“Sweet Jesus… Jack,” Steve said. “Did we really have to haul this fucking gear nearly a mile?”
“We did, if we didn’t want to announce ourselves to those shitheads in that building. Did you think we’d just drive the vans up to the doors of the surrounding buildings and start unloading?”
“I guess not, but my new leg they made me still has some breaking in to do.”
“Do you want to switch with Peter, and do the detonation and coordinating?”
“Hell no! I want in on the action at the street level, when you guys go through.”
Jack clasped Steve’s shoulder. “I want you there too.”
“Jack,” Peter leaned over from the laptop, “I’m going to test out the headsets. If you get anything from the others while I talk to them, let me know. You too, Dad.”
Jack and Steve both indicated their readiness as Peter checked communications, channel by channel, to each of the kids. Peter then checked clarity to Jack and Steve. “How was that?”
“Perfect.” Jack stated. “Will it be this clear down in the basement of the building?”
“You bet, Jack,” Peter replied. “With these babies, you will hear me just like I was next to you. Did you all memorize the channels so you can talk to someone else if need be?”
“Yes, but in the heat of the moment, it may get a little difficult.”
“I know, but you probably won’t have to do it anyway, I hope. It’s only for emergencies. I’ll be monitoring if we need changes at any time,” Peter said.
“Okay, I know we’ll be a little thin,” Jack said. “If we can keep the surprise going, we’ll be fine.”
“Kevin’s right Jack,” Steve said. “This plan does resemble some of the ones from the beginning. You remember, Peter?”
“Oh yeah,” Peter replied, “but he led them, just like tonight, so his plans could only fail once, and then we’d be rid of the crazy SOB.”
“Hello… Jack said, laughing, “I’m still here. At least rip me like you know I’m still sitting here.”
Peter listened for a moment, and then said, “Jack, Kevin says to come on down, everyone’s in place.”
“Let me know the second they change the guard on top of the building. It shouldn’t be long now. As soon as the new guards are in place, and the others are off the roof, tell the kids to take them out. Tell them to triple tap those guys. I do not want any warnings given with the last breath. Let me know when they are down for the count, Peter.”
“I’ll let you know if you have any interference when you go into the building. They must be having some kind of meeting, because they have a big crowd in one place down there.”
“All the better for us. See ya’ on the other side, boys.” Jack turned away and walked over to Sarah. He hugged her quickly. “Take a breath, and do not hesitate honey, just like in practice.”
“Good luck, Dad.”
“Thanks. If good luck skips us over tonight, get your brother and whoever makes it out alive, and get the hell out of here, okay?”
“I understand. Make sure you give luck a chance to work.”
“I will.” Jack hurried with the bags down to street level.
Jack found Kevin, just inside the door of the building, waiting for him. John stood nearby, checking his silenced automatic, and adjusting the sling on his AK-47. "How come you’re taking the commie with you instead of me? I know how to set explosives.”
“Do you speak Chinese?”
“No, but…”
“Then you know why.” Jack listened to Peter's voice in his ear, while holding up a hand to Kevin. He acknowledged, then waved John over, and handed him a bag.
“I will contact you as soon as I work my way into position on the other side, John. The snipers are being taken out even as we speak. Peter will let us know when we can set the charges out here. When you have all of your charges in place, call it in to Peter, and he will coordinate with us while we get in the basement entrance.” Jack looked at Kevin. “Change of plan, Kevin. You take out the guards, while we’re on our way over. It will save time, and put you in position. Do it only when you hear from Peter that we have the charges set, okay?”
“Now you’re talking. I’ll be waiting for you both. Just continue right on in. I’ll get a final heat reading from Peter as soon as I take out the guards. If I don’t stand in your way, it will be all clear for you to go right in.”
“Sounds good, Vaya Con Dios, my friends.” Jack exited the building, and worked his way around the perimeter, carefully hugging the surrounding buildings for cover. He stopped to rearrange his AK-47, and get a better grip on the explosives bag he carried, wishing he had the Wolf running interference for him. As he made his way around the basement entrance, he could see the guards were not moving from around the door. This would work in Kevin’s favor. It would be vital that the bad guys did not get off a shot.
Jack heard Peter's voice in his ear, and he clicked acknowledgment. “The snipers are down on the roof, and no indication of trouble inside. I can hear voices, but they vary between Chinese, Spanish, and even some Mid-Eastern dialect. The roving guards are away from you now, if you want to get this party started.”
Jack clicked okay.
When he reached the first point, Jack ran to the side of the target building, glad for the stupidity of his enemy in not lighting the side of the building. He was able to plant three of the five charges, before Peter warned him back. After the guard made a perfunctory trip around the building, and checked in with the basement guards, he turned and headed around to the front again. Jack dogged him silently, and as soon as he rounded the corner, Jack set the last two charges. He turned then and ran towards the basement entrance. He clicked his completion to Peter. He continued on until he could see the guard on his side, and then waited.
“John’s finished,” Peter said.
Jack saw the guard slam into the doorway behind him, and then pitch forward. Jack ran straight for the entrance, and arrived at about the same time as John. Kevin was nowhere in sight, so the two men continued through the door and straight into the basement. They quickly set the charges they carried in the filthy pit, where the building stanchions were visible to their enhanced vision. They froze as a voice called out in Chinese. John yelled something in Chinese, and the man laughed and continued down. With his night vision goggles, Jack could see a figure carrying a rifle of some kind, squinting to see. John walked towards him, and shot him in the head, and chest with his silenced automatic. He ran up even as he shot, and grabbed the man's rifle before it clattered to the cement floor. John turned and quickly set his last charge, as Jack joined him. Jack clicked a completion to Peter, and seconds later Kevin was standing at the top of the stairs.
“You ready to kick some ass, white boy?” Kevin whispered as Jack reached him.
“Let's rock and roll. Do we still have all those guys in the same place, Peter?”
“No Jack, meetings over. About two thirds of them are on the second floor in various spots.”
“Tell Steve, Paul, and Mitch to get into position, and turn the kids loose as soon as we start attracting attention.”
“Got it, have fun.”
“Bueno.”
Jack led them up, and through the entrance to the main part of the building. The three men, bursting in with automatic weapons fire, caught all on the first floor completely by surprise. Dozens fell to the deadly fire, as the three men spread out, and raked the running enemy with clip after clip. Confusion, noise, and smoke, resulting from the continuous rifle fire, worked in Jack’s favor. All the enemy could do was run for the stairs, leading to the upper level, or hide behind furniture and partitions on the main level. Paul, Mitch and Steve opened up as soon as the guards rushed in from the outside, and now held control of the front entrance. The room lay in a smoky haze as John, Kevin, and lastly Jack, ran past their group at the main entrance and out into the street. The others followed on their heels, after firing a last clip into the room. As they reached
the alleyway between the adjoining buildings, Jack told Peter to blow the building. The men continued running as they heard the thunderous explosion. The ground rocked under their feet, and the force of the blast roared down the alleyway, flinging them all to the cement. They crawled against the wall, and covered their heads, as dust and debris swept past them and into them.
“Jesus H. Christ Palomino,” Jack heard Peter’s voice in his ear as if from far away.
Chapter 30
The Celebration
The men in the alleyway regained their feet slowly, as they tried to shake some of the dust from their heads and eyes. They could see some small flames back at the building through the heavy smoke. Jack sat down against the alley wall, and motioned for the others to get down. They joined him, but kept their rifles ready in both directions.
“Are the kids working the perimeter for survivors, Peter,” Jack asked.
“There ain’t any survivors,” Peter stated. “That baby went right down on itself, and the only heat signals I’m getting are the few little fires you can see from where you are.”
“Keep the kids on it, Peter. The blast may bring some members back who were out. We’ll wait around for a couple of hours.”
“What about cops?”
“Kevin took care of that. They avoided this place anyway, because they were outgunned by these pricks. I will let you know when the dust settles enough for us to take a look. I don’t want the kids taking us out too.”
“I’ve got the kids watching for movement in your area. Sarah says to say hi, and you are clear for as far as she can see. Kick back, and I will keep you informed.”
“Affirmative.” Jack looked around at the men next to him, caked in a mixture of dust and sweat. “Anyone want a drink?”
Kevin laughed. “Did you get hit in the head on the way out, Jack.”
“Nope, but I brought along this.” He reached into his side pocket, and pulled out a pint flask, foam shielded against breakage. He opened it, and took a slug, sighing as it burned its way down his throat. “Bushmills, of course.”
“You beautiful bastard,” Kevin exclaimed, as he took the flask with a shaking hand. “Now that’s what I call confidence.” He took a long pull, and handed it to John.
“How come I have to drink after our pet commie,” Paul asked. John choked in mid gulp.
“You… asshole…” John croaked through tearing eyes. Paul pounded on his back as he laughed, and took the flask. Paul took a long drink, and handed it to Mitch. As Mitch reached for it gratefully, Paul pulled it back.
“One of us should stay alert Mitch. You should…”
The sound of the safety clicking off on Mitch’s rifle brought the flask to Mitch, and laughter from the others. “I was just trying to be professional about this,” Paul complained.
“Man,” Kevin exclaimed as he took another hit from the flask, “I bet I won’t be able to hear anything for a month, if then. The one earplug and the mic just didn’t do the job. What will we have to do next Jack? I’m asking, because if you can pull off what we just did without a hitch, you must be getting help from a higher power.”
“We’ll wait, and let Steve and Peter work breaking through to someone not tied into Kardel. While they do that, we’ll tighten up on security. There have to be some of these guys who were not in here when we blew it. No telling how they’ll react. They may simply go into hiding, and wait for a chance to get back to their own country, or they might try some damned hard to prevent terrorism against us, or our buildings. We may be between a rock and a hard place if there are some pissed off survivors, and then Kardel finds out what we did.”
“What could he do,” Steve asked.
“You remember Ruby Ridge and Waco, Texas right? Even though they wouldn’t even touch these gangster clowns they wanted to control, what makes you think our Government, under Kardel, would not militarily take us out? They sent a hundred FBI and ATF agents to Ruby Ridge, and executed a guy’s wife, eleven year old son, and his dog, over a shortened shot gun barrel. They did this with known gang hideouts in East LA, and all over the country, armed to the teeth with illegal weapons, they would have had every right to attack. Kardel finds out about this before we get word over his head, and the tanks will role in the streets around here, like they never did against the real enemy here.”
“I ain’t too crazy about shooting at our own guys,” Mitch interjected, “even in defense.”
“Agreed, brother. We may have to bug out for the time being, until we can work things out.”
“I know a lot of the military out at the Airport,” Kevin responded. “If they get the whole picture from me, they will be real unwilling to take us out for wasting a bunch of commie infiltrators. They were told from the beginning, before my crew split off from the unit, to keep a low profile so as not to get the people worked up about a military coupe. There were many of the officers, who couldn’t understand why we didn’t wipe these suckers out then just like we did tonight. I’ll venture to say they could not have done it any cleaner than we did.”
Kevin got the flask back, and held it up in the air, "here’s to you and your stupid dog Larry, we kicked their mother fucking asses tonight! I hope ya’ll are somewhere you could watch it.”
He drank and handed the flask off to be passed and toasted.
“John, what did you say to that guy with the rifle at the basement entrance,” Jack asked.
“I told him I had a woman, and to come down and get some.”
“At least he died with a happy thought,” Jack said. “That was good thinking.”
“It’s going to be real hard to root out the rest of these guys,” Paul said.
“They really only know the Medical Center, and not much about us, or where we’re staying. Anyone who did know was probably in the building,” Mitch said
“We won’t assume that though.” Jack stood up stiffly. “I say we hunt the bastards down on the offensive. Anyway… we better get moving. I want to go through the debris as much as we can, while we have backup on the roofs around us.” Jack picked up his rifle, and popped a new clip in it as the others followed his example. When they reached the edge of the building, they could see nothing but varying heights of rubble. Jack held up a hand for them to stop.
“Peter, we’re on our way to scout the building. Tell the kids not to blow our asses off. Have you gotten any heat signatures at all?”
“Not a one Jack,” Peter replied. “We’ll keep an eye on you guys.”
“Hopefully, we won’t be long.”
They spread out as Jack led them over to the demolished building. For the next fifteen minutes, they picked over the rubble, looking for any noise, or sign of life. The haze made their eyes water, and made breathing less than comfortable. Jack finally called them over to him.
“Kevin, have one of your men bring over the guy we took earlier. Let’s see how he reacts to this. Maybe we can make a deal to find out if there are any more banditos around here not staying in this building. He can bring Wolf over too.”
Kevin smiled. “You think the guy will just start spilling his guts because we blew up his friends?"
“I think he may realize how hopeless this all appears. I’ll see if he’s open to giving us some info in return for his life if he tells us something interesting.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Jack shrugged. “Then I put a bullet in his head right here.”
“Works for me,” Kevin agreed. “I’ll have Peter patch me through.”
“Not the same old Americans,” John said.
Paul put an arm around his shoulders. “Not by a long shot, my friend. I’m tired of playing soldier. We need to get even more mad dog mean, and get this shit over with.”
John nodded, and they spread out once again where they had left off in the rubble, and waited for Kevin’s man to bring Wolf and the prisoner. When the van arrived, Steve rushed over to it, and let Wolf out. He pulled the prisoner out onto his knees. When Jack reached him, St
eve turned smilingly from talking to the men inside.
Jack petted Wolf, and sent him out on a scout. “What the hell are you smiling at Steve?”
“Because I told these guys to stay where they are. We have a ride out of here now, and I don’t want it going anywhere.”
Jack chuckled, and looked down at the prisoner, who knelt wide eyed as he looked around at the devastation. John came over and waited for Jack to ask what he wanted to know. Jack thought for a moment, and then whistled for Wolf to come back. When he got there, Jack patted the prisoner’s shoulder and made a little whistle note. Wolf leaped and tore the man backwards by the shoulder Jack had patted. He began to shake him back and forth on the ground, while he growled viciously. The man screamed. Jack touched Wolf, and the dog stopped and held the man quietly.
“If you speak English, I would do so now. I’m too tired to play games.”
“I speak English. What…”
“Good.” Jack broke in. “Now shut up until I need an answer. Was there some kind of meeting going on here tonight?”
“Yes, we were to plan an attack on the Medical Center, and destroy it in the morning. We have been watching the place ever since they started putting up fencing. When we saw them setting it up, and all of the equipment, we knew there would be many supplies inside.” He looked up again at the rubble in front of him. “Are they all dead?”
“If any of them are alive in there,” Steve answered, “they ain’t happy.”
“I have a deal for you, Bub,” Jack continued. “You tell us if you have any other soldiers out there, who probably weren’t in the building tonight, and I will let you live. I will turn you over to the police. If you don’t tell us, I will have Wolf here make you into a milkshake, before he rips your throat out.”
American Survival (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 5) Page 30