabbed his friend by the belt and yanked him back into his seat moments before a hail of gunfire crashed against the window frame of Nick’s door. The bullets would have torn the cop apart if he’d remained standing.

  “Kate, I need the passenger side clear ASAP!” Max shouted.

  “Working on it!” Kate yelled as she popped back up into her window.

  The ATVs had scattered after her initial barrage. Two of the bikes raced up to fire at the driver’s side of the car, but one continued to harass them on the passenger side. Kate’s burst shots blew the passenger’s helmet to scrap and hurled the guard off his bike. The sudden shift in weight caused the bike to lurch. In a panic, the driver tried to correct the wobbling bike but ended up turning too far. The four-wheeler flipped over and landed on top of the driver with a sickening crunch.

  “Passenger side is clear!” Kate yelled.

  “Copy.” Nick rose from his seat and leaned out his window. The night breeze ruffled his perfectly coiffed hair as the cop took aim with his grenade launcher. His shot blew the third emplacement to smoking scrap.

  “ATVs at nine o’clock, Kate,” Max yelled as he lowered the rear driver’s side window.

  Kate swiveled in her seat. She propped the backs of her shoulders against the door frame, crossed her legs, and dropped the underside rail of the automatic rifle onto her legs as a brace. The maneuver created a perfect aiming solution pointed straight at one of the ATVs.

  A stream of bullets poured from her rifle. With a screeching crunch, the four-wheeler crashed into an outcrop of rocks and flipped into the air, spilling the two dying riders across the lawn.

  The last emplacement battered the SUV’s right side. Max floored the vehicle and circled the gunners. Glass cracked audibly as the reinforced structure reached maximum stress. The windows on the passenger side collapsed inward in a flood of bullets. Everyone in the car was forced to hunker down to avoid the deadly barrage.

  The last ATV surged just ahead of the speeding SUV. The passenger fired back at Max. The reinforced windshield cracked and fogged up, obscuring Max’s vision.

  “You’re gonna get one shot, Nick!” Max warned.

  “I’ll make it count!”

  Max clipped the rear of the ATV, and the mob driver jerked the handlebars. The opposing movements cracked the bike’s rear axle in half and hurled the ATV into a rolling spin. Both passenger and driver were crushed beneath the vehicle as it tumbled.

  Max drifted hard to the left, tearing up the lawn as he slid. The move exposed the SUV to the last machinegun emplacement, but Nick opened fire with his grenade launcher. Machinegun fire slammed into the SUV’s passenger side, and Kate screamed as bullets slashed through the broken windows and chewed up the seats around her.

  The final machinegun emplacement erupted in a massive explosion which tore the night and sent firelight flickering across the front of Papa Sal’s palace.

  “Get ready for approach,” Max shouted. “This is gonna be a hard impact!” He aimed the SUV on a collision course for the front doors. Made of solid oak and flanked by stained glass windows, the doorway looked just large enough to accommodate the SUV if it didn’t hit any load-bearing walls inside.

  The engine roared as the armored SUV bore down on the house. It slammed into the front doors and churned them into clouds of oak splinters. Shattering stained glass sent cascades of colored light flickering through the vehicle’s interior. Nick burst into crazed laughter. The sound mixed with the shattering of glass and the crack of splintering wood as the armored SUV ground through into the entryway of Papa Sal’s palace.

  In a cloud of dust, Max threw open his door and stepped from the SUV. Leather harnesses creaked all over Max’s body as his guns swayed with his movements. Glass crackled underfoot, and the voices of unseen guards echoed off the walls. Glass crunched as Nick and Kate stepped from the vehicle and into the enemy palace.

  Max raised his shotgun and narrowed his eyes as he led the charge ahead of the vehicle, where the bright headlights stabbed through the swirling cloud of dust.

  Ten feet from the car, Max encountered the first guard. The man wore a black suit and had a mop of blond hair. A 9mm pistol in his right hand weaved back and forth through the dust cloud, but he was looking the wrong way.

  Somewhere in the dust another man shouted, “Do you see them, Ted?”

  The blond guard glanced back over his shoulder and shouted, “Not yet!” moments before turning and coming face-to-face with Max. The gangster snapped off one reflexive shot before the ex-cop blew him away with his roaring shotgun.

  The blond man’s rushed shot scraped Max’s cheekbone and drew a line of blood which trickled down his cheek. The swirling dust instantly stuck to the spilled blood.

  More gangsters in suits rushed out of the dust with their pistols held high. Max mowed through them as he advanced into the house.

  Nick and Kate followed. Kate’s reloaded automatic rifle slashed through the clouds of dust and tore apart guards who came stumbling out on Max’s blind side. Nick nailed guard after guard with burst fire from his own rifle.

  The dust thinned enough to reveal Max’s surroundings. The entryway where the SUV had punched through led into a wide hall, with a large staircase which split halfway up and swept to the right and left. Balconies overhead looked down on the entryway. The layer of debris gave way to plush carpets the color of red wine. Curtains, tapestries, and draping silk accents of the same wine color made the place look like a brothel.

  White marble statues depicting naked young women, sculpted to look as if they were running away, reinforced the bordello aesthetic. More statues of fat little men with goat horns and furry legs chased the marble girls around the room. As Max advanced through the hall, he realized the satyr men all had the same large nose and defined chin.

  Kate frowned. “This place makes me feel gross.”

  “This r
ight here is money with no class,” Max said.

  As the three stepped out of the cloud of obscuring dust, more guards in black suits fired at them. Max, Kate, and Nick ducked behind marble statues and thick oak tables as the guards fired at them with heavy pistols.

  Max poked his nose out from behind a statue of a particularly busty naked girl and scanned the room. Guards were spread out along the first floor, stood on the staircase, and fired down over the second-floor railings.

  A man in a suit the color of red wine stood across the wide room on the first floor. Despite being in his mid-sixties, the olive-skinned man had a thick mane of black hair. Max recognized the same large nose and defined chin as all the satyr statues.

  Gold jewelry rattled as Papa Sal jabbed a finger at Max. “Put them down like dogs!” More guards surged from behind him and charged at the three intruders.

  Max snapped off a shot with his shotgun, but the shot was intercepted by an unsuspecting gangster who rushed in front of Papa Sal. The shotgun blast hurled the guard against the wall, leaving a bloody smear. The old crime lord jumped in surprise before hurrying through a doorway to get away from the gunfight.

  “Papa Sal is here!” Max shouted to Kate and Nick.

  The two shot him thumbs-ups to show they heard him, even as gunfire rained down upon their positions and chipped away at their cover.

  Max poked out from around the statue and opened fire with his shotgun. Even a glancing blow shredded limbs and left thugs screaming in agony.

  The remaining guards ducked behind cover to wait out Max’s assault.

  Max used their hesitation to launch himself from behind cover and charge after Papa Sal. His two friends followed. Automatic fire echoed through the cavernous entry hall as Kate covered their retreat.

  The doorway Papa Sal had ducked through led to a huge seating area. Lush white couches filled the room. Mahogany flooring matched the side tables and buffets scattered around the wide room. A vaulted ceiling dripped with chandeliers sparkling in the light of inset ceiling lamps.

  Max shoved through the doorway in time to see Papa Sal’s maroon suit disappearing through a red door at the far end of the room. More guards in black suits rushed through the parlor and streamed around couches and tables toward the entry door where the intruders stood.

  Max snapped off several shots as he hurled himself into cover behind one particularly dense white sofa. As he hit the floor, his cover erupted in a shower of polyester stuffing which drifted down through the air like snow.

  Kate and Nick leaped into cover and all the combatants opened fire on each other. The collective eruption of fluffy white sofa stuffing churned the room into a localized blizzard.

  Max shot a guard who tried to creep around the end of his sofa. The shotgun blast caught the man in the face and hurled him back into an end table which collapsed under his weight.

  Max rose into a crouch when his enemies paused to reload. He braced his shotgun on the top of the couch and fired three times blindly around the room until his ammo ran out. He tossed the gun aside, rose up, and hurtled the couch, drawing the two pistols from his hips in mid-air. Max squeezed his pistol triggers the instant his boots hit the floor, and the guards rising from behind a nearby sofa gyrated as bullets riddled their bodies.

  A guard rose up to Max’s far left and brought his pistol to bear too quickly for Max to react.

  Nick’s automatic fire turned the guard to Swiss cheese a moment before the enemy fired. The gangster’s bullet blew apart a glass vase full of vibrant red flowers to Max’s right.

  Max, in turn, opened fire with both pistols on two guards aiming at Nick. Both criminals shuddered as Max’s shots tore through them, and crimson blood splashed across the white sofas behind them.

  As Nick and Kate killed the last few guards in the room, Max bolted across to the door Papa Sal had disappeared through.

  The red door opened on a sprawling library that smelled of old paper and wood polish. Rows of tall mahogany bookshelves encircled a central staircase that spiraled to a ceiling hung with light fixtures designed to look like old candelabras that threw warm light over the room. Papa Sal stood on the second-floor landing aiming a revolver at Max.

  Papa Sal fired. The bullet tore through the wooden doorframe near Max’s head. The ex-cop ducked into cover behind the door as Papa Sal ran across the second-floor landing and dove through a narrow green door.

  Guards in black suits burst from behind bookshelves and onto the second floor to fire down at Max. He threw himself into the room and tucked into a roll. Bullets gouged the floorboards behind him as Max tumbled into cover behind a tall bookcase.

  Kate and Nick ducked through the doorway and threw themselves into cover.

  Bullets bounced around the room as the two sides traded fire.

  Max was struggling to get a good angle on his enemies. Whenever he stepped out of cover to shoot, he had to pivot back because the mobsters coordinated their fire on him. Meanwhile, gangsters up above were circling along the railings to flank him.

  Bullets ate away at the wooden shelves around Max. He looked to Nick beside him and saw his friend was in a similar jam. Nick’s face twisted up in frustration as he blew a stray black hair out of his eyes.

  Across the aisle of shelves, Kate was having more luck. Her automatic rifle spat death as she laid down suppressive fire to prevent the guards up above from flanking Max and Nick.

  Max ground his teeth as he sat impotently in his hunkered position. Every angle of attack was covered by the enemies on the ground floor. The men up above, though few, were trading fire with Kate and yet gaining ground.

  Max leaned his back against the bookshelf and purposely banged his head to clear it. His head smarted, but the shelf budged slightly.

  “Nick,” said Max, “put your shoulder into this bookshelf and push!”

  Nick spun around and braced himself against the heavy wooden bookshelf. Max did the same. By shoving the bookshelf in a steady rhythm, they soon had the heavy piece of furniture rocking back and forth.

  Kate continued to pour suppressive fire on the landing above Max and Nick, but now enemies were closing in on the other side. Her rifle clicked empty just as gangsters stormed around a corner up above and fired down on her position. Kate fell to the floor screaming and covering her head as books and wood splinters rained down on her.

  “Make it happen!” Max shouted at Nick. The two men hurled everything they had into the next shove.

  With a crash, the bookshelf fell against the next one in line. Books flew off the shelves and thumped on the carpets underfoot as bookshelves toppled like dominos. The gangsters sheltering between the tall aisles screamed as they were crushed to death.

  Max and Nick fired on the remaining gangsters up on the second floor. Nick’s rifle slashed across the men firing at Kate, cutting them in half and sending their corpses tumbling over the railing to splatter on the ground floor.

  Max’s dual pistols blew apart the last few guards’ heads. When the crash of gunfire ended, only the flutter of loose pages broke the sudden stillness.

  Max rushed to Kate’s side and took her hand. He looked her over as he hauled her to her feet, but he could see no blood. “You hurt anywhere?”

  Kate’s eyes opened wide, and she shook her head before lunging at him. Her arms closed around the back of his neck and pulled him into a tight hug. When she released him, her blue eyes sparkled. “Thanks,” she said.

  Max smirked. “About time you showed some gratitude.”

  Nick nudged one of the fallen bookshelves with his foot. “Good idea with the shelves, Max. For a second there, I thought we were cooked.” He surveyed the fallen shelves full of literature they’d used to end the battle. “When my high school teachers said knowledge is power, I bet they never pictured this.”

  “Papa Sal is getting ahead of us,” Max said. “Come on.” He le
d the charge up the staircase and shoved through the green door set into the far wall.

  A long hallway greeted them, draped in the same red curtains and carpeting as the rest of the house. Doors lining the hall alternated with paintings of nude or semi-nude women. At the far end of the hall, Max spotted another green door.

  Gunmen popped out of several doors at the end of the hall, and the far door opened to reveal more gangsters in black suits. As a dozen enemies took aim and bullets began flying down the hall, Max, Kate, and Nick hurled themselves through the first door on their left.

  The stink of cheap perfume hung over the room. Red silk streamers draped a four-poster bed with a wine-colored bedspread. The armoires and vanity were stained cherry red.

  Nick voiced Max’s thoughts. “It looks like a whorehouse.”

  “What is with Papa Sal’s taste in decoration?” Kate demanded. “This guy is a pervert.”

  “Is his house worse than my apartment?” Nick asked hopefully.

  Kate thought about that one for a moment. “A little.”

  Nick sighed.

  Out in the hallway, the gunfire continued. Max tried to poke around the corner to get off a few shots, but immediate suppressive fire forced him to duck back inside. “Damn! We’re pinned down.”

  Nick dropped the magazine from his automatic rifle and slammed home a new one, then glanced at the wall of the bedroom. “I think I’ve got an idea. Saw it in a movie once.”

  “Try it,” Max said.

  Nick nodded. “We’ll need someone to cover the hall and distract the goons. This plan is gonna require some muscle, so Max and I will be doing this part.” The cop looked apologetically at Kate. “That means you’re on suppression.”

  “I can handle it,” the blonde baker said firmly as she reloaded her rifle with a clip from her belt.

  “Kate,” Max said, “keep them focused on you, but don’t get killed.”

  “Sure thing, Max.” Kate moved to the doorway, poked the barrel of her rifle around the corner, and sprayed blind fire down the hall.

  At the same time, Nick squeezed the trigger on his own rifle. By rotating the barrel in a circle, he shot a large circle into the wall leading further up the hall. When he’d emptied the magazine, he replaced it with a fresh one and looked at Max. “Same as the bookshelves. One big push.”