OUTCAST Ops: African Firestorm

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Multiple explosions lit up the clifftop. Rockets flew into the night sky toward the ocean, filling the air with high-pitched screeches and trails of fire. A large number of the fireworks landed inside the estate and exploded, sparking everywhere and enshrouding the property with thick, acrid smoke. The other firecrackers' sharp pops and snaps, sounding like multiple automatic weapons, added another level of confusion for the defenders inside.

"Sea Team," Tanner said, "begin your approach."

"Copy, Prime." More explosions lit up the night sky.

"Sky Team, begin your approach." Tanner rose and started forward, with Naomi to his left and rear. They threaded their way through the bushes toward the compound wall. When they reached it, Tanner dropped to one knee and covered Naomi while she moved forward to press a quarter-block of C-4 against the wall.

She set the timer for fifteen seconds, then she and Tanner quickly moved away. They flattened themselves on the ground and covered their ears. The explosion tore the wall apart, leaving a large hole in its place.

Tanner and Naomi got up and ran toward the opening. With Naomi covering him, Tanner stepped through the hole, his MP5 up and ready for a target. Once he was clear, he stopped and crouched, covering Naomi as she stepped through the ragged opening. They moved off at an angle from the wall, their target a small out building near the main house.

Around them, the estate was in chaos. A thick haze filled the air, and the fireworks continued to go off, blanketing the surroundings with intense light and sound.

Despite the maelstrom around them, both operatives moved with purpose. They stayed low and close to cover as possible, stopping every few seconds to check their surroundings. Ten yards from the building, a pair of rockets landed near the structure and exploded with eye-searing brightness, briefly illuminating the surroundings.

The explosions revealed three men in suits within the building's shadow, armed with assault rifles. Partially blinded and stunned by the rockets' impact, they saw the OUTCAST pair too late. Tanner and Naomi fired four-round bursts, dropping two of the thugs. The third man died seconds later, struck by both OUTCASTs' second bursts. He went down in a bloody heap.

Tanner and Naomi sprinted to the building, a squat, bunker-like affair with a steel door and no windows. They crouched against the stone structure and took their bearings. The main house was sixty yards away, a modern sprawling design with a lot of glass and an indoor/outdoor swimming pool.

Around it, Hassan's men ran back and forth, trying to find the unseen enemy in the smoke and explosions.

Using hand signals, Tanner indicated a door on the side of the garage and instructed Naomi to throw one of her smoke canisters between their location and the main house. She nodded, and seconds later, her smoke-spewing bomb landed on target. Tanner threw one of his, and both grenades quickly thickened the air, cutting the poor visibility down even more.

Tanner and Naomi sprinted into the smoke.

The dark blue GEMINI Waverider rigid inflatable boat traveled toward the dock at a sedate pace. Courtesy of Ashcroft's friend at a local boat rental business, its twin 200 horsepower engines emitted a low rumble like a pair of large cats. Danielle, who had done some boat handling when she was younger, piloted the craft, which was rated for eight persons but now carried only two.

Liam stood near the bow, the sniper rifle’s stock pressed firmly to his shoulder. Through the mounted nightscope, he could see two men on the dock and a third near the boathouse. All three were more interested in what was happening on the estate above them than watching the sea. Liam aimed for the man near the boathouse, who was the farthest away from him.

He waited until the boat was three hundred yards from the dock before he tightened his finger around the trigger. He rode the recoil, watching as the 7.62mm round struck his target in the back, knocking him down and sending his rifle flying. Liam quickly found his second target and repeated the process, taking the second guard down before he could turn.

The third man spun toward him and started running to the end of the dock. Liam calmly aimed and fired when the boat was two hundred yards from the dock. The man's head exploded like a melon under a sledgehammer, the now-lifeless body collapsing.

"Bring her in," he said to Danielle.

The computer whiz increased the throttle, sending the boat surging until it was up on a plane. Before long they neared the dock and she throttled down the engines, letting the Waverider's momentum carry it forward to the dock as it settled lower in the water.

Liam switched weapons to his MP5 and leapt out of the boat onto the end of the dock, landing near the head-shot thug. He dropped to one knee and covered Danielle as she tied the speedboat to the dock. That done, they moved down the pier toward the stairs.

"Sea Team to Prime," Liam said into his throat mike. "We are feet dry, repeat, feet dry."

Sky Team's entry was similar to Land Team’s — A C-4-created hole in the north wall. But unlike Tanner and Naomi, Dante and Stephen were barely through the hole when a pair of gunmen charged from around a storage shed, stopped and opened fire with AK-47s.

Dante and Stephen dropped to the ground, the dozen Russian-made rounds hissing over their heads with waspy hums. Before the gunmen could adjust their aim, the OUTCAST operators fired back. Dante's five-round burst stitched one guard from navel to throat, while Stephen's volley struck his target in the head and throat. The duo was up and running before the thugs finished dying.

Dante and Stephen heard the cracks and pops of gunfire all around them, but none of it seemed to be aimed at them. Firework rockets were still landing inside the estate or exploding overhead. They could barely hear the guards shouting as they tried to make sense of what was going on. The smoke hid most of the surroundings and the strong bitter smell of burnt black powder lingered everywhere.

After moving through the estate's garden, they finally saw a building, apparently a guest house. Beyond that lay the main house.

Machine gun fire ripped through the night air as they reached a low stone wall near the guest house. Both men dropped into the shadow of the three-foot high wall. The top was raked with a swarm of bullets that shattered the stone along the top.

Stephen raised his MP5 over the edge and fired a quick burst in the direction of the house before pulling it down and rolling to his left.

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!"