Let Slip the Pups of War: Spot and Smudge - Book Three

by Robert Udulutch

  “Why do I doubt your grandwean’s driving that pickup?” Hamish said as he went to the large kitchen window box and raised his rifle.

  “Careful,” Comina said, “Kels may be in the back.” As soon as she said it she was glad she couldn’t see Jean’s face in the dark.

  As the pickup backed into the open space next to Hamish’s truck the headlights swung around and pointed right at the house. It was hard to see the driver in the glare and the falling snow.

  Hamish took a few steps back into the dark of the kitchen and dialed down the sensitivity on the night vision scope until he was able to get a good look at the driver. As he flicked off the safety on the assault rifle he said, “Sorry about your new window box, Jean, and your truck, Agent Comina.”

  “Hamish Walker don’t you hit my granddaughter, or my damn goat,” Mimi said.

  Chapter 45

  “Rear go,” Harley said into his mic, and launched flash grenades through the front windows as fast as he could fire and reload while walking up the front walk.

  Jixi and Boba each fired as well, and their grenades crashed through the kitchen and dining room windows. They left the woods at a run with their launchers still smoking. They crossed the yard from opposite sides of the house and met at the back porch.

  “Go,” Jixi said as she swept the back yard and Boba ran up the stairs and onto the porch. He paused at the back door.

  As the flash bang grenades detonated loud pops rang out and windows throughout the house strobed white. Spot could see the smoke billowing in the bright light before it quickly faded. An instant later all of the smoke detectors in the house started to beep.

  From their cover behind the wood pile Ben closed his eyes and let the pink bloom change to dark brown. When he opened his eyes again and raised his scope he saw Spot signing.

  Ben wiggled the end of the rifle up and down, and lifted the tarp a little more so he could see the two shooters on the back porch. He leaned back to face his parents and whispered, “We go as soon as they’re both in the house. Spot saw another shooter out front. He’s heading for the front porch so we should be clear.”

  He watched the larger man pull open the screen door and move into the house. The woman paused on the back porch and continued to scan the yard with her scope.

  “We can’t run with her standing there,” Ben whispered.

  “If they see the grill we’re sunk,” Aila said. She held out the detonator box and moved a knob to arm it. A red light came on, and the fire button lit up.

  “Do it,” Ben said, and then poked his hand out from under the tarp and signed to Spot before huddling behind the logs with his parents.

  Spot barked once before he dove for cover, hoping Lum could get far enough away.

  In her scope Jixi saw a flash of thermal movement by the large wood pile. She zeroed in on a small hand waving from under the snow covered tarp before it disappeared again. She clicked on her mic to alert the team as she ran down the steps.

  As Boba moved down the house’s dark and smoky center hallway he heard a dog barking outside, and Jixi’s voice in his ear. He turned, and the muzzle of his gun clanked off something large and metal. He looked down and thought a living room was a very odd place for big gas grill.

  Aila hit the detonator as she and Dan threw their arms around Ben.

  There was a whistling sound followed by a sharp crack, and then a concussion wave blew out the windows of the house. The back door slammed shut, split in two, tore from its hinges, and flew through the screen door. The top half bounced off the roof of the rear porch before cartwheeling across the yard and splintering against the wood pile. The lower half slammed into Jixi, propelling her off the porch ahead of the fireball and sending her tumbling through the snow.

  Blue-red flames howled from the windows, tearing away bits of flaming curtain. The snow covered lawn lit up bright orange for an instant and the entire roof lifted up a few inches and crashed down, collapsing most of the second floor.

  The tarp covering the family and the wood pile flapped once and was blown away as a wave of heat blasted over their backs, followed by a shower of smoking debris.

  Twisting knots of flame and smoke rolled above the house and spun up into the dark before quickly fading. The light snow returned, lit up by the fires burning in the windows.

  Spot scrambled out from his hiding place and saw the van driver in the front yard slowly getting to his knees on the walkway. He was shoving bits of smoking front door off of him and rubbing his ears.

  Spot darted off, heading for the back yard. As he charged through the snow he had to swing wide to avoid the heat from the burning house.

  Dan pulled Aila and Ben to their feet and yanked them low and fast towards the woods and away from the smoking wood pile. Ben spun away from his dad’s grasp and turned back to look for Spot. He smiled and waved when he saw his dog closing on them at a full run.

  Ben’s smile dropped when he saw Spot change directions.

  Jixi had pounded out the flames on her legs and came up with her assault rifle to a kneeling stance. She spun and looked into the jagged, flaming opening where the back door had been. There was no sign of her big cousin. A raging fire burned in the center of the house and part of the ceiling had collapsed. She hit her mic and called out for him but there was no answer.

  A moment later Harley responded, “The house is gone, get up here.”

  Jixi took one last scan of the back yard and saw the smoking tarp from the wood pile crumpled at the back of the yard, and then she noticed three shapes moving fast for the woods. She brought up the night vision scope and clearly made out two adults and a young man running.

  Jixi dropped her hand to the tranq gun and fired three darts. It was far beyond their effective range and they just flew away into the dark. She raised her hand to the live fire trigger and picked a spot on the young man’s torso. She didn’t need any crap from Katia, but figured it was better to take the shot. The adults would stop if the kid was hit.

  “This one’s for you, Boba,” she whispered.

  Chapter 46

  Hamish clicked the assault rifle to burst and used one trigger pull to clear all of the glass out of the kitchen window box. He made sure to not to hit Comina’s truck, or the goat shed, or Mr. Watt. He flicked to single shot and steadied himself behind the scope again. The driver had pushed open the truck’s door and Hamish could see the man was moving the butt of a small rifle around the steering wheel.

  When Katia heard automatic weapons fire coming from the far side of the farmhouse she thumbed her mic and said, “T-two, what the fuck did I say about no shooting?”

  Mu was still fumbling with his rifle in the cramped front seat of the little pickup. He never got the chance to tell Katia it wasn’t him who was shooting.

  Hamish slowly exhaled and squeezed the trigger. The man behind the wheel of the pickup bounced back against the seat as a spray of red filled the windshield. He must have pulled the trigger of something attached to his gun. There was a flash inside the truck and a small canister bounced around inside the cabin before popping and filling it with a bright flash. Smoke poured out from the open door and streamed from the small red hole in the windshield. Something in the truck caught fire and the flames licked across the dashboard.

  Marty had backed the black van half way up the farm’s long driveway and stopped just before the woods ended. As he watched the man burning in the cabin of Lindsay’s little pickup through his scope he thought about hoping back into the van and driving away, but he didn’t want to even consider what Katia would do to him.

  Marty had no intentions of joining her little team but Katia had shoved Tian’s assault rifle into his hands as he and Johann were packing up the clinic. He had wanted to protest but the borderline insane Russian woman didn’t look to be in an arguing mood. “We’re a little short-handed doc, so you’re coming with us,” Katia had said, “Don’t shoot yourself, or me, for fuck sake.” Marty had gotten a crash course from Harley on t
he small gun before Katia pushed him towards the driver’s seat.

  Into his mic Marty said, “T-two decoy asset down…um, someone’s shooting from the house.”

  “Fuck,” Katia said before she hit her mic button. “Tear gas and flash bangs, now!” she shouted.

  She and Marty unloaded on the house with a barrage of the grenades as fast as they could fire and reload.

  Inside the kitchen Hamish and the women heard windows shattering upstairs and down the hallway, and heavy things skittering on the hardwood floors.

  Comina tossed a handful of kitchen towels into the sink and turned on the water. She had counted five window breaks and canisters tumbling, but only heard two faint sounds of tear gas canisters popping and hissing in the house. She knew something else was coming.

  “Brace for flash bang!” she yelled as she closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and put herself in front of Mimi. She held the grandmother’s face to her chest as the hallway and kitchen filled with bright lights, and booms echoed through the farmhouse.

  Hamish had managed to cover his face an instant before the flash but the red circles still danced in front of his eyes as the smoke alarms started to chime.

  They heard a sharp bark from the back corner of the house.

  Comina draped a wet towel over Mimi’s shoulder and tossed one to Hamish as she raised her pistol towards the back window. Hamish was just starting to see clearly as the agent emptied half a clip while moving the barrel side to side. As the muzzle flashed and the recoil boomed, the slats of the shutter covering the kitchen’s back window splintered outwards.

  Katia cursed, and dove into the snow as the tree trunk next to her exploded and sprayed chips of bark. A dog near her had given away her position, and someone inside the house had opened up on her with small arms fire. She rolled back to her feet and came up loading an incendiary grenade.

  “T-two, incendiaries. Burn it,” she said into her mic.

  Comina grabbed the huge wooden kitchen table and flipped it on its side with one big tug. Chairs skittered out of the way and snapped as the heavy table crashed down on the floor. She grabbed Mimi and pulled her down behind it. “Check outside, we need to go,” Comina said to Hamish.

  Marty pumped three incendiary grenades towards the front and side windows of the farm house. One missed its intended window and bounced into the bushes where it exploded and ignited a patch of wall next to the kitchen door. The other two sailed through broken windows at the front of the house and burst into flame. The rush of hot air forced the tear gas to billow ahead of it. The pungent gas rolled out of the windows and down the hallway towards the kitchen.

  Hamish pulled his head back from the door and patted out his smoldering beard as he yelled, “They’ve switched to bloody fire grenades.”

  “Aye,” Mimi said from behind the table, “We gathered that you big numpty, watch your chin.” She raised the wet towel to her mouth as the tear gas flooded the kitchen and flames rolled in through the shattered window box.

  Katia stood and sent her grenade round though the jagged hole in the kitchen window’s shutters. She tried to pull another from her belt but something fast and strong hit her from the side and knocked her down into the snow.

  A grenade round bounced into the kitchen and landed near the fridge. Comina fell on top of Mimi, pushing her down behind the heavy table and covering her as Hamish dove through the back door and out into the driveway.

  The incendiary grenade fired and roared in the kitchen. Flames shot up the front of the table and rolled just above Comina’s head.

  Marty saw a big man tumble into the driveway chased by a bright ball of fire. He fumbled to move his hand from the grenade launcher handle to the rifle’s trigger, and then fumbled some more when he remember he was supposed to use the tranq gun.

  Hamish rolled to his feet and stumbled quickly across the driveway until he fell behind the small pickup truck. The healing gunshot wound in his thigh was screaming at him as he hobbled around the back to look in the bed. It was empty, and the fire in the front was starting to spread. He crouched and moved around his truck as he brought his rifle up. He inched past the big double wheels until he saw the shooter behind the black van. He put the man’s neck in his sights, but held his fire and cursed. His grand-niece could be in the van and Hamish just wasn’t comfortable enough with the weapon to take the shot. The man was standing right behind the van doors, which made him either really smart, or very lucky. Hamish watched him struggling with the gun. Lucky, Hamish thought as he sprayed the ground in front of the man and watched him dive for cover.

  Katia rolled after being knocked to the ground and got to her knees. She brought up her rifle, moved quickly to the rifle grip, and sprayed a line of the small bullets in a tight circle around her. She rotated as she rose to her feet, but didn’t see or hear any signs of the animal that hit her.

  She felt a sting and reached over her shoulder. When she drew back her hand the blood on her fingertips looked black in the red glow from the flaming windows. “You little fucker,” she said as she wiped the blood off on her pants. She flicked on the night vision and raised her scope as she jogged towards the front of the house. “T-two, be advised I’m coming forward, and we have guard dogs in the woods here as well, and they fucking bite,” Katia said into her mic.

  Marty ducked and hugged the side of the van as another of the man’s rounds pinged off the rear bumper right by his head. He abandoned the tranq gun and moved back to the live round trigger. As he crouched next to the van he blindly sent bursts at the truck the big man was hiding behind.

  Comina stood and shot another few rounds through the back kitchen window. She pulled the coughing Mimi to her feet and led her out from behind the table and over to the smoking doorway. From his spot behind the truck Hamish motioned for them to wait.

  A large explosion rumbled through the woods from the direction of the Hogan’s house. Hamish felt it shaking his bones as snow fell from the trees and the barn doors rattled. He knew it was the ANFO, and either the propane grill tanks or a vehicle’s fuel tank. Nothing else would pack that kind of punch.

  Hamish looked at his sister-in-law who was being held back by the agent from darting out into the driveway. He tried to send her a look that conveyed he was sure the family had set off the explosion as part of a plan, and they’d get to her granddaughter and that furry little black shite they were both so fond off soon. He cursed her ability to read him as well as her grandchildren, and her look said she wasn’t buying it.

  Give ‘em all yeh got lads, Hamish thought felt in his pockets for his truck keys, We’ll get there as fast as we can.

  Hamish held up three fingers. Comina nodded, and through choked breaths said in Mimi’s ear, “Jean, get ready,” and then she counted down out loud. Mimi hefted the shotgun, and as Comina reached the final count they ran through the flames and out into the driveway.

  Chapter 47

  “T-one, sit rep?” Katia said over the radio. She was panting a little from running in the deep snow but Harley also picked up a distinct hint of uncertainty in her normally cold voice.

  “Targets fired their own fucking house,” Harley said, “T-one has one asset down.”

  “Acknowledged. All teams, two minutes. Get to work people. Confirm.” Katia said.

  “T-three, acknowledged,” Johann said as he slid out the removable hard drives from the servers at the clinic.

  “T-one acknowledged,” Harley said, “Team one, I said regroup on me.”

  Jixi heard Harley in her ear but she didn’t respond. The running kid was in her sights but it was a tough shot. The target was moving between the trees and she wasn’t trying to kill him. She could already hear Katia bitching but she also didn’t want to miss. She let out a breath, and as she started to apply steady pressure to the trigger she saw a black blur out of the corner of her eye.

  The small woman moved with blinding speed, far faster than Spot was ready for. She ignored the gun completely, leaving it hanging i
n space, and before Spot could adjust she had pulled a knife and slashed at him. He turned just enough at the last instant to let his vest catch most of her thrust but his shoulder screamed with a burning sting.

  Spot spun as soon as he hit the snow and leapt straight up and away. The woman’s knife whizzed past him and buried to the hilt in the snow where he’d just been. She was on her feet and crouched in a flash with the knife held low in front of her.

  Spot landed, and turned to face her.

  She flicked her hand and the knife spun in her palm to an opposite grip. Spot lowered and growled, and looked past her to see Ben and the parents had made it to the safety of the woods. Spot thought that was good, but as he looked back at the assassin he also thought, Where the hell are you when I need you, sis? This crazy Tzeng bitch is going to gut me like a fish.

  The dog circled to its left and Jixi moved with it. She could see the blood on its shoulder but the padded vest had taken most of the cut. She realized the vest had to be more than just padded to have stopped her blade, it had to be reinforced with something. The animal still had some fight left in it but it looked to be favoring an injured paw. She had a sidearm but didn’t want to risk going for it. The dog wasn’t big but it had hit her fast and had moved to defend her slash with competence. Jixi felt the seconds ticking away and she didn’t want the family to escape. She clicked on her mic and said, “T-one I have three targets fleeing through the north woods at the rear of the house. I’ve got them, but I’m engaged with their attack dog, give me one sec.”

  Harley acknowledged in her ear, “Roger that.”

  One sec? Spot thought, wondering if that wasn’t just a little arrogant, even for her. As he circled her the small quick woman circled with him until she was just about where he wanted her.

  The dog lunged and Jixi had expected it, she’d let her knife hand dangle out a bit too far on purpose. The black dog was some sort of police canine and she had lured it into a typical disarming forearm bite. She rotated quickly and shot the knife up at its chin, aiming for the base of the throat.