Sitting against their bikes, the Outlaws passed a joint. One Outlaw spoke into a walkie-talkie. Lyons hurtled past them, then hit his brakes. He slid to a stop thirty feet past the group. His body blocked their view of the Ingram in his grip. Below him, not far off, Lyons saw the Casino. Outlaws lounged in front of the white building, servicing their motorcycles and drinking. They were so close Lyons heard their voices and laughter.
"Looking for locals," Lyons shouted, hoping his voice would warn Gadgets and Blancanales. Even as he called out, Blancanales, then Gadgets leaped over the hill on their machines. Flashing the Outlaws quick glances, they slowed, but Lyons waved both of his partners past him. They roared on, and he accelerated after them.
The trail cut sharply to the south. Once down there, the Outlaws back on the peak could not see them. Close shave. Able Team had not expected that outpost: no tracks, at least not where they had looked.
"I couldn't chance wasting them," Lyons told his teammates, their bikes idling.
Gadgets pulled the captured walkie-talkie from his pocket and listened, "... up on the hill. Just now, not even a minute ago, we had a patrol swing by. I didn't recognize the three guys. Did you send anyone by this way?"
"I've got lots of patrols out. I'll call them. This is Horse. Patrol on the ridgeline behind the Casino, report. On the ridgeline behind the Casino, report..."
Gadgets offered the walkie-talkie to Blancanales, then Lyons. "That's us. Want to report to Horse?"
"We only got a minute," Lyons told Blancanales. "Look what he's got on the balcony down there. Looks like .50 calibers."
"Sentries on all the doors," Blancanales noted. "Lots of motorcycles. That's where all the Outlaws are."
Gadgets pointed. "They have LAAW rockets."
"Patrol on the ridge. This is Horse. Come in! Report! Who the fuck are you?"
"This is Jake again. They're probably our guys, but what's got me wondering is the blond one's jacket. It looked exactly like Blackie's. Black leather, those stars on the shoulders, even the chrome studs on the sleeves. Just a second, I don't hear their bikes moving about anymore. I'm going to look down the hill. Just a second..."
"This is Horse, I'm sending ten men out to check them. Blackie's long gone. They could have taken his jacket and bike. All Outlaws watch for three dudes on bikes and wearing Outlaw jackets. All Outlaws..."
"Time to move." Gadgets jammed the walkie-talkie in his pocket and engaged his motorcycle in gear. Lyons and Blancanales sped after him.
Low-gearing down the hill as fast as he dared, Lyons felt knives in his ribs at every bump. Fortunately, less than a quarter mile later, the trail would end at Vieudelou Street. But as they slowed to a walk in order to ease through a steel gate, they saw four Outlaws on Suzukis and cruising Hondas rounding the turn from Stage Road. The Outlaws blocked their escape.
"Downhill!" Blancanales shouted. "Through town. They'll never expect it. We'll sprint south, then stop and pop an ambush."
Lyons sprayed the oncoming Outlaws with his Ingram, saw two go down. The other two pulled behind parked cars for cover, their bike engines roaring. He snapped a full magazine into the Ingram, jerked back the Harley's hand throttle. The front wheel left the asphalt.
Leaning through a long curve, they hit Crescent at sixty miles an hour, sideslipped through a sharp turn, then accelerated again. The roar of their motorcycles shredded the afternoon's anxious quiet.
* * *
At the Casino, Outlaws kicked their bikes to life and flew into the pursuit. Horse stood among the crowd of Outlaws starting their motorcycles. He counted off ten men, stopped the others.
"Only ten!" He held up his hands for quiet. "This could be a trick. Everyone back to their posts! Move it!"
* * *
An Outlaw on the south end of Crest had heard the radio calls. He saw the three bikers racing toward him. He started his bike. He intercepted the three men by matching their speed. He stayed handlebar to handlebar with them for a hundred yards until the sharp curves of Lovers' Cove forced him to fall back.
He jerked a pistol from his belt. Awkwardly aiming as he tried to control his motorcycle, he fired.
Lyons heard the bullet buzz past his head. He cranked back the accelerator, watching the Harley's tachometer red line.
The Outlaw pulled on the handlebars of his bike and speeded up in pursuit of the three impostors. Pulling close again, he sighted over the barrel of the revolver. He emptied the cylinder at the riders ahead of him.
Blancanales' back tire blew out. Struggling with the bucking machine, with instinct and strength he kept it upright. He lost half an inch of sole from his combat boots. Lyons slowed fast, his bike fishtailing and the back tire smoking. He pointed his Ingram at the lone pursuer and sprayed him. At least one 9mm slug would punch into his gut, he knew it. The Outlaw doubled over, his motorcycle drifting into the guardrail. At sixty miles an hour, the bike flipped. The Outlaw was sent hurtling into the seawall below.
Retrieving his backpack and weapons from his motorcycle's saddlebags, Blancanales ran to Lyons' Harley and jumped on. The ten Outlaws rounded the curve behind them.
"No time for that ambush!" Blancanales shouted. "Hope Gadgets knows where he's going!"
* * *
Glancing back, Gadgets had seen Blancanales' bike on its side in the road and a group of pursuing Outlaws closing fast on the Harley. With the weight of Blancanales, Lyons could not outdistance the Outlaws. Gadgets noticed the steel buildings of the seaplane terminal. He pointed and turned, Lyons turning only an instant behind him.
Weaving through fences, parked cars, rows of oil drums, Able Team blitzed through the open side door of a steel building, then screeched to a stop. Fire from the Outlaws outside hammered on the sheet steel walls, tiny points of light appearing with the impact of each bullet. Tools, cans and cables flew from that front wall.
Firing wild through the door, Lyons emptied his Ingram at the Outlaws. Car windows shattered, slugs slammed metal, Outlaws dived for cover. Lyons dragged the high sliding door closed. Bullets were still punching through. He dived for the floor, groaning.
"You hit?" Gadgets called out.
"Nah, I just hurt." Rolling onto his back, Lyons surveyed the interior of the building. It was a steel prefab, twelve feet high from the concrete floor to the corrugated metal roof. It contained a workshop and a storage area. A forklift stood against the far wall. A row of 50-gallon oil drums lined another wall. Crates, tires, and seaplane pontoons crowded one end of the building. Small windows viewed the ocean on one side, the terminal on the other. The door Lyons had just closed was the only way out. Outside, a voice called to them: "Give up! We need hostages, not corpses. Give up or we'll kill you."
"Bad scene," Gadgets muttered.
Lyons grinned. "Real bad scene. No doubt about it."
15
Banzai directed his squad of Outlaws to encircle the steel building. He sent two men with rifles to cover the south wall. Two other men ran behind the airline offices, took positions covering the east wall and part of the north. Banzai spread out his other men throughout the parking lot and equipment yard.
Keying his walkie-talkie, he reported to Horse: "I've got men covering every way out. And there's nothing but the ocean behind them."
"Take them alive," Horse ordered.
"What if they won't come out?"
"Then kill them."
Banzai called out again to the besieged warriors. "Come out or we kill you."
An Uzi burst answered, the slugs punching into the car in front of him. Tinted glass showered him.
"KILL THEM!"
Shotguns and automatic rifles ripped the corrugated steel walls of the warehouse. Bullets and pellets tore through one side and out the other. Return fire from Able Team faked the cars in the parking lot.
Gasoline started to pour from the punctured tank of a Volkswagen. Then a tracer round hit the car and the fuel exploded. Two cars to the side, an Outlaw broke cover to escape the flames. Slugs caug
ht him in one knee and in his gut. It knocked him down. The spreading pool of flame enveloped him. Screaming, his body burning, the Outlaw clawed at the asphalt, trying to drag himself clear, but without success. Foul, greasy smoke rose from the flaming man.
Several other cars exploded. Smoke from the tires of the already gutted Volkswagen darkened the sky. The heat from the burning cars drove the Outlaws out of the south end of the parking lot, leaving the west end of the warehouse uncovered. Three bikers gathered around Banzai.
"Ace!" Banzai looked to a man with an M-16. "Run up that slope across the road. Put some shots down on that end. Watch that window there." Banzai pointed to the end of the building nearest the flaming cars.
"On my way." Ace ran through the swirling clouds of smoke. Overweight and out of condition, the smoke around him acrid, he panted across the road and struggled to run up the steep embankment. A three-shot burst broke his back, spraying parts of him onto the crumbling rock. His broken spine arched over in an impossible backbend. He lay in the road, his body bent back at a ninety degree angle.
The other two Outlaws looked at the crumpled Ace and turned to Banzai, fear in their eyes. Banzai pointed to a skinny man with an eyepatch.
"You, Bone. You can run fast. Make it up that slope."
"But I only got a shotgun."
"So pick up Ace's rifle and ammo. Move it!"
"How can I run fast and pick up that stuff, too?" he pleaded. "Besides, I can't hardly see out of this one eye of mine..."
"Can you see this?" Banzai put a .44 Magnum to Bone's face. "Now move it!"
Slinging his shotgun over his back, Bone darted from the parking lot and sprinted across the road. He snatched at the M-16 of the dead biker. The sling tangled with the dead man's arm. Bone tugged at it desperately, dragging the body to the curb before the sling pulled free.
A slug smashed Bone's right knee. He spun backwards onto the embankment, screaming. He held his knee as blood gushed between his fingers, and yelled at the others: "I'm hit! I can't run, get me out of..."
Another slug slammed him back. "Get me out of here, ohhhhhhhhhhh..."
Then his left shoulder exploded. Both arms hung limp, blood pouring from the sleeves of his jacket. Another slug bounced him off the embankment. Yet another slug hit the gore that had been his right shoulder. Thrashing like a fish, he rolled into the road and then lay on his belly, yelping.
Banzai sighted over the eight-inch barrel of his .44 Magnum and fired a shot into Bone's head. The slug flipped the broken biker onto his back. He lay bloodied against the curb, arms and broken legs akimbo. The vast hole where his face had been stared back at Banzai.
Keying his walkie-talkie again, Banzai's voice shook: "Horse. We need rockets. Send another bunch of guys with some rockets. We need..."
"What the fuck's going on!" the voice screamed from the radio. "You got them trapped. Now you need rockets? What kind of jerk-off are you? You got grenades, use them!"
"We still need more men. I've lost three guys already. We need the rockets to knock down the building."
"Okay, they're on their way. Use your grenades, rip the place up. The rockets will be there in four minutes."
Pulling a fragmentation grenade from his jacket pocket, Banzai crept up between two parked cars. He motioned the biker behind him to follow. The biker carried an antique Thompson submachine gun with a drum magazine.
"Put a burst in there when I stand up to throw. I'll tell you when." He watched the warehouse door, now open six inches. A muzzle flashed fire. Another weapon fired from one of the small windows. Banzai jerked the pin from the grenade. "Okay, right now!"
The biker behind Banzai stood up and fired the Thompson, which jumped awkwardly in his hands. He waved the muzzle back and forth, the .45 caliber slugs crumpling the thin corrugated metal of the warehouse.
Banzai swung his arm back to throw. The biker behind him fired the clumsy Thompson point-blank into the back of his head.
"Jesus, Banzai! I'm sorry!"
The live grenade fell at the fool biker's feet, then rolled under the car. In panic he dropped to his hands and knees, grabbing for the grenade. It rolled beyond his reach. He stood up; slugs ripped past his head. He reached for his Thompson. Suddenly the grenade exploded, shockingly fierce; it tore away both his feet, also the hand grasping the Thompson.
The mutilated man fell to his knees almost on top of the mangled body of Banzai. More slugs punched into the cars. In shock and panic, the biker rose again and staggered backward on his shortened legs. He fell in the center of the parking lot, wailing, blood spurting from the stumps of his legs and wrist.
Firing from behind an oil drum, a biker with a braided beard heard the grenade explode. Squinting through the thick, stinking smoke, he saw a shadow fall back screaming. He called out: "Banzai! Hey, you all right?" There was no answer. Slugs pounded the 50-gallon steel drum. Oil drained from the many bullet holes. "Banzai!"
Still without an answer, the biker squatted low against the drum. He jammed shells into the tube of his riot shotgun. He came to the end of his bandolier. He had eight shots in his shotgun, three more in the loops of his bandolier. Then he had only his Browning Double-Action. "Banzai," he screamed again. "You hit?"
Leaning out from behind the oil drum, the biker pumped three loads of double-ought pellets into the warehouse door. Then he broke cover and ran weaving and ducking through the equipment yard. He was sprinting for the line of parked cars just barely visible in the pall of burning tires and cars. A 9mm slug tripped him, sending him rolling. He crawled the last few feet.
Blood oozed from his boot. He had a through-and-through wound to his ankle. Behind the protective bulk of a parked pickup, he tried to slip off his heavy boot. He leaned back against the car, panting with pain. He saw a radio lying on the asphalt, probably Banzai's. He reached for it.
"Calling Horse, this is the Frog. I think Banzai's dead. We need help, man. We're all ripped to shit. I don't know who these crazies are, but they're doing it to us. Send us some artillery. I'm almost out of ammo..."
He smelled gasoline. He noticed the car and truck on each side of him sat on their wheel rims, the tires blown apart. Streams of gasoline and oil puddled the asphalt all around the biker.
"... I got to get out of here. I'm sitting in gasoline. Get us some help. I'm shot. I only hear two or three guys still shooting. Horse! Get us some help!"
Putting the radio in his pocket, the biker crawled between the cars. He heard a single rifle slug whap through the car beside him. A tracer flashed by his face like a streak of fire.
The gasoline beneath him burst into flame.
Motorcycles roared around the curve at Lover's Cove and accelerated on the straightway. Approaching the seaplane terminal, the thick smoke forced them to slow. The five bikers heard only sporadic firing. As they pulled into the parking lot, stopping far from the burning cars, they saw something run toward them.
A flaming Outlaw was staggering, thrashing, lurching through the smoke. His eyes were gone, his open mouth a hole of darkness from which came an animal groan.
Charlie pulled his pistol and fired twice into the faceless head. Then Charlie himself flew back, a stream of .308 slugs ripping across his chest. Merciless engagement.
High in the corrugated steel warehouse, near the roofline, a muzzle kept flashing, the points of light bright through the black sooty smoke. The newly arrived bikers had only time to lift their eyes toward the M-60 before the slugs found them. Inaccurate because of the smoke, the stream of slugs sought no targets. The machinegunner simply swept the fire over them, firing indiscriminately.
The .308 slugs smashed knees and skulls, punched holes through the motorcycles, tore through lungs and hearts to destroy the fiberglass LAAW rocket tubes slung across the Outlaws' backs. Slugs pocked the asphalt, found flesh, ricocheted from engine blocks.
One biker, as a slug shattered his leg, threw himself sideways and dragged himself out of the kill zone. He watched as the steady stream of
slugs stitched across the parking lot again and again, shooting the dead all over again, spilling entrails, giving corpses sudden movement.
The biker braced himself and struggled to remove the LAAW rocket from his back. He was almost unconscious from his leg's pain. Every move brought agony like he'd never known. He heard shrieking, did not realize his own throat made the sounds. But he got the rocket off his back.
The M-60 had quit. From the area around the warehouse, a shotgun fired: one shot, two shots, then a pause.
Laying still on his back, the one surviving biker from Charlie's rescue squad struggled to deal with the LAAW rocket's extension tube. Finally he pulled it out, and saw the sight flip up.
He heard boots running toward him. He saw above him an Outlaw holding an assault rifle. But his vision swam, he could not recognize the Outlaw's face.
"Just in time," said the Outlaw standing above him. "We've been waiting for the rockets."
"Here," the biker gasped, offering the LAAW rocket.
The Outlaw carefully accepted the ready-to-fire rocket launcher.
"Kill them!" the dying biker spat, his limp hands splashing in his own warm blood. "They killed Charlie, they killed our brothers... Waste those bastards... " His voice faded.
"Ready?" The Outlaw above him spoke into a radio.
A voice squawked, "All clear."
Putting the rocket launcher to his shoulder, the Outlaw sighted on the far end of the warehouse, and fired.
Screeching into the smoke, the rocket hit and passed through the corrugated steel like paper, punching through the hurriedly stacked crates, the sheet metal and thick planking offering only enough resistance to detonate the warhead. Twelve ounces of Octol high explosive ripped apart the stacked drums of oil and the cans of gasoline, vaporizing the oil and the fuel.
The door and windows flying out, the warehouse became a single ball of flame. Anyone inside would die before feeling pain, instantly incinerated. Twisted sheets of steel floated upward in the flames.
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