CHAPTER 60
The assault on the compound was going to take place tomorrow morning before dawn. Henry had arranged to fly in an additional ten men, as well as more weaponry, from Baltimore. He and Jake had left about an hour before to pick them up. With the extra men that had flown in with Patrick and Henry earlier today, they would have a total of twenty-four in their assault force.
Hoping it would be enough, Laney studied the map Yoni had drawn of the compound. She looked up when her uncle placed a cup of tea in front of her.
“I think you know the layout, Laney.”
“I know. I just want to make sure.”
He sat down in a chair across from her and reached over to take her hand. “You know, you don’t need to be part of this. You’ve done enough. We can handle the assault tonight without you.”
“We’re going to need every hand. Even with the men and weapons Henry and Jake are picking up, we’re still going to be cutting it close with manpower.”
“You’ve played your part in this fight. Let us handle the rest. We’ll have enough men without you, okay?”
Laney squeezed his hand and then pulled hers away. “Uncle Patrick, I know you’re trying to keep me safe. And the best way for that to happen is for all of this to end. Let’s just enjoy the peace for now, because lately, it’s been pretty rare.” And it’s usually followed by gunfire, she thought. Out loud she said, “I spoke with Kati about an hour ago.”
“Are you sure that was wise?”
“Jake arranged it. He gave me a burner phone and I called her father. They can’t trace it back here. She took Max swimming. She said he's a natural in the water.”
Patrick smiled. “I’m not surprised. He’s a smart little monster.”
“He’s worried that he’s going to miss his first school play. He plays a carrot.”
He chuckled. “Hmmm, I remember those school plays when you were in them. I have to say, I’m not sure I’m going to be upset at missing a bunch of four-year-olds forget their lines and sing out of tune.”
Laney scoffed good-naturedly. “Who are you kidding? Kati told me you made her promise to record it so you could see it.”
“I was just being nice.”
“Which is why you gave her your video camera?”
Yoni interrupted Patrick’s response with a question from across the room. “Hey, what do you think of a baseball theme?”
At Patrick’s perplexed look, Laney explained. “He’s looking at bedding for the nursery. He’s trying to find the right theme for his son.” She walked over to Yoni and glanced at the screen. “It’s kind of cliché.”
Yoni nodded and turned back to the computer. “I don’t really like baseball anyway,” he muttered. “Hey, what are those, farm animals?”
Before he could expand the image, an icon started flashing in the top right hand of the screen. He clicked on it and a schematic of the trip wires he’d placed around the property appeared.
Laney's heart raced. The wires had been activated about a thousand yards in front of the house.
Yoni leapt up and grabbed the assault rifle he’d placed on the desk. He pushed Laney towards the kitchen where the stash of ammunition was piled. “We’ve got company coming up the front. Grab as many weapons as you can handle.”
Laney hesitated, shock momentarily anchoring her in place. Then she grabbed a Beretta off the table, shoving three clips of ammunition in her pockets. She grabbed the automatic rifle off the counter. She slipped out the magazine, checked that it was full, and then slammed it back in place.
Patrick grabbed an extra handgun and ammunition from the stash on the kitchen counter as well. “Plan?”
Yoni paused at the bottom of the stairs. “Patrick, take position at the front of the house. Laney, you take the back. I’ve got a three hundred and sixty degree view from the widow’s walk upstairs. We just need to hold them off for a little while. With some luck, Jake and Henry will be back any minute with reinforcements. Until then, we have enough ammunition to hold off a small army.”
Laney nodded, amazed at the change in Yoni. There was no trace of the easygoing man she’d come to know. He was all soldier.
“Take positions,” he ordered before sprinting up the stairs.
Laney flattened herself against the wall by the back window. Her uncle smashed out one of the front windows and Laney did the same to the back, training her M4 on the backyard. Nothing moved.
She jumped as she heard the retort of Patrick’s machine gun. She kept her eyes peeled. A movement to her right drew her attention. She pulled the trigger and the man creeping through the trees dropped.
Another two men appeared over the hill to the right. She took aim and they dove for the ground as her bullets raked where they had stood.
She took aim again when a projectile clattered to the floor behind her. She turned as smoke began to pour from the soup can sized object.
“Tear gas,” her uncle yelled as he crossed the room, his shirt pulled above his mouth. Laney pulled her shirt up as well.
“Need to go,” her uncle said as he reached her side.
Laney nodded, her eyes already beginning to sting.
Patrick flung open the door and sprinted into the back yard, his weapon high.
Laney charged out the door behind him, drawing up next to him. She kept pace with him, praying they could make it to cover before there exit was noticed.
A man appeared over the top of the hill. Well, that prayer didn’t get answered. She raised her gun. Before she could take the shot, the retort of Yoni’s high-powered rifle echoed through the space. The man dropped to the ground and was still.
Another two men appeared from different sides of the yard and Yoni took them down as well. Laney sprinted for the top of the hill. She glanced over at her uncle. His expression focused, his eyes scanned the area for any threat. For the first time in her life, she saw her uncle as the Marine he once was.
They flew over the crest of the hill together, their guns raised. No one was in sight.
The land sloped down towards the woods with a two-hundred-yard clearing. Laney could hear the retort of Yoni’s machine gun as he switched his attention to the front of the house.
They sprinted down the incline. A man appeared from the woods to their right. Patrick fired off two shots, hitting the man in the chest.
Another man appeared to the left. Laney pulled the trigger three times. He disappeared from view. She wasn’t sure, though, if she’d gotten him. Her aim was off. Note to self: If I get out of this, practice running and shooting.
Dirt spit up from the ground next to her. Laney looked over her shoulder and saw two men bearing down on them. Spying an outcropping of rocks ahead and to the right, she yelled, “Head for the rocks.”
Laney dove over the barrier and quickly rolled out of the way as Patrick crashed down next to her. Gunfire raked the rocks surrounding them.
“Shooters are to our right,” Patrick said, his breathing ragged.
Laney nodded her agreement, fear choking off her words.
“Okay, on the count of three," Patrick told her.
Laney put a new clip in her Beretta and nodded again.
“1, 2, 3.”
She popped up with Patrick. Using the rocks as cover, she took aim at three men approaching them from the right. She dropped one, but felt the sting as rock shrapnel hit her from a shot coming from behind them.
“Got it!” she yelled.
She swung around and took aim at another two gunmen who were trying to sneak up behind them. She took down one. The other man took cover behind some trees. He only showed himself as he moved from tree to tree. Panic coursed through her. She couldn’t get a bead on him.
She dropped the Beretta and grabbed the M4. She was much more accurate with it. Her hands began to shake as fear forced adrenaline through her system.
Stop it. Calm down. You know where he’s going. Just shoot where he’s going.
The next time he showed himself, she aimed for the next tree and just before he entered her cross hairs, she pulled the trigger. She saw a flash of blood as the bullet punched through his neck. She grimaced as blood poured from the wound, but a small part of her cheered.
A shadow fell across her and her gaze jerked upwards, followed by her gun. A man had crawled up while they’d been distracted by the attackers from each side. She knew she wasn’t going to get him in time.
“Laney!” Patrick dove in front of her, while firing at the gunman.
The gunman toppled as Patrick’s bullet found its mark, causing the gunman’s shot to go wild. Patrick’s head crashed into a rock as he fell to the ground. Laney quickly swiveled three hundred and sixty degrees. She didn’t see any more attackers.
She reached down to her uncle. He was out and blood was streaming from the wound in the side of his head. She checked for a pulse. It was beating steadily. “Thank God.”
Laney could hear Yoni continuing to hold them off from the house. That was good, but it also meant he wouldn’t be able to help them any time soon.
She pressed her sweater to her uncle’s head, trying to staunch the flow. The blood slowed, but didn’t stop. And he wasn’t stirring. She was pretty sure he was going to be out for a while.
Her eyes darted around, looking for somewhere to hide him. Nothing close. She wouldn’t be able to carry him to safety. They’d catch them both for sure. Her only hope was to lead the attackers away from him.
Grabbing some of the straw grass that blanketed the area, she spread it over him. Then she positioned some loose rocks around him, placing a few light ones on top of him. It wouldn’t fool anyone who looked too close, but from a distance he would look like he was just part of the landscape.
She reloaded her M4 and looped the strap over her, pulling out her handgun. Discarding the clip, she slammed in a new one. She sat back on her heels, preparing to run.
“I love you, Uncle,” she whispered.
Waiting, a shuffle from the left told her it was time to go. She burst out of the rocks for the trees in front of her, being sure to make as much noise as possible. Bullets chewed up the ground behind her.
She ran faster, her breathing matching the cadence of her run. She vaulted over an overturned tree and kept going, bullets continuing to dog her steps.
Up ahead, she saw the clearing and tall outcropping of rocks that she’d seen this morning when she’d gone for a walk. She picked up speed, and leaped up the rocks and into a small crevice hidden behind them. Pulling around her M4, she rested it on the rocks as she waited for the men following her.
A few seconds later, two men fully dressed in camouflage stepped into the clearing. Their eyes scanned the area, looking for their target, looking for her. Without pause, she took down one and then the other, both shots center mass.
She waited another few beats. No one else appeared. Silently, she thanked her uncle for the shooting lessons he’d insisted on when she was a teenager. It had been his idea of bonding time. Who could have known how helpful they would be?
She cautiously crawled out of her hiding spot and waited, listening for any sound. She could hear Yoni’s gun in the distance and the returning fire, but nothing close. She headed back towards her uncle, stopping to listen every few feet.
As she passed a giant sycamore, she hesitated, sensing rather than hearing someone was there. She inhaled sharply at the press of the gun barrel between her shoulder blades.
“I must admit, Dr. McPhearson, you are much more resourceful than most college professors I’ve met. My brother greatly underestimated you. I, however, have not."
Gideon. Panic flashed through her and she struggled to keep it out of her voice. “If you’re waiting for me to apologize, it’s going to be a long wait.”
He pushed his gun deeper into her back and she forced herself to ignore the pain. “Not at all, not at all. I am merely paying my respects to a worthy opponent. Now, please lower your weapons.”
Laney’s mind scrambled, running through all possible scenarios of escape.
Gideon, though, seemed to know what she was thinking and his voice turned cold. He leaned in close, his lips almost touching her ear, and his voice turned cold. She couldn’t help but flash back to Paul doing almost the exact same thing.
“Do not misunderstand me. I would as soon shoot you. But for now, I need you alive. I do not, however, need you completely unharmed. Try anything and I will take great pleasure in giving you pain.”
Laney didn’t doubt him. She slowly lowered her weapons to the ground.
He nudged her forward with his gun. “Excellent. Now, let us proceed.”
A man burst through the trees on her right. She leaped back at his appearance. From his clothing, she could tell he was one of Gideon’s men.
He took in the scene and then walked towards them. His eyes stayed on Laney. She didn’t like the look in them.
“I can take her, Mr. Gideon.” He looked her up and down. “I’ll take real good care of her.”
Gideon sighed and then beckoned the man closer. The man leaned forward. Gideon pressed his gun to the man’s forehead and pulled the trigger.
Laney stumbled back as blood and bits of bone sprayed across her face. She started to shake.
Gideon hauled her to him, his hand firmly clenched around her arm. “One thing I can’t abide is a man who would mistreat a woman.”
She stared up at him in disbelief.
Catching her look, Gideon smiled. “My dear, my intentions towards you have nothing to do with the fact that you are a female. And neither will the pain you experience.”
He raised his gun and brought it down on her skull. Pain exploded through her head before everything went black.