Blood Vengeance

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

Kinimaka pulled his handgun out and fired even before figures burst through the breached doorway. Two men ran into his rounds and sprawled half-way across the room, lifeless; but more quickly followed. This was a full-scale breach. Smyth was closest to the door and used the smoke created by the blast to launch a surprise attack, wrestling with the next two attackers. One he punched so hard Kinimaka saw his face cave; the other he spun around and grabbed in a chokehold.

Komodo slid belly first across the floor, reaching for the weapon he had left lying on the sofa. Karin kicked it toward him, at the same time scrambling over the back to find shelter. Komodo caught the gun and shot another attacker in the knees, then the head.

Already that was five down. More surged inside the house.

Smyth used his captive as a shield whilst wrestling away his gun. Kinimaka was shocked to see Yorgi step up and stand in front of a dazed Sarah Moxley. Not even the closeness of her own death penetrated her stupor. Yorgi fired as a bunch of attackers burst into the room.

Kinimaka stood at the bedroom door. The attackers were bunched together, expecting sheer numbers to win the day. And it just might. At this rate the SPEAR team would be overwhelmed in minutes. Then the battle took a turn toward something much worse.

Kinimaka saw the albino arrive, slip like a wraith around the shattered door and square up to Smyth. To his credit he waited until Smyth threw his current assailant to the side, but then he hit like a cargo plane. Even Smyth staggered under the onslaught, barely able to defend himself; each defensive deflection seeming to cause him pain. When he found a second to attack, his strikes were blocked, turned aside, then punished.

Kinimaka emptied his clip and rammed home another. Hayden was trying to sit up in bed.

“Mano?”

“No. Lie down. You’ll die if you move, Hayden.”

“I’ll die if I don’t. It’s the Agents’ Grid, Mano. And no way… no way to shut it down unless… unless Karin can—”

“Got it. I know.” Kinimaka saw Yorgi shoot a man and Smyth’s huge bulk lifted into the air as if he were a rag doll.

“Shit,” he said. “We’re in trouble. That fuckin’ albino could take us all out.”

Smyth crashed down, crying out loud. Komodo scrambled toward the door. Bullets laced the air. Rounds struck the sofa, the floor, the walls, and the windows. The safe house was a crazy melee, swarming with hired madmen and their bloodlust; heavy with death.

Kinimaka saw Karin crawling around the back of the sofa. He beckoned her over, covering her brief run with gunfire. When she gained the bedroom she went straight to Hayden’s side.

“What can I do?”

“Nothing. But we might have to move her, so get ready. There are two more ways outta here. One through a trapdoor, the other out the back. Hayden can’t go down the trapdoor, that’s for sure.”

“Okay.”

Kinimaka loosed another bullet. “And Hayden seems to think they found us by using the Grid. That sound right to you?”

“The Grid? You mean the Special Agent Grid? That’s unhackable.”

“So’s the DOT’s secret traffic signal system. But they broke into that.”

“Bloody hell. I’m not even sure I could—”

“We need you to unhack the hack,” Kinimaka said. “And fast.”

“Well, I need a computer first. And how do they even know the Grid exists? Very few are privy to that kind of information, Mano.”

“This bastard, Kovalenko. He has his fingers into everything.”

“No. He has a major insider—”

“Not now.” Kinimaka saw they were losing the battle. The team was on the defensive. They only had scope for one more gigantic effort. “Gotta go.”

The big Hawaiian plowed into the room, lining up his targets. In a matter of seconds he plucked Lauren from the floor and threw her bodily back into the bedroom, sending her tumbling through the open door. In another second he was level with Yorgi and yelling at him to take Moxley and retreat. The Russian thief took her weight and dragged her away. Kinimaka held strong as a bullet smashed into him, striking his Kevlar vest. He charged at the crowd of men, splitting them apart like bowling pins and then, when he reached the other end of the room, he ripped the shattered, dangling door right off its broken hinges.

The attackers turned toward him. Kinimaka swung the big door like a baseball bat, smashing every man aside. The timbers shattered, falling apart as they hit. Kinimaka was left with shards of wood in his hand and an open front door behind him.

Could they…?

But then Smyth collided with him, bouncing clear. Kinimaka locked eyes with the albino.

“Fancy a shot at the title, big boy?”

He didn’t. Kinimaka grabbed hold of Smyth and hurled the ex-Delta soldier toward the far door. At his feet, felled men were beginning to stir. He had dropped his gun when he wielded the door and now didn’t have time to look for it.

“Back away,” he said to the albino. “Now.”

“You ever been to jail, big boy?”

Kinimaka felt pissed. Suddenly, it was okay for everyone to be sizist was it? “No. And stop calling me ‘big boy’, you vile white devil.”

“In jail, you speak like that, it’s like issuing a challenge. You need to learn more respect… big boy.”

Kinimaka never stopped moving, easing carefully past the one remaining attacker, knowing that he didn’t want to provoke this man. Now was one of those times when retreat seemed more prudent than wading into battle. Not only that, he had seven bruised buddies about to wake up.

Komodo rose unsteadily, giving the Hawaiian a hard look. Kinimaka realized he might have inadvertently taken his own man out too. That sure wouldn’t help his clumsy reputation. Smyth finally managed to compose himself and turned, reaching for a weapon.

Kinimaka backed away. “You good enough to take all three of us, chalky?”

The albino’s eyes raised and narrowed, red-rimmed and bloodshot against his pure white skin. Shit, Kinimaka thought. The crazy bastard’s up for it!

Faster than thought, Kinimaka turned and ran. Komodo moved with him. Smyth squeezed off a round. Maybe they could have stayed and defeated the albino, but Hayden’s life was more important now. They flew into the bedroom. Karin already had Hayden sitting in an upright position, and had wrapped some duct tape they had found in the kitchen around both her wounds. Hayden’s head hung low, but rose when Kinimaka ran to her.

“Let’s get outta here.”

He started to scoop her up, but then Smyth held out a hand. “Wait,” he said.

“We can’t wait.”

The angry man glared over at Kinimaka. “I said wait. I didn’t say it for fun.”

Komodo’s stance changed. His whole demeanor altered from one of aggression to one of relief.

“They’re gone,” Smyth said. “They just got up, listened as the albino took a call, and left.”

Kinimaka sighed with relief. “Now we can get her to a hospital.”

“For that to happen,” Karin said. “Kovalenko must have called them off. Only he could do that. And that means…”

“Something huge is going down,” Komodo said. “Only that would make the Blood King feel the need to interrupt his vendetta.”

“Fire up a computer,” Kinimaka told Karin. “See if you can take down the Special Agent Grid. And Komodo, grab a satnav. I want the nearest hospital programmed in. And Smyth—”

The soldier still glared at him.

“Go outside. Take a look around and over the city. Maybe head up to the roof. I wanna know what happens the moment it hits.”