OUTCAST Ops: African Firestorm

CHAPTER TWENTY

All three OUTCAST pairs reached the main house within thirty seconds of each other. Tanner and Naomi came in from the south, Danielle and Liam from the west, and Stephen and Dante from the north. Their distraction was about played out, the sounds of rockets diminishing.

Tanner and Naomi flanked the side door, a plain steel door on the side of the three-car garage.

“All teams, check in," Tanner said, but before anyone could answer, they heard gunfire and breaking glass from the front of the house.

Someone cursed over the radio, then Dante said, "We're pinned down near the front entrance. Two or three gunners on the second floor!"

"We're at the swimming pool," Liam said.

"Sky Team!" Tanner commanded, "Keep them busy at the front door! Sea Team, move in from the pool. Land Team will move in from the garage!"

Naomi tried the side door but it was locked. She stepped back and put a three-round burst through the lock and door handle, shattering both. She stepped out of the line of fire and yanked the door open. Two heartbeats later, Tanner went through the door low and fast to the right. Naomi followed, crossing behind Tanner and going left.

No one waited for them in the garage, which contained a BMW and a Mercedes. Tanner moved toward another door on the other side of the garage, Naomi behind him and to his right. Three-quarters of the way across, the door opened and a gunman stepped in. Tanner saw the foe’s shock as he tried to raise his AK, but former FBI man’s four-round burst ripped through his chest with lethal results.

As the dead ruffian dropped, a second gunman behind him snapped up his assault rifle, but Naomi was faster, her four 9mm rounds finding the guard's neck and head. As the second dead man fell, his finger tightened around the trigger, sending half a magazine into the ceiling.

Tanner darted forward, stepping over the first dead guard, and into the house. Naomi stayed behind him. To their right was a scullery, with a door leading outside. To the left were shelves packed with cans and dry food, and beyond those, a walk-in freezer.

The second dead gunman lay in the doorway separating the scullery from the kitchen. They stepped over the corpse, avoiding the blood and gore, and moved into the kitchen proper.

Automatic fire along with falling glass and the tinkling of spent cartridges on stone came from somewhere above, beyond the kitchen.

"Sky to Land!" Dante shouted. "We're in a crossfire! Tangos on our flanks and front!"

"On our way," Tanner said.

The kitchen was an open affair, with a breakfast bar and several stools. A gas stove, refrigerator and counter-top appliances were to the left and a sink to the right. Beyond the kitchen was a hallway and the indoor/outdoor pool, large glass panels surrounding the space. A sunken bar, still stacked with bottles and glasses, occupied one corner of the pool.

"Land to Sea," Tanner whispered. "We're in the kitchen."

"Copy," Liam said. "We're in an outside shower stall, between the pool and the patio."

"Go around the building and hit the flankers from behind. We'll get the ones in the house."

"Copy and moving."

Tanner exited the kitchen, turned left, and took a couple of steps forward. A sunken dining room opened to his left. A large space furnished with couches and chairs was on his right, with more glass doors making up the far wall. As he glanced out the doors, Tanner saw Liam and Danielle fast-walk across the patio, staying close to the house.

Beyond the dining room was a staircase leading up to a balcony overlooking the first floor. He saw flashes of gunfire coming from three positions. He signaled Naomi to cover him, let his MP5 dangle from his harness, and took up a stun grenade.

He pulled the pin, then tossed it up and over the balcony rail. The OUTCAST operators ducked back into the kitchen, closed their eyes and put their hands over their ears.

The "crack" of the grenade sounded like a cannon firing, but it was quickly lost in the following noise-and-light riot. Smaller sub-munitions, freed from the canister, exploded in quick succession, each one briefly as bright as the sun with noise like a thunderclap at close range.

Tanner charged out of the kitchen, Naomi behind him. They could see three shadowy figures stumbling around on the balcony. Tanner and Naomi fired, their bursts chewing through the railing and into one of the three defenders. The man stumbled and fell hard against the weakened rail. The rail gave way under the sudden weight, sending the gunman and part of the rail over the side. The man landed sickeningly hard on the floor ten feet in front of Tanner.

A second burst from Tanner’s weapon took another one of the gunmen on the balcony, while a flurry of gunfire from Naomi ripped into the third guard and dropped him.

"Clear," Tanner said.

"Sky Team coming in the front with Sea Team," Dante said.

Tanner moved toward the front glass front doors, now nothing more than frames, as the rest of his team stepped through.

"Liam," he said softly, “take Dani and Stephen and sweep the downstairs. I'll take the others upstairs and do the same. Hassan's the main target, but grab any computers, tablets — any kind of data storage you can find. Go."

That's when a radio near the body that had fallen through the rail came to life, its speaker issuing orders hissed in Arabic.

Ali looked around, noticing that the fireworks had died away and there were no more explosions or popping of firecrackers. He raised his radio to his mouth.

"All teams report in!"

One by one, the teams reported, but more than a few guards were not answering their radios. Ali scowled and barked into the radio, "Sweep the estate and find the intruders! Rafi, take your team and secure the main house. Mr. Hassan, it looks like the attack is over. What is your condition?"

Silence greeted him. "Mr. Hassan, I'm sending men over to help you. What is your condition?"

Gunfire ripped across the estate and Ali frowned, trying to pinpoint its source. Realization struck him like a thunderbolt.

"Code Red! Converge on the house, repeat, converge on the house!"