OUTCAST Ops: African Firestorm

CHAPTER EIGHT

"White to Black, what is your status?"

Liam glanced back at Danielle, who worked at the computer, fingers flying across the keyboard.

"Downloading the data, but the fight on the floor is winding down. We don't know who the new people are, but I doubt they'll be happy to see us."

"We need a line on these people," Tanner said. "We're making a quick sweep here, then we're coming after you. You have an escape route?"

"Black Two's looking right now." The gunfire outside the office stopped. He heard shouts in Arabic from the floor below. "Two, what are they saying?"

"The leader is sending some of his men up here to check the offices, and to kill anyone they find."

"Shit," Liam muttered. "White, we're about to have visitors."

"Copy, Black. We're moving. White out."

Stephen appeared in the doorway connecting the office to the room next door. "Another office here, break room on the end. Each room has a window, and there's a connecting door out to the landing. Staircase at the other end of the landing."

"Watch the other staircase," Liam said. Stephen disappeared back through the door. "Dani, how long?"

"Seven minutes." Danielle had attached a couple of portable hard drives, each about the size of a pack of cards, to the computer with a pair of cords. She stuck a thumb drive into one of the computers and typed out something on the keyboard.

Liam heard footsteps pounding on the steel stairs. Whoever it was, they weren't disguising their approach. He moved the blinds and pulled them back just enough to see the top of the stairwell. Three figures in black appeared, each carrying an AK-47, but from their body language, Liam could see they weren't expecting any problems. He glanced back at Danielle and motioned for her to get down. She slid lower in her chair, but kept typing.

Liam eased the blinds back into place and moved his free hand to the door knob, the other holding the P-90 at the ready. The footsteps got closer, and just as he felt the door handle move under his hand, Liam twisted the knob and yanked the door open.

The armed fighter standing in the doorway stared at him. He wore a ski mask, so all Liam could see of the man's face were eyes widening in shock. His rifle started coming up, but Liam stroked the trigger on his P-90, sending half a dozen 5.7mm rounds into his opponent from less than two feet away. The rounds traveled through the criminal’s body, several pining off the steel rail behind him. Blood pouring from multiple wounds, the dying combatant staggered back, AK slipping from his hands. With a moan, he toppled, striking the steel floor with a loud thud.

But Liam had already moved onto his next target, who had been about to open the door to the adjacent office. The opposition spun toward the sound of gunfire, his rifle swinging around first. Liam stitched him in mid-spin with a prolonged burst. The hoodlum continued through his spin and fell over with another loud impact.

A third burst of fire shifted Liam's attention to ruffian number three, but that man was already down, struck by a staccato burst from Stephen's weapon at the far end.

Liam motioned Stephen back inside as shouts came from below. Then someone with a commanding voice yelled one of the few Arabic words Liam knew.

"Fire!"

Yasir Ilshu clamped down hard on his anger as his men fired at the offices above them. He stood in the shadow of a shelf, watching as the new recruits set out to avenge their fallen comrades. Apparently, some of the guards were still alive, having killed three of his men. Granted, all three had been untrained, but they had been his men, and he didn't like losing men. Not to these infidels.

The offices lay over another, larger office, a pair of bathrooms, and a janitor's closet. His men had cleared those, so the only place left for the enemy to be was in the offices. There was at least two of the enemy, from the glimpse he'd gotten. Dark clothes like Ilshu and his men. A compact machine gun…

He snarled to himself in anger, letting it rise until it showed on his face. Those weren't guards up there, but someone else. Someone who probably wanted the computer data, which meant someone knew or at least suspected something was wrong with the Northstar Venture's cargo. He took out his radio and spoke into it.

"Hamid, find the warehouse's electrical box and destroy it. Saffa, how many incendiaries do you have left?"

"Four." Saffa’s reply was immediate.

"I want you to plant them in the rooms underneath the enemy. We'll burn them out."

"Yes sir!"

Ilshu then called his man outside the warehouse. "Ahmad, can you see the office windows?"

"Not clearly."

"Move until you do. I don't want our enemy using the windows to escape."

“And if they do try the windows?"

"Kill them, of course."

Liam rose from the floor where he had flattened himself. The gunfire had stopped, but the swarm of bullets had shattered all the windows overlooking the warehouse floor, showering him with a large amount of glass. He stayed low, moved to the side and peeked around the edge of the destroyed window. The blinds had been torn apart and what was left didn't hide much. He saw movement below, but saw no one on the stairs.

"Dani?" he asked softly, not turning his head.

"I'm fine," Danielle replied from behind the desk.

"How much longer? You’re not playing Solitaire or checking your stock quotes on that thing, right?"

"Five minutes. The data's encrypted, so I'm downloading everything I can to take a crack at it later."

"Stephen, how are you?"

"Fine. Took a few cuts from the glass, but I'm all right."

"Be alert, they may send someone to take a look-see."

"We're going to need a way out."

"Working on it." Liam pulled back, checking his P-90. He still had a three-quarters full clip and two more, if needed. But he had chosen them for the initial probe operation as they were concealable, just in case they'd run into a couple of NFFA thugs, not for an engagement with unknown enemy carrying AKs.

He looked out. The steel-grate balcony had stairs at both ends and about a thirty-foot span. The staircase on Stephen’s end made a right-hand turn at the top and hugged the outside wall of the office area. Liam couldn't see much from where he was.

"Stephen, can you see what's on that side of the building?"

"Not much," Stephen returned. "There’s a truck, but I can't tell what type."

Liam thought things through for a few seconds. Neither he nor the enemy wanted this to drag out — there was no telling if the firefight had been heard by someone outside and the police were already on their way. So this would have to end quickly, with an assault.

If the enemy assaulted the second floor, especially if they used both staircases at the same time, they would lose people, but OUTCAST would be overwhelmed. None of the team had grenades or explosives of any kind, as it was supposed to be a "sneak-in, sneak-out" mission. These walls wouldn't protect much, as they were just sheet rock and—

Liam stopped and looked at the wall where the bullets had gone through. Sheet rock attached to a wooden frame. Against the AK's heavy rounds, they wouldn't be any protection—

He stopped. "Stephen," he said. "I want to take a look at something in the break room."

"All right."

"Danielle, can you leave the downloading alone for a couple of minutes? I need you to watch the stairs at this end while I look at something that might get us out of this."

"Right," she said, her eyes never leaving the screen, her fingers never slackening on the keyboard. After several seconds, she rose and moved over to where Liam stood, her P-90 in her hands. Staying low, Liam started through the connecting doorway through the second office. Stephen met him at the doorway.

"Stay alert, “Liam said.

The break room had several tables, three times as many chairs, a counter, sink and refrigerator against the shared wall with the office next door. A couple of vending machines were lined up against the opposite wall, the one Liam was interested in. He low-crawled across the room to the vending machines. There was a two-foot gap between the machines, now occupied by a large garbage can. Liam picked up the can and moved it to the side, then knelt to examine the wall.

Stephen was standing to one side of the shattered windows overlooking the warehouse. "What are you doing?" he whispered.

“Making our own exit,” Liam replied. He pulled his K-Bar from its belt sheath and placed the point against the sheet rock. He pushed with it. The blade slowly sank into the wall. Liam kept pushing until the knife's guard touched the wall. Slowly, he sawed the knife in and out, moving the blade down until he'd cut a six-inch gash in the wall. He slowly pulled the knife out, twisted the blade and pushed it into the wall at the bottom of the gash. He made more cuts at right angles to the first, until he'd cut a six-inch square. He pulled the cut piece out of the wall and looked inside.

The K-bar had gone through two panels of sheetrock, giving Liam a view of the warehouse they couldn’t see from the offices. He could see the stair rail and the steps leading down. Parked near the bottom was a white pickup truck, known locally as a bakkie, with the SeaStar Logo on the door. A lean to his left gave Liam enough of a view in front of the truck to see an overhead door currently closed. He leaned to the right and saw two figures in black crouched behind some forklifts. Liam took note of the propane tanks that powered the forklifts.

He pulled back and stood. "Okay, team," he whispered into his radio. “I have a plan to get out of this—"

They heard and felt a small explosion somewhere near the base of the stairs. The few lights on the warehouse’s floor flickered and died.

"Damn it," Liam said without rancor. "Three, they've cut the power. Clean up your stuff and get ready to move. I'm on my way back."

He looked at Stephen. "They may be using this to mount an attack. Fall back to the middle office and watch the stairs until I get Dani."

"What's the plan?"

Liam inhaled, then his nose twitched as it registered the pungent smell of something burning. He looked around and in his NVGs he caught wisps of what might be smoke.

"You smell something burning?"

Stephen sniffed the air. "Yeah."

"Check out there and see if you see anything burning. I'm going to get Dani."

Liam moved back through the middle office to the one on the end. Danielle had just finished putting everything into her satchel. "Not sure if I got all the data."

Liam stood near the windows and looked out. "How much of the database did you get?"

"Sixty percent, maybe." She sniffed the air and looked around. "Something’s burning."

Liam knelt and felt the floor. "Floor's warm. Go join Stephen."

"What's happening?"

"I think they've started fires in the rooms below us." Liam stood. "We're literally in the frying pan."