Donna-Lou nodded to Skye after a moment and took her gun.
"Okay. We're going to have to move fast," Rory said. "We may not have the luxury of being in tight spaces like this hallway again. Let's go." He turned and began moving up the hallway again.
Chet helped Donna-Lou to her feet and she moved woodenly in a crouch behind Rory.
Chet and then Skye followed behind.
After a few minutes, Rory came to a corner. He pressed his back against the wall and had the others line up against the wall behind him.
He peered around the corner.
He pulled his head back in quickly and put his fingers to his lips.
Sounds of a number of people walking in the distance reached their ears as they waited.
It took several minutes of tense waiting before the sound was replaced by the echo of a door slamming shut.
Rory peered around the corner again.
After a moment he turned and gave instructions in a low voice, "Okay, stay behind me, keep low and move fast."
He peered around the corner again, then moved quickly around and down the hallway.
Donna-Lou, Chet, and Skye moved around the corner and stayed in a line as Rory advanced quickly. His Heckler & Koch UMP9 submachine gun moved back and forth, covering the hallway ahead as he advanced. There was only a door on either side to check and he cleared each one quickly. Within moments they approached another door on the left with a numeric keypad lock
"They took a line of kids in here. Do your thing," Rory whispered to Skye. He readied his Heckler & Koch UMP9 submachine gun at his shoulder.
"Kids? Did you see Corry? Did you–?" Donna-Lou said loudly.
Chet jumped forward and put a hand over her mouth quickly
Skye raised her weapon and readied for an assault.
Donna-Lou's eyes were big as she realized what she had done.
She listened intently along with the others.
Everything was quiet.
Chet took his hand away from Donna-Lou's mouth.
Skye slipped her weapon over her shoulder and knelt in front of the keypad. She pulled out the small penlight, knelt and began examining each number on the keypad.
Chet placed his submachine gun against his shoulder, guarding the rear.
"This one looks like...3...4...6...9 are the numbers used," Skye whispered.
Donna-Lou knelt beside Skye, her voice shaky but determined, "I'll try and help remember the combinations you try."
Skye nodded and they began going through each one. Their whispers echoed lightly off the walls. Failed attempt after failed attempt went by. Finally, a satisfying click sounded. Skye pulled the door open and placed her foot in the crack to hold it in place as she slipped the UMP9 off her shoulder.
Donna-Lou rose, holding her UMP9 in sweaty hands.
Skye whispered to her, "You open the door for me on three like we did back there. Okay? On three."
Donna-Lou nodded once, slipped her weapon over her shoulder and grabbed the handle. "1-2-3, " and she pulled the door open.
Skye slipped inside, followed by Chet.
Rory moved into the doorway and held the door open with his shoulder as Donna-Lou moved in behind Skye and Chet. Then he let the door slowly close to minimize the bang.
Skye, Donna-Loub and Chet lined up, crouching beside the left wall, waiting for Rory to take point again.
Setting his Heckler & Koch UMP9 submachine gun to his shoulder, Rory moved past them and led the way again, weaving the weapon back and forth as he advanced up the hallway.
Skye kept her eye on the door behind them as they moved.
Halfway down the hallway, Rory reached a door on the left. He raised a fist, the signal to hold and the others crouched behind him. The top half of the door was tempered glass and Rory slowly rose and took a peek inside. After a few moments, he crouched with his back against the wall. "It's a large cafeteria," he whispered. "There are a number of children inside, maybe one hundred–"
Donna-Lou began to rise and spoke loudly, "Can you see–?"
Chet immediately put his hand on her arm.
Donna-Lou stopped halfway up, looking down at Chet in anger.
Rory and Skye brought their weapons up and faced both ends of the hallway. If the guards heard her....
Donna-Lou's body relaxed after a moment. She nodded and whispered, "Sorry."
Silence ensued as Rory and Skye waited.
After a few tense moments, Rory turned and began whispering again, "There are guards on either side of the door just inside. Donna-Lou, you pull this door open. Skye and I will move inside and neutralize them. Chet, you move in through the middle. There are guards on a second level walkway looking down, one on each side of the room. You shoot up at them starting on the left. Donna-Lou, you have to come through and start shooting high up on the right. Can you do that?"
Donna-Lou licked her lips and she trembled but she nodded.
"Good," Rory said, "Once we get our two, we'll help you. But remember...both of you...you can only fire high...all of the children are dead ahead. Understood?"
Chet and Donna-Lou looked very nervous but they nodded their heads.
"Okay," Rory said. "Everyone keep low so they don't see us through the window."
Donna-Lou crouched low and moved passed Rory to the door, putting her hand on the doorknob.
Skye and Rory moved in position to move inside, with Chet ready to do his part, coming in behind them.
Rory counted down, whispering, "3-2-1-go!"
Chapter 22
DONNA-LOU PULLED the door open and held it against the wall to allow the others to move in quickly. The guard on the left was just beginning to turn to see who was coming in and she almost went into a panic. Her eyebrows shot up and she opened her mouth to yell a warning.
But Rory moved past her in a heartbeat and drove the side of his submachine gun's metal stock into the guard's jaw. As the man fell, Rory crashed the gun barrel into his skull to make sure he was down for good.
Skye moved in behind Rory, smoothly and efficiently taking down the guard on the right side with the butt of her weapon.
Chet moved through the open doorway, stepped between Rory and Skye as they did their work, and aimed upwards to the left. He caught sight of a guard and pulled the trigger. His submachine gun roared.
Donna-Lou hands were now shaking and she fumbled to get her weapon in hand, now positive she had messed everything up with the hesitation. Moving on legs of jelly through the doorway, she lifted her submachine gun up and to the right as she had been told. A guard was just reacting to the invasion from below. Donna-Lou began firing and filled the wall to the left of the guard with 9 mm slugs. He reacted by ducking the other way.
Children were screaming and scrambling for cover under the cafeteria tables and away from the gunfire. The smell of gunpowder battled with that of soup, sandwiches, pizza and soda drinks.
Rory moved forward quickly and spun, looking up for another target.
A guard was looking down and just bringing his weapon up.
Rory fired a long burst.
The guard danced a bullet jig, dropped his weapon and fell forward over the railing, his back hitting the floor as Rory began searching for other targets.
Skye lifted her weapon and took out the guard Donna-Lou was firing at. Then she reached out and placed her hand on Donna-Lou's arm, indicating they had got him.
Everything went quiet. And then a hard voice broke the silence, "Drop your weapons or the kid is dead."
Everyone looked towards the cafeteria tables. One of the guards held a young boy, left arm around his neck to hold him firmly in place while his right hand held a submachine gun pointed at his head.
Donna-Lou dropped her weapon and cried out, "Corry –!" The submachine gun clattered on the floor as she put her hands to her mouth.
Corry opened his mouth but the guard squeezed his arm around the boy's neck, cutting off any words. Emma Houston was on her knees under the cafeteria ta
ble behind Corry, shaking in fear and she let out a sob.
Rory, Skye, and Chet looked at each other. They had no recourse. They slowly lowered their weapon to the floor.
More silence ensued as the two sides eyed each other. Then a clapping sound came from the right. A tall, thin man with snow white hair was clapping slowly as he emerged from a side room on the far side of the cafeteria. He continued clapping as he walked slowly across the floor, a superior half-smile on his face, "I was told you folks were digging up things back in Golden. But I honestly didn't expect any of you to figure this place out. Or have the balls to infiltrate it." He looked to the guard holding the boy for a moment, "I've alerted the others," he said in a raspy voice.
The guard nodded, tightening arm left arm around Corry.
Corry winced.
Donna-Lou made a move forward, "Don't–!"
The guard tilted his arm up, emphasizing the gun he held against Corry's head.
Chet reached out and stopped Donna-Lou's movement.
Donna-Lou ripped her arm away from Chet, giving him an angry look. She looked back at the guard holding Corry and then took a step back, fear for him registering on her face.
The tall, thin man continued walking slowly across the floor, his eyes darting to each intruder, measuring them up. He walked to within twenty feet and then stopped. His eyes scanned down Skye's body for a moment and then he turned his head and looked right at Chet, "Hello, cousin."
Chet looked surprised and then shaken.
Donna-Lou's moist eyes looked to Chet, "D-do you know him, Chet?"
Unable to find his voice, Chet just shook his head no.
"No, he doesn't know me," the white-haired man said. "But we are family. Goes back a long ways. I've been watching him for some years now–"
Chet had a surprised look on his face, "Watching me? Why?"
The white-haired man's eyes narrowed, "To see what you knew. To see what you may have been told when you were younger." His eyes studied Chet's face and reactions. Then the man gave a derisive snort, "The fact you're here proves you're no better than your kin folk–"
Chet's voice was a hoarse whisper, "You killed them, didn't you? You killed them."
The white-haired man never answered and the superior half-smile stayed in place.
"You must be Old Tuck," Rory said.
The white-haired man quickly looked at Rory, the half-smile leaving his face. "That's right." He took a step forward, his eyes studying Rory, "Few people know of me. You seem to be a man with deep contacts. Just keep in mind we don't like people who pry onto our affairs...."
"Why did you kill my daddy and my grand-daddy?" interjected Chet in a low, strained voice. "Everybody loved them. They were great people–"
"Great people? They were traitors to the cause," spat Old Tuck. "Traitors against those who would see the old South rise against the tyranny of the North. Your family didn't have any honor–"
"Honor!" Donna-Lou exclaimed. "You kidnap children and put them to work in a factory and you talk about honor?"
"Ye,s I do," Old Tuck said matter-of-factly. "The honor of the old South runs through my veins. And because of that, we took care of these children. For many of them, they're from the poverty-stricken inner cities with their drug-addled parents and it was better care than they received from their own families–"
Donna-Lou bared her teeth, "You still don't have the right–"
"I do have the right," Old Tuck stated firmly. "We're building something. Something important–"
"Not important enough to involve my son," Donna-Lou snapped.
A look of sheer contempt crossed Old Tuck, face, "Fine. He's proved to be of no help to us anyway." He looked towards the guard holding Corry, "Kill the boy."
The guard grinned and he looked at Corry's head as his finger tightened on the trigger.
Chapter 23
EMMA HOUSTON SUDDENLY scrambled to her feet."You leave him alone!" she cried as she dove across the floor, wrapped her arms around the guard's lower leg and bit hard into his calf.
The guard howled. His gun came away from Corry's head as he pulled the trigger, the slugs hammering into the epoxy floor to his right, ripping up chunks of material that exploded into the air.
Young Corry Haney dropped to the floor and scrambled back towards the cafeteria tables. Children were screaming again.
Donna-Lou Haney dropped to her butt, picked up her weapon in one motion and fired up into the guard. Bullets ripped into his bullet-proof vest and then his throat, face, and skull, making him dance. His arm came up in a spasm and bullets ripped in a line across the floor.
Emma emitted a squeaky scream and scrambled away across the floor and under a cafeteria table next to Corry.
Rory, Skye, and Chet all dove for their weapons. Chet spun around on the floor and let a burst go in the direction of Old Tuck.
But Old Tuck was already running. He moved faster than you would expect an old, white-haired man could.
Chet's slugs ripped into the wall just to Old Tuck's right as he pushed open a door and disappeared. Chet continued to fire, filling the frame and the slowly closing door with 9 mm slugs before Rory's hand on his gun told him to stop.
Donna-Lou stopped firing as well.
The body of the dead guard fell backward into the floor, his weapon clattering beside him.
Dropping her submachine gun, Donna-Lou scrambled to her feet and ran for Corry.
Corry saw her coming, scrambled out from under the table and they wrapped their arms tightly around each other.
The smell of gunpowder was heavy in the air and everything was suddenly quiet. Chet looked around and then scrambled to his feet, his eyes wild and his chest heaving, "W-what do we do now? Old Tuck said other guards were coming. We can't stay here. What do we do?"
Rory had his cell phone out and hit speed dial as he held a hand up for Chet to calm down.
Skye moved to Chet and put a hand on his arm, "You cover that door and I'll watch this one. Okay?"
Chet looked at her and then nodded, "Yeah, yeah, Okay." He raised his weapon and aimed at the door where Old Tuck had disappeared.
Emma moved out from under the table and ran to Donna-Lou and Corry, joining the hug. Donna-Lou kissed her on the forehead, "Thank you, sweetie."
"You were badass mom!" Corry said.
"Language young man," Donna-Lou replied with a smile.
"Okay, listen up," Rory said in a loud voice. "It will take a few minutes for the ATF to crash the front of the compound and enter this building. We could get caught in the cross fire if we stay here. Let's take the kids to the back doors where we came in. The ATF will meet us there. If they don't get around there in time, we can use the trucks to get away."
"Good idea. I'll take the lead," Skye said and she was already moving to the door.
Rory nodded. He then turned to all the kids that were hiding under the cafeteria tables, "Okay, kids. The police are coming. We're going to the back of the building to meet them. Let's go." Only a few started to move, the rest obviously scared with all that had happened. Rory moved closer to the youngsters, "It's all right. We're going to take you home. Do you want to go home?"
A number of the kids nodded and they all began to move, scrambling past the cafeteria tables, fifty to sixty scared youngsters eager to get home.
"What do you want me to do?" Chet asked in the chaos.
"Go with Skye," Rory said. "I'll protect the rear."
"What about me?" Donna-Lou asked as she picked up her weapon.
"Help me keep the kids moving back to where we came in," Rory instructed her. "Work in the middle and I'll work from the end of the line."
Corry looked at Rory, a cheeky grin on his face, "And she should be a badass and shoot more bad guys when they show up. Right?"
"Yeah, what he said." Rory tousled the boy's hair, then gave Emma a wink.
Skye already had the door open and she stood in the doorway, watching both ends of the hallway. As the kids approached
with Chet, she held a hand up for them to stop and then said to him, "Hold the door open while I go check the hallway down there."
Chet nodded, holding his weapon at the ready as he watched Skye move down the hallway. He glanced back at the scared kids and gave them a nod of assurance, even though he didn't feel too confident himself. A few moments later, Skye motioned for him to follow with the kids. Chet nodded, took a deep breath and stepped into the hallway, looking back at the youngsters, "Okay, kids. Follow me."
As they filed out, Donna-Lou helped herd the youngsters out as Rory acted as the rear guard.
At the first doorway, Skye had Chet watch the hallway to the left while she moved right, towards the back of the building. Chet waved for the kids to follow Skye and then turned to watch. Only half the kids were through the door when several guards burst into the far end of the hallway. Chet opened fire.
Two guards went down, their weapons firing into the ceiling. The remaining guards pulled back through a door for a brief moment.
Screaming filled the air as youngsters flattened to the floor and against the walls.
Skye turned but she couldn't do much with the possibility of hitting the kids or Chet.
Fighting her own fear, Donna-Lou kept Corry and Emma moving towards Skye and then she worked with the other kids, urging them to keep moving.
As the youngsters approached her position, Skye turned and moved low towards the back again, waving for them to follow.
Back down the hallway, one of the guards jumped out from the doorway, firing his submachine gun at Chet.
Chet dropped to a crouch, opened fire again and took out the guard.
More screaming erupted and the kids hit the floor.
Rory came out into the hallway behind the last youngster.
Chet opened fire as more guards appeared in the hallway. The two-way gunfire in the hallway was deafening.
Rory moved beside Chet, adding his own gunfire, cutting down at least a dozen men.
Chet made a grunting sound and his right hand dropped away from his weapon.
Knights of the Golden Circle Page 13