African Firestorm

by Craig Reed

  Dante rolled to his right, and crawled several feet to reach a stone pillar that stood at the end of the wall. Peering around the corner, he saw a set of shallow stairs leading down to the house, and on a second floor balcony, three guards manned a belt-fed machine gun, raking the wall Sky Team hid behind.

  Dante turned and looked back at Stephen. The former CIA agent was facing Dante, the goggles hiding his eyes. Dante unhooked one of the smoke canisters from his harness and tossed it toward Stephen, who caught it and nodded. He plucked a smoke canister from his own harness, pulled the pin and tossed it over the wall, then did the same with Dante’s canister.

  The machine gun fire picked up, raking the wall with more heavy rounds.

  Stephen low-crawled along the wall until he reached Dante. They leaned out just enough to see the machinegun crew, and both men fired at the same time.

  One of the crew spun away as he fell, while the gunner dropped to one knee, swayed, and keeled over the machine gun, sending the muzzle into the air. The third man tried to push his dead associate to the side, but more bursts from Dante and Stephen's MP5s cut him down.

  The pair reloaded, got to their feet and raced down the steps. As they ran past the balcony, Dante tossed a fragmentation grenade up and over the rail. By the time it exploded, Dante and Stephen were halfway to the main house.

  * * *

  Hassan was startled by the first series of explosions, then puzzled. He heard shouting, fireworks, gunfire, large explosions…. He grabbed a radio.

  "Ali!" he barked, "What the hell is going on out there?"

  "I don't know, sir!" Ali, the head guard shouted back. "We're under attack by rockets, and there are reports of intruders on the grounds!"

  Hassan felt his hand tighten around the radio. "I'm coming out to see for myself!"

  "Sir! Don't! We don't know what's going on! It could be a diversion to lure you out! Stay there, I'm sending more men to protect the house!"

  "No! Get a team together and bring them here. We're going to escape on the boat!"

  "But—"

  "Do it!" Hassan turned the radio off and stuck it in his pocket. He picked up a BXP machine gun, checked to see the Ruger .357 revolver was still in its shoulder holster, and left the study. He went out into the foyer and looked up to see three of his men on the walkway above that. They were staring out into the darkness. All the lights were off, leaving the house in darkness.

  "Hafiz!" Hassan said in a low voice.

  All three men turned and looked down, two of them raising their weapons before the third one spoke. "Stop!" He looked down at Hassan. “Yes, sir?"

  "How many men do you have here in the house?" Hassan asked.

  "Seven," Hafiz replied. "These two and myself, two in the kitchen, and two on the patio."

  "Get them ready. In thirty seconds, we're heading for the dock."

  "Is that—"

  "Those are my orders," Hassan said coldly.

  "Yes sir." Hafiz put a radio close to his mouth. Hassan looked out into the haze-filled front entrance, through the large, two-story windows just as two figures in black charged out from behind the guest house and headed right for him.

  "The enemy is here!" he screamed, pointing at them.

  "Kill them!"

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  All three OUTCAST pairs reached the main house within thirty seconds of each other. Tanner and Naomi came in from the south, Danielle and Liam from the west, and Stephen and Dante from the north. Their distraction was about played out, the sounds of rockets diminishing.

  Tanner and Naomi flanked the side door, a plain steel door on the side of the three-car garage.

  “All teams, check in," Tanner said, but before anyone could answer, they heard gunfire and breaking glass from the front of the house.

  Someone cursed over the radio, then Dante said, "We're pinned down near the front entrance. Two or three gunners on the second floor!"

  "We're at the swimming pool," Liam said.

  "Sky Team!" Tanner commanded, "Keep them busy at the front door! Sea Team, move in from the pool. Land Team will move in from the garage!"

  Naomi tried the side door but it was locked. She stepped back and put a three-round burst through the lock and door handle, shattering both. She stepped out of the line of fire and yanked the door open. Two heartbeats later, Tanner went through the door low and fast to the right. Naomi followed, crossing behind Tanner and going left.

  No one waited for them in the garage, which contained a BMW and a Mercedes. Tanner moved toward another door on the other side of the garage, Naomi behind him and to his right. Three-quarters of the way across, the door opened and a gunman stepped in. Tanner saw the foe’s shock as he tried to raise his AK, but former FBI man’s four-round burst ripped through his chest with lethal results.

  As the dead ruffian dropped, a second gunman behind him snapped up his assault rifle, but Naomi was faster, her four 9mm rounds finding the guard's neck and head. As the second dead man fell, his finger tightened around the trigger, sending half a magazine into the ceiling.

  Tanner darted forward, stepping over the first dead guard, and into the house. Naomi stayed behind him. To their right was a scullery, with a door leading outside. To the left were shelves packed with cans and dry food, and beyond those, a walk-in freezer.

  The second dead gunman lay in the doorway separating the scullery from the kitchen. They stepped over the corpse, avoiding the blood and gore, and moved into the kitchen proper.

  Automatic fire along with falling glass and the tinkling of spent cartridges on stone came from somewhere above, beyond the kitchen.

  "Sky to Land!" Dante shouted. "We're in a crossfire! Tangos on our flanks and front!"

  "On our way," Tanner said.

  The kitchen was an open affair, with a breakfast bar and several stools. A gas stove, refrigerator and counter-top appliances were to the left and a sink to the right. Beyond the kitchen was a hallway and the indoor/outdoor pool, large glass panels surrounding the space. A sunken bar, still stacked with bottles and glasses, occupied one corner of the pool.

  "Land to Sea," Tanner whispered. "We're in the kitchen."

  "Copy," Liam said. "We're in an outside shower stall, between the pool and the patio."

  "Go around the building and hit the flankers from behind. We'll get the ones in the house."

  "Copy and moving."

  Tanner exited the kitchen, turned left, and took a couple of steps forward. A sunken dining room opened to his left. A large space furnished with couches and chairs was on his right, with more glass doors making up the far wall. As he glanced out the doors, Tanner saw Liam and Danielle fast-walk across the patio, staying close to the house.

  Beyond the dining room was a staircase leading up to a balcony overlooking the first floor. He saw flashes of gunfire coming from three positions. He signaled Naomi to cover him, let his MP5 dangle from his harness, and took up a stun grenade.

  He pulled the pin, then tossed it up and over the balcony rail. The OUTCAST operators ducked back into the kitchen, closed their eyes and put their hands over their ears.

  The "crack" of the grenade sounded like a cannon firing, but it was quickly lost in the following noise-and-light riot. Smaller sub-munitions, freed from the canister, exploded in quick succession, each one briefly as bright as the sun with noise like a thunderclap at close range.

  Tanner charged out of the kitchen, Naomi behind him. They could see three shadowy figures stumbling around on the balcony. Tanner and Naomi fired, their bursts chewing through the railing and into one of the three defenders. The man stumbled and fell hard against the weakened rail. The rail gave way under the sudden weight, sending the gunman and part of the rail over the side. The man landed sickeningly hard on the floor ten feet in front of Tanner.

  A second burst from Tanner’s weapon took another one of the gunmen on the balcony, while a flurry of gunfire from Naomi ripped into the third guard and dropped him.

  "Clear," Tanner said
.

  "Sky Team coming in the front with Sea Team," Dante said.

  Tanner moved toward the front glass front doors, now nothing more than frames, as the rest of his team stepped through.

  "Liam," he said softly, “take Dani and Stephen and sweep the downstairs. I'll take the others upstairs and do the same. Hassan's the main target, but grab any computers, tablets — any kind of data storage you can find. Go."

  That's when a radio near the body that had fallen through the rail came to life, its speaker issuing orders hissed in Arabic.

  * * *

  Ali looked around, noticing that the fireworks had died away and there were no more explosions or popping of firecrackers. He raised his radio to his mouth.

  "All teams report in!"

  One by one, the teams reported, but more than a few guards were not answering their radios. Ali scowled and barked into the radio, "Sweep the estate and find the intruders! Rafi, take your team and secure the main house. Mr. Hassan, it looks like the attack is over. What is your condition?"

  Silence greeted him. "Mr. Hassan, I'm sending men over to help you. What is your condition?"

  Gunfire ripped across the estate and Ali frowned, trying to pinpoint its source. Realization struck him like a thunderbolt.

  "Code Red! Converge on the house, repeat, converge on the house!"

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  "Crap!" Stephen listened to the Arabic radio transmission. "Someone's figure out there's a problem here. We're going to have company and plenty of it in thirty seconds!"

  “All right, change of plans," Tanner said.

  "Dante, Stephen: Go out and bloody their noses. Slow them down. Liam, you and Dani down here. Naomi and I will take the second floor. Same as before, only faster. Move!"

  Dante turned to Liam. “We need one smoker each from you and Dani." The transfer was made and Dante and Liam headed outside.

  Tanner and Naomi took the stairs at a fast walk, their MP5s up and ready. When they reached the second landing they heard gunfire from one of the rooms on the first floor, quickly followed by a stun grenade going off. They halted.

  "What do you have, Two?" Tanner asked.

  "Prime!" Liam growled. "We have the prize!"

  "Any problems?"

  "Nope, just a simple open the door, toss in a stun grenade and pick up the pieces, or in this case, the prize."

  There were a couple of explosions from outside, followed by gunfire. Tanner hesitated, not sure if they should continue the sweep.

  "Two, are there any computers where the prize is?"

  "A desktop, a tablet, and a few disks," Liam returned. "Six said there's a network router down here, too, so there might be more devices around the house.”

  "Okay, cuff the prize and stay there!" Tanner and Naomi started up the stairs again. They turned left and found a couple of small bedrooms — servants' quarters judging from the uniforms in the closets — and a lounge.

  They returned to the stairs and transited along the balcony until they reached the master bedroom. A quick sweep of the main space along with the walk-in closet and bathroom revealed a laptop, a few thumb drives, and several baggies of crystal meth. The computer gear went into a satchel, while the meth was left where it was.

  Gunfire erupted from outside. Tanner and Naomi raced out of the room along the balcony back to the stairs. Thick white smoke drifted in from outside, limiting visibility. They took the stairs two at a time.

  "Two!" Tanner coughed. "Take the prize out through the pool! Sky Team, fall back in through the house! We'll cover!"

  * * *

  Outside, Dante and Stephen took turns firing three-round bursts into the smoke, then fell back toward the house. Around them, the smoke cut their vision down to about a dozen feet, but they could hear the shouts and the movements of the guards as they advanced.

  The first thing they did once they were outside was to throw all four smoke canisters, blanketing the house's northern side with irritating fog. Then they hid inside the smoke. They heard the shouts of the guards in the smoke and tossed two of their frag grenades in the direction of the voices, then fired several short bursts before retreating back to the corner of the house. Gunfire came from all along the front, forcing both men to stay low.

  Dante fired off bursts from his MP5 into the smoke, which was beginning to dissipate. He transmitted to Tanner, "We've coming through the front door now!"

  Stephen switched his machine gun to full auto and fired off the rest of the magazine as Dante raced toward the door. Once they were through, Tanner and Naomi stepped up and opened fire into the acrid fog.

  Stephen reloaded his MP5. "Forces incoming.”

  "We'll be right behind you," Tanner said.

  Stephen and Dante moved past them and raced for the pool.

  * * *

  "How do we slow them down?" Naomi asked.

  "Cover me," Tanner said, then turned and raced down to the kitchen. He pulled the stove away from the wall and grabbed the gas pipe going into the stove. He quickly unscrewed the coupler letting it drop to the floor. The hiss of gas was barely audible with the noise outside, but a sulfur-like smell drove him back to the kitchen doorway. He waited until the gas was making his head swim, then ran out of the room to rejoin Naomi, changing magazines on his MP5 as he did so.

  She shot him a glance. "What did you do?"

  "Left a little going away present.” He turned and spotted a pair of gunmen at the patio doors. He fired two quick volleys that shattered the glass, taking one guard in the chest, but missing the second fighter, who threw himself into cover.

  "Time to leave."

  Naomi spit off a few controlled bursts in the direction of the front door, then turned and ran toward Tanner. "Visual on at least a dozen of them."

  Bullets ate away at the balcony's supports. The shouting intensified.

  "Stun grenade.” Tanner held out an open hand. She tossed him one.

  "Head for the beach as fast as you can, I'm right behind you."

  Naomi ran while Tanner sprayed a barrage of lead at the front door, eliciting a scream of pain from that direction. He unleashed two more fusillades at the patio doors, then ran after Naomi. By the time he reached the pool she was already outside, running across the lawn. He could see the rest of the team in the near distance by a couple of trees.

  Movement to his left made Tanner turn and fire a concentrated series of rounds on the run that struck a guard in the chest and stomach.

  Near the end of the pool closest to the exit, Tanner stopped and pulled the pin on a stun grenade. He line-drived it into the kitchen, turned back and sprinted, ignoring the shouts and gunfire behind him. He was five yards outside the pool enclosure when the stun grenade went off, lighting up the kitchen with intense light —

  — and igniting the gas.

  The natural gas hadn't been on long enough to create a massive explosion, but it was sufficient to destroy the kitchen and send a fireball out into the hallway and pool area, igniting everything in its path, including six of Hassan's men. The fireball also blew out the glass in the pool enclosure, but all Tanner felt was a strong, hot wind on his back.

  Naomi turned to look at the house, which had several fires burning and thick, dark smoke billowing from it. "What did you do?"

  Tanner’s voice was ragged. "Keep running!"

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The rest of the team was past the trees before Naomi and Tanner caught up with them. While Naomi braced herself against a tree trunk and fired the last rounds in her magazine in the direction of the house and guards, Tanner reloaded. While Naomi changed magazines, Tanner fired at the advancing guards, now silhouetted against the growing house fire. The guards shot back, striking the trees, but they'd lost any momentum they might have had.

  Tanner peered into the haze. "Throw a frag," he told Naomi.

  Naomi nodded and pulled the grenade from her harness. She pulled the pin, released the spoon and threw as high and as far as she could in the direction
of the guards. She turned and started running, covering some ground before the grenade exploded near the ground with a bang. Several screams followed, and their pursuers dropped to the hard ground, either injured or seeking cover.

  Tanner let loose a burst from behind a tree, moved to another tree, fired another cluster of rounds, then turned and ran after Naomi. She had nearly caught up with the rest of the team, who were just reaching the shadow of a large rock the size of a bus.

  Naomi turned and braced herself against the rock, MP5 pointed in the direction they had come. "Stairs are over there," she said when Tanner reached her, motioning with her head in the direction of the cliff.

  "Two," Tanner said into the radio. "Hold up. Four, we need you over here to back up Three."

  "Copy, Prime," Liam said.

  A few seconds later, Stephen came around the rock.

  "How's Hassan?" Tanner asked in a low voice.

  "Alive, but he's fighting us every step of the way." Stephen held up a walkie-talkie and Tanner could hear short conversations in Arabic.

  "According to the radio, we've killed about half the security force, but they're still coming. They're more scared of whatever Hassan will do to them if they fail than they are of us."

  "All right," Tanner said. "You and Naomi hold up here until I talk to Liam. Call out if they try rushing you."

  "Right."

  Tanner went around the rock to find the rest of the team waiting near the top of the cliffs with the prize. Hassan's face was covered with a black hood, and his hands were tied at the wrists and elbows with riot cuffs. Dante and Liam had him by the arms and were holding him up, despite the crime lord's resistance. Danielle was near the top of the stairs, ten feet away. From here, Tanner could see the boathouse and the boat.

  "Guards still pursuing?" Liam asked.

  "Yeah."

  "Release me!" Hassan spat. "Release me and you might still live! My people will hunt you down, rape your women, cut the throats of—"

  Tanner hit him with an overhand right to the jaw that snapped the man's head to the right and made his knees buckle.