Friday, June 30th, 2017
19:30 GMT-7 (02:30 GMT July 1st)
Over the Pacific Ocean
Knife Two-One
They had launched at 18:45 from the air station and immediately headed out over the Pacific Ocean to the west to stay away from prying eyes.
In the cockpit, Captain Cameron 'Cammie' Gale United States Marine Corps kept them at eight thousand feet as she passed between Santa Carolina Island and San Clemente Island before they then skirted to the west of San Miguel Island as they curved around to the north. Back in the main cabin, the long overwater flight was not the most comfortable as the aircraft was designed for combat over comfort. In general, the noise and the vibrations, not to mention that there were no real windows to look out of, all added up to the claustrophobic interior and it soon had even the tough-as-nails twins feeling queasy as the aircraft rose and fell with the air turbulence encountered at the low flight level.
They crossed the coast just to the west of the town of Cayucos where they terrain hopped over the rolling mountains as they headed inland.
19:57 GMT-7 (02:57 GMT July 1st)
The Strip
The Osprey needed fuel before it could continue with the assault, so as they passed to the south of Atascadero, a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, about midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on U.S. Route 101, Cammie began her descent and she reduced speed.
The tiltrotor approached a valley and descended to 300-feet. Ahead, the pilot could see a long narrow runway set into the valley floor and at the far end, a hanger with a large house on the hill beyond. But that was not the only thing present. Resting on the cracked concrete at the far end, beside the hanger was a monstrous machine which seemed very out of place in the diminishing daylight.
Due to the fact that they were trying to remain covert – despite the noise the huge tiltrotor made as it flew – they could not make use of a standard airfield and the MV-22B was not due to be fitted with air-to-air refuelling equipment until early the following year. Therefore, a covert refuelling would take place on secure ground. In this case, the Fusion hideaway where the light aircraft known as Echo X-ray resided. However, the supply of aviation fuel was limited onsite and the fuel pumping facilities were basic to say the least, therefore, the necessary fuel and refuelling equipment had been loaded aboard the gigantic CH-53E Super Stallion and flown ahead to the isolated area.
The tiltrotor descended smoothly, the engine nacelles at each end of the wing smoothly rotating to translate the aircraft into helicopter mode and then to a soft landing on the concrete about 150-feet from the Super Stallion.
..._...
Sky had never felt so relieved as when she felt the tricycle undercarriage touchdown and the enormous machine's vibrations began to ease.
The aft ramp was lowered so that the crew chief and a gunner could supervise the refuelling of their aircraft. On their way down the aircraft, the two men ushered the queasy vigilantes out onto the cracked concrete. Sky felt even happier and she sensed the very same emotion in her sister.
"You guys enjoy your flight?" a voice said over their earpieces.
"Bite me!" Chrissy growled.
"That wasn't very nice," Maddie announced.
"The trip was a little rough and the bitch twins get airsick," James explained.
There was laughter and even Sky and Chrissy laughed – it broke the ice as all were feeling more than a little apprehensive about what was ahead of them. Instead, James, Kieran, and Juno moved to where they could watch the refuelling operation. Kieran was impressed with the monstrous helicopter which seemed far too big to fly as it squatted low on the ground a ramp lowered beneath the tail boom. The machine weighed in at over fifteen tonnes unladen and stretched over thirty metres from end to end. The three engines were very prominent on the aircraft, supporting the adage that if you stick enough engines on an object, then it will fly! The beast was topped off with a seven-bladed main rotor spreading over twenty-four metres from side to side. The sides of the aircraft were dominated by a massive fuel tank hanging off an outrigger, one per side while sticking out the front of the helicopter, a retractable refuelling probe extended out several feet. Inside the capacious main cabin, a massive fuel bladder took up most of the space along with a portable pump and refuelling hose pallet. Four marines were busy lugging the house out to where the Osprey sat and after the crew chief had connected the hose, the pump began to push through gallons of aviation fuel to top off the Osprey's fuel tanks.
While the refuelling was being undertaken, the others took the opportunity to stretch their legs after having been cooped up in the aircraft.
20:00 GMT-7 (03:00 GMT July 1st)
Napa County, California
Poker One-Seven
High above the valley, a General Atomics MQ-9A Reaper of the 432nd Operations Group 11th Attack Squadron flew at ten-thousand feet, it's many sensors scanning and cataloguing everything it saw or heard as it flew its pre-determined flight path.
All the data was sent back to Creech Air Force base in Nevada where intelligence experts examined the feed to identify defences and anything which could interfere with the assault that evening. Nothing could hide from the hi-definition cameras or the heat sensors mounted on the drone. Even the machine guns supposedly hidden beneath the lush greenery of the valley sides were easily identified and plotted, their locations annotated onto the digital images to assist the assault forces. Though anti-personnel mines could not be identified by the drone, common pathways used by the enemy could be, and they generally identified the 'safer' approach pathways which could be utilised by the assault force.
The intelligence experts also made sure to highlight those properties which bordered the Panther Ranch and to mark them in an attempt to prevent collateral damage where possible.
20:07 GMT-7 (03:07 GMT July 1st)
The Strip
Guinevere and Nicholas walked off to one side of the concrete strip to exercise their limbs and to talk about the upcoming events of the next few hours.
Nicholas would be leading one part of the assault element and he knew that they would be taking casualties – hopefully nothing fatal. Together, they studied images displayed on a tablet computer which showed the most up-to-date drone images of the target area. Even as they studied the images, intelligence experts of the United States Air Force were actively identifying and marking aspects of the terrain and locations which they deemed of interest to the assault force. Guinevere grimaced as she counted all the machine gun emplacements which had appeared, liberally scattered across the images.
"Fourteen! For fuck's sake!" she breathed.
"Hopefully, they'll all be taken out by Thunder," Nicholas commented, referring to a supporting unit of the United States Air Force. "We've got a five-hundred yard run up this road past three emplacements lower down and then what looks to be two more directly below the property."
"Nobody said this was going to be easy," Logan chimed in. "But that hilltop is going to be awash with blood by the time we're finished."
"A bit melodramatic, Logan," Nicholas commented, "but something like that."
"What about mines?" Logan enquired.
"I would place them here, here, here, and here," Nicholas responded as he tapped the tablet screen. "If we move along here, then stick close to these vines where there seems to be a well-trampled pathway, we should make some progress but we need to take care."
Guinevere was not overly happy with the tactical situation but she had no choice.
..._...
Equally not overly happy, Erika was also studying the same images with Sky and Chrissy.
Their approach was simpler, coming as it was from the northern end of the hilltop at the same level as the property. However, they would still have to cover over four-hundred yards of open ground, avoiding the trees as they were deemed to be rigged with mines. They would breach the main building with shock and awe – which was the name of the game that night. A road approach had been ruled out due to the enemy being aware of a possible assault being made, so a shock and awe air assault was deemed to have the most chance of success against a prepared and determined enemy. Despite the covert(-ish) support of the US military, the only 'boots on the ground' would be the nine vigilantes – plausible deniability, Erika had been informed. That would protect the Government but it would not protect her people when they were dropped into harm's way.
The tactical situation on the ground was not good, but it was terrain which they had ventured into not all that long before, so at the very least, they had some intimate knowledge of what lay ahead of them.
..._...
The next leg of the flight would take an hour as they looped out over the Pacific Ocean, heading north at a more comfortable higher altitude since it was getting dark.
They had approximately 243-nautical miles to cover which would take them just an hour of flight time, bringing them ever closer to the assault. The time allowed each one of them to consider their own mortality as they checked, re-checked, and then triple-checked their equipment. All wore fairly standard military fatigues for a tropical climate, but with the FCCS armour beneath their clothing. Their identities would be covered with their masks and they all wore lightweight Kevlar helmets. All carried an assault rifle of sorts – mainly a variant of the Heckler & Koch HK416A5 11" assault rifle - while Nicholas and James each packed an H&K MG4KE belt-fed machine gun. All carried a pistol and various knives and other melee weapons. Kieran and Logan also packed an H&K 40-millimetre grenade launcher beneath the longer 14" barrel of their own HK416 weapons. To add to the surprise and chaos factor, all their weapons were suppressed. Though their assault would be noisy, once they had left the Osprey, they would be hidden in the darkness which would be their friend as they closed on the enemy.
Juno was a little unsure of what was about to go down – she was the only non-Predator on the team – not that that had ever prevented her from carrying through with her tasks. She was scared – who would not be, she thought. She would be there to support Guinevere, and she would fight until she could fight no more. She had something to prove to the boys, to Guinevere, and to herself. She had to show them all that she could keep up with them and that she could be relied upon to have their backs. Juno knew that she had the respect of her peers, but she so wanted them all to be proud of her. On the plus side, she so wanted to feel the surge of adrenalin associated with close quarters battle – it gave her an artificial high which felt simply amazing to the youngster. As she checked that her webbing and helmet were secure, she saw Nicholas grinning at her from across the aircraft. Juno grinned back, pleased to see that Nicholas was close by.
Then it came: the crew chief held up ten fingers: ten minutes...
Seven minutes later...
21:08 GMT-7 (04:08 GMT July 1st)
Napa County, California
Panther Ranch
Dieter Mannheim had finally calmed down and the man was now one hundred percent sober and ready to face the world.
The man had toured his defensive perimeter and he was very impressed by what he found, especially as he knew that his son had had a hand in beefing up the defences. As far as he was concerned, the place was an impenetrable fortress and he was doing his best to get that fact across to his partners in crime.
"...I have everything under control, Gabriel. Nobody can touch me here – nobody!"
"It is worrying, nonetheless, my old friend," Gabriel Agreste replied. "I..."
"Gabriel? Gabriel? Are you there? Gabriel!"
Dieter glared down at the cell phone in his hand which refused to connect as he stabbed the screen. He reached for another cell phone – the same. He seized a cell phone from one of his men – the same. Then he tried the radio.
"I need a working cell phone up here!" he ordered, but as he released the transmit button, a horrible ear-piercing shriek emitted from the handheld radio interspersed with bursts of static.
As Dieter looked around, he saw every man ripping out his earpiece and he could hear ear-piercing shrieks and bursts of static from all around.
"Mein Gott!" the man breathed as realisation dawned.
Orbiting eight nautical miles distant and 10,000-feet overhead, the mission crew supervisor aboard the United States Air Force EC-130J Compass Call nodded down approvingly at his two electronic warfare officers as they operated the aircraft's electronic jammers, which shutdown just about every cell phone and radio for a dozen miles in every direction.
..._...
The sun had set just thirty minutes or so earlier and twilight was just passing, just as the opening salvo was ordered.
"Thunder One-Niner, Poker One-Seven, you are cleared in hot, targets are lit, over."
"Roger, Poker One-Seven, turning onto target, Thunder One-Niner out."
High overhead, the United States Air Force AC-130U Spooky II which belonged to the 1st Special Operations Group began its run into the target at four-thousand feet. The thirteen crew members aboard the special forces aircraft each had an important job to do with four of them manning the airborne artillery carried onboard the converted transport. At a set distance from their target, the two pilots hauled the aircraft around and entered into a steep pylon turn to port. As the aircraft turned about a fixed point – the Panther Ranch – the aircraft's extensive electronic targeting systems identified the encoded laser reflections on the ground far below and the fire control officer aboard the aircraft allocated a weapon to each target. Mounted down the portside of the aircraft, were three weapons. The first to engage was the 105-millimetre M102 howitzer mounted right aft, followed by the 40-millimetre L/60 Bofors cannon and finally, for pure sex appeal, the 25-millimetre GAU-12/U Equalizer 5-barreled Gatling gun. Each twelve-second burst fired off 350 rounds towards the target at over 1,000 metres-per-second.
Bright red tracer fire reached down from the sky, the deep crack of the enormous howitzer once every six seconds, punctuated the sharper sound of the Bofors which fired two-hundred rounds-per-minute.
..._...
Down on the ground, the defenders felt like hell had descended upon them.
One minute, they had been staring into the looming darkness, across the calm Napa Valley, then the radios had gone haywire, and then as some had looked skyward, the drone of engines could be heard high above, heading in their general direction. Most considered a high-flying propeller-driven aircraft to be of little to no threat to them on the ground – how wrong they were! A flash was seen, high in the darkening sky and then half a second later, a crump was heard from the same location. Then just over a second later, there was a monstrous explosion as a machine gun pit with the two-man crew was wiped off the hillside, like it had never been. Another machine gun pit was pulverised by seemingly dozens of large-calibre rounds which turned the two men manning the weapon into something barely recognisable as human, even as the machine gun itself was blasted into a useless chunk of tortured metal. The assault from on high continued as what seemed akin to a red laser reached down and began to pick off other sites of interest, such as locations of cached weaponry and ammunition which detonated like a cache of fireworks, lighting up the sky for miles around.
Some of the men scrambled for their vehicles, only for that vehicle to be pounded into the ground seconds later before they had covered twenty yards as a 105-millimetre shell shattered the target and decimated those made of soft human tissue inside. Others simply ran for their lives or cowered in fear at the inhuman onslaught which seemed to go on and on with explosions blasting debris into the air all around the hilltop ranch house. At first, nobody seemed to notice that anything outside of the Panther Ranch boundary was totally untouched while anything beyond eight feet from the ranch house itself, was simply removed from existence. None of the men and women defending the Panther Ranch had ever endured such a firestorm and those capable retreated to the proximity of the ranch house which they could see was comparatively untouched compared to the no-man's land beyond.
Then it was suddenly over as an eerie calm descended on the hilltop and surrounding land as the pleasant crackling of burning corpses, the creaking of damaged trees, and the screams of mortally wounded humans replaced the thunderous roar of the airborne broadside.
..._...
Not surprisingly, the embedded defensive positions were immolated in place with almost zero collateral damage to the surrounding area.
"Thunder One-Niner, Poker One-Seven, all targets destroyed, over."
"Thunder One-Niner copies all targets destroyed. Good hunting Poker One-Seven. Thunder One-Niner out."
As the AC-130U Spooky turned off target, the aircrew watched on the FLIR as a blacked out Marine MV-22B flew in from the west at two hundred feet, the rotor blade nacelles tilted upwards at an angle of forty-five degrees from the horizontal as the large machine translated into rotary-wing flight for the assault. Anything which could hurt the complicated assault transport had been permanently silenced by the Spooky which would continue to loiter in the area for another ninety minutes before they would have to head back to Hurlburt Field in Florida via an inflight refuelling before the sun rose.
The Marine MV-22B made directly for the north end of the ranch to deposit Alpha Team on the ground.
21:10 GMT-7 (04:10 GMT July 1st)
Knife Two-One
Captain Cameron 'Cammie' Gale brought her command in from the west, her night-vision goggles allowing her to see through the darkness with an occasional peek at her FLIR display to see what was happening beyond the thick black smoke which erupted from the destroyed vehicles and weapons emplacements.
Her left hand moved the lever forward to bring the aircraft up another two hundred and thirty feet to crest the hilltop as she used her left thumb to rotate the nacelle control switch upward to rotate the nacelles fully vertical for the landing.
"Crew, standby, thirty seconds," she called out over the intercom system.
Aft of the cockpit, the crew chief was preparing to send the first group of vigilantes out the rear ramp which was all but fully deployed with a gunner manning the mounted M240D 7.62-millimetre machine gun. There was a shudder as the main wheels touched down and an increase in engine power as Cammie used the thrust of the twin thirty-eight foot diameter rotor blades to pin the aircraft to the ground.
"Alpha Team!" the crew chief bellowed over the roar of the engines. Go!"
Paradox was on point and he ran out of the aircraft, down the ramp, and onto the Californian hilltop. He was followed by Mist, Venom, Bane, and then Domitor. All five crouched down a dozen yards away from the aircraft, their weapons raised and aimed outwards, towards the Panther Ranch. They were all glad of their masks as Cammie reversed the pitch of the rotor blades, generating clouds of dust, then rotating the nacelles forwards, and the transport leapt into the air, pivoting around and curving to the west as it made for the Bravo Team landing zone at the southern end of the Panther Ranch. Once the Osprey and its massive downwash had departed, Mist had her team up and they moved cautiously forwards at a fast pace, their weapons following their eyes as they scanned all around them.
None of them, however, were lulled into thinking that the enemy had been decimated – not for even a second. Though they had not personally witnessed the hell which had rained down upon the hilltop, they could well see the thick black smoke and hear the cries of the wounded. The small group kept to the west side of the hilltop as they moved towards the ranch house. To their left was a thickly wooded area which they knew to contain the enemy, although copious amounts of smoke billowed out of that same area. Then bullets began to fly as someone in the woods opened fire upon the group. Even as Paradox and Mist ran towards the left of where the gunfire was coming from, Bane, Venom, and Domitor ran forwards and then curved around to the left to outflank the gunner. Even as they were moving. Paradox's eyes were drawn to his right, looking to the west out over the valley where the Osprey was turning to make a landing.
Only, a bright flash had originated from a copse of trees near to the base of the hill to the west and a streak of light had risen towards the manoeuvring Osprey.
..._...
The double pair of dazzlingly bright flares erupted from the rear of the Osprey, automatically triggered by the AN/AAR-47 Missile Approach Warning System as the tiltrotor twisted around and the nacelles rotated fully forward as the engines wound up to full power, dragging the transport away from the aborted landing.
Beneath the belly of the Osprey, a turreted 7.62-millimetre GAU-17 minigun angrily spat fire in the direction of where the missile had originated, hosing down the copse of trees, the green tracers lighting up the sky like a laser beam as two-thousand rounds-per-minute exploded out of the deadly weapon even as the chainsaw like sound echoed around the valley. Then came a steady staccato roar as twenty-millimetre cannon shells thudded into the copse of trees, shredding everything and causing two secondary explosions.
"Knife Two-One, Mustang flight of two – sorry we're late!"
The pair of United States Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter gunships split as they blazed across the hilltop, each curving around to reattack if required as Cammie brought her Osprey around for another attempt at landing to put Bravo Team on the ground.
Bravo Team (Lilith, Lilim, Trauma, and Riptide)
Lilim was sure that she had pissed her panties as the aircraft had suddenly gyrated around the sky like some demented rollercoaster and she had heard the computerised announcement in the cockpit alongside a whooping sound: "Missile! Missile! Evade! Evade!"
She had never been so thankful to have her feet on solid ground. In the air, she felt like so much cargo, but on the ground, she knew what to do, and how to fight. As she gripped her assault rifle in both hands, her eyes looked down the full length of the weapon, scanning her arc as she advanced to the left of Trauma with Lilith and Riptide moving beyond to his right. Over to their left as they moved slowly up the main drive to the ranch, they could see the lights of the ranch house through the drifting smoke and Lilith could see fires on the western slope of the hilltop facing them. She could also hear the screams from ahead as she advanced. In the trees to their left, she heard the sound of crackling and she smelt meat cooking on an open fire.
"Shit!" Trauma commented as he peered down into what had once been a machinegun pit.
Lilith felt herself retching beneath her mask as she laid eyes on two crispy cadavers that had once been men. The stench was unbelievable and she felt very sick.
"Keep moving," Trauma advised, reading Lilith's body language.
The boy was no stranger to death, but such a sight, such as those dead men, was still very sobering and the sight brought back the realism behind what they were fighting for; w8646710 hat they were fighting to prevent.
Alpha Team (Mist, Venom, Bane, Paradox, and Domitor)
Death was in the trees, and the smell was debilitating to all.
Paradox and Mist moved into the trees, careful not to slip down the steep slope, their eyes searching for the interloper who had dared to shoot at them.
"I have him," Venom growled over the comms. "Fifteen yards south of Paradox."
Paradox turned his head and night-vision goggles onto where the man should be. He could make out Venom moving stealthily through the undergrowth, but then she suddenly launched herself forward like a leopard after its prey. The prey bolted, his M4 assault rifle spitting fire, but to no avail as Venom kicked the man to the ground and after a short scream was emitted, the man made no more noise, nor did he move again.
"Target down!" Venom reported coldly.
"Let's move it, people; we're behind schedule," Mist directed as she led Paradox out of the woods and the team moved towards the ranch house, their eyes scanning for trouble.
Above them, the clatter of rotor blades could be heard as their guardian angels patrolled around the hilltop.
The Ranch House
Anton Renke was no novice when it came to danger, but the unholy hell which had just dropped around the house had been interminable.
He had known, almost instantly, that they were up against a formidable organisation which could call upon such firepower. He had honestly thought that their defences had been well laid out – but they had been aimed at a ground assault, maybe with the support of helicopters, but the attack underway was simply insane. The man had no delusions that he was going to walk away unscathed from the attack, and it would be a true miracle if any of them survived the night. The man was hunkered down behind a large solid-wood unit in the kitchen which lay between him and the not-so-wonderful-now glass picture windows. His upper torso was swaddled in body armour and he carried an UZI nine-millimetre submachine gun which he held tight against his body as the explosions sent shockwaves around the property and glass exploded under the strain. There were yells and screams as their retained fighters were showered in glass. Ranke could smell the raw fear that some of his more unseasoned fighters were enduring as they all endured the unexpected bombardment.
However, Renke truly believed in what they were doing, so he grimly allowed the bombardment to go on all around him – not that he could have countered it in the slightest. The ground shook each time something really heavy impacted the hilltop and the resulting detonation was immense. Renke knew that their carefully laid defences were being picked off en masse by whatever aircraft was currently orbiting the area – and he had a fairly good idea what it was too. Across the room, Renke could make out the huddled form of Dieter Mannheim, and Renke's boss was not a happy man.
In fact, Dieter was decidedly pissed off and in fear of his son's life. Dieter could have feared for his own life, but he knew that his life had been forfeit for many a year and he had long come to terms with the possibility of dying and his own mortality. But his son's mortality was something very different, and the boy had to survive, as did his mother. Dieter knew that his wife could continue if he should die, and he knew that she could guide young Otto into manhood and beyond while also ensuring the continuation of the Panther Group. However, he would have to get his wife and his son off their hilltop refuge, somehow, leaving his men to die in the process – men were cheap and easily replaced, he knew. That was not strictly true, but money was not something he was not short of and was scattered around the world in dozens of untraceable bank accounts. Some of the accounts were known to his wife – some were not. Dieter was confident that if he died, his lawyer would pass onto his son all that was required for the boy to gain control of a shitload of cash and control of one of the foremost criminal organisations in the western United States of America.
For that moment to occur, he had to find the boy and his mother, and get them the hell out of hell.
..._...
Karri Mannheim had absolutely no intention of dying.
She was in the family room with her son, pushing him to the floor and pinning the terrified youth in place. She was worried that the boy would panic and run directly at the danger – not a good idea if she wanted her son to live a long and fruitful life. While her husband was apparently cowering in the kitchen, Karri decided that she would have to act alone if the boy was to survive the night – not trusting to her husband's delusions which had become paranoic at best. She pulled back the charging handle of the M4 assault carbine she held across her chest and she looked over at a brace of security monitors usually hidden by a sliding panel which was currently open. She could see explosions and fire all around the perimeter of the ranch – but she quickly noticed that nothing was landing anywhere near to the actual building. That, she knew, would give her a chance of escape, along with her son. Only, she wanted to ensure that those who wanted to hurt her family suffered first – badly.
"Otto – look at me!"
The boy slowly looked up at his mother, his terrified expression begging for the horror to end.
"We're going to get out of this, understand?"
The boy just looked blankly at his mother but Karri was in no mood for mollycoddling the boy – it was cruel, but he had to learn.
"Get your fucking act together, boy; you can fucking wet your pants later! We're going to get out of this, do you understand me?"
Otto simply nodded numbly as he got to his feet, partly yanked up by his mother. The boy cradled his Beretta 92F pistol in his hands, all the bravado he had felt earlier that day while assisting with the defences was long gone as the horrifying onslaught had scared him half to death. One minute, he had been enjoying a late dinner, the next minute, a massive explosion had shaken the ranch and Otto had dropped his food and dived off the couch where he had sat watching the television. Bright flashes from beyond the windows had heralded the detonation of ammunition and the deaths of men with whom he had chatted and joked just a few short hours previously. The boy had not been exposed to death before, and it was all an intense shock to the seventeen-year-old to experience his own mortality. He did not want to die; he wanted to experience life and what it had to offer.
The boy stood a little firmer for the first time and he nodded as his mother headed towards the northern end of the ranch house where the vehicles were located.
..._...
Karri moved decisively, ignoring all that went on around her.
She knew that while the bombardment was going on, no enemy forces would be on the ground nearby – else they would all be slaughtered. However, she knew that the bombardment would end so that the ground forces could move in to mop up. She would take advantage of that lull in proceedings to make her escape – at least that was the plan. She glared at her husband as she rushed through the kitchen – Dieter simply nodded at her as she passed with Otto in tow. As Karri approached the dining room, the aerial bombardment suddenly ceased and she paused. All the glazing to her left had been shattered and the two mercenaries in view did not appear all that happy with the situation as they picked themselves up from the floor and aimed their weapons out through the now-open windows into the looming and imposing darkness beyond. Karri could tell that the men were nervous and unnerved by the rude interruption to their ordered evening and that meant they would be distracted and not operating to their full potential.
Karri aimed her own weapon as she took the three steps in a single stride and she checked the terrace to her left and the foyer ahead of her. There was no way of knowing from where the next attack may come, however, in the deafening silence which had succeeded the deafening roar of exploding ordnance, she heard an approaching roar and then what could only be a large helicopter landing some distance north of the main house. That posed a problem as that was her intended escape route – at least the primary. Karri edged into the master suite, her carbine still raised to her shoulder and she carefully peered out the windows which, surprisingly, were still intact. As she watched, a surface-to-air missile rose into the air followed by bright explosions of light which she recognised as flares being triggered off by a low flying aircraft as it sought to avoid the inbound missile. She could also hear the thunderous roar of turbine engines and large rotor blades slashing at the air as an aircraft appeared to twist and turn before it then appeared to land to the south near the road. Annoyingly for Karri, there was no giant explosion as the missile appeared to miss the intended airborne target. The sharp crack of rifle fire could be heard from the north while little more than the crackling of fires could be heard from all around after two more helicopters swept in and there was a large explosion on the ground below the ranch house indicating the probable destruction of the larger of their two caches of anti-aircraft missiles.
Karri backtracked to the foyer and then through the living room and out onto the deck. Otto kept his own eyes peeled but he was appalled by the thick smoke which rose into the sky and blocked out the usually fascinating view into the Napa Valley, not to mention the stench. For the boy, the smell of barbecued human flesh was enough to have him retching. Karri made directly for the small gate at the far end of the deck and then down the stone steps which brought them out into the dark shadows beneath the master suite. There were the sounds of gunfire cracking out not too far away beyond the studio building over to her right. Then she saw some movement – several dark shapes in the darkness. The dark shapes were approaching the service vehicles parked just beyond the studio. The various trucks, vans, and pickups used by the workers for the winery and were currently parked up for the night. Those vehicles, and the route beyond was where they needed to go, so the attackers would have to be taken out. Karri waved at a trio of mercenaries who were taking cover down the far end of the studio building and they emerged from cover, their own assault carbines up and pointing northward.
Karri with Otto trailing, moved out of cover and they joined up with the three men. The larger group moved slowly towards the parked vehicles and the enemy interlopers. Beyond the studio and past a couple of small barns, an open stretch of barren hilltop separated trees to the right and vines to the left. The barren open area should have made it easier to make out the dark shadows closing on the northern end of the ranch house, only they appeared to blend into the darkness such was the quality of their camouflage. That meant that they could spring up at any time, so the mercenaries were waved forwards. Then a shape rose up out of the darkness and aimed a weapon at her son.
Without conscious thought, Karri brought the assault carbine around and she fired off a single aimed shot and she grinned as she saw someone fall to the ground.