Purgatory
Chapter 18 - Onslaught
Struggling to calm her mind and still her breath EJ moved to the far side of the kitchen and crouched down, Sig in hand, just inside the door and peered around the corner into the adjacent hallway. Although she could still hear voices coming from the front of the house no one seemed to be in this area. McGee's distraction had obviously done its job. Looking straight ahead the hallway entered into what must be the living room of the old house. To the right the hall led past several doors and to the immediate left was a set of stairs leading to the second floor.
Movement in the living room caught her attention as an armed man walked past the hallway entrance into that room. Ducking back behind the kitchen door she listened, waiting to see if the man had seen the flicker of her movement. After a moment, with no footsteps sounding in the hallway, she peaked around the corner again, finding nothing. Exhaling in relief she stood and slipped through the entrance, stealthily moving down the right hallway.
At the first door she stopped, pressed her ear against it and listened. Hearing nothing she tested the door knob - it turned freely. Bringing her pistol up she slowly and quietly opened the door and peaked inside. Checking behind the door and finding no one she relaxed just a little, taking in the contents of the room. It was large, perhaps an office or a den of some type. Closing the door softly behind her she surveyed the room more closely.
Four large folding tables filled the space strewn with papers and documents and maps of all kinds. There were several laptop computers setup - their screen savers flashing random images - as well as two printers and what looked like a satellite telephone base station.
She looked down at the several maps on the table closest to her. One was a standard road map and the other, a topographical map - both of the Kitsap Peninsula, including Bremerton, Bangor and the surrounding area. In several places the road map had been highlighted with a yellow marker and what looked like military times were scrawled along the major road leading from the South Puget Sound basin all the way through Bremerton, ending at the Bangor submarine base. She recognized the route - it was the same route planned for the transportation of nuclear warheads to Bangor tomorrow. McGee was right. Rathburn planned to target one of the trucks transporting a warhead.
Her breath caught as she realized it was less than 24 hours until the execution of his attack and that meant Gibbs was now a liability to Rathburn, not a potential information asset. If Gibbs was still alive his time was running dangerously short. She had to find him, now!
Bringing her focus back to her primary objective - finding and extracting Gibbs - she turned to leave the room. As she moved toward the door a large document on another table caught her eye. She quickly stepped over to examine it and found a technical schematic of what looked like a rocket. As she studied it further she realized it was a diagram of a TOW, ground-to-ground missile. McGee had been right again. The missile must have been stolen by Rathburn and logic dictated that he planned to use it to attack the warhead truck convey. A smirk of satisfaction crossed her face knowing she and her colleagues had thwarted another of Rathburn's terrorist attacks by rescheduling and rerouting the warheads. She shook her head, refocusing her attention. Right now, she needed to find Gibbs.
Turning back to the door EJ stepped forward and reached for the handle. Before she could grasp it the door knob turned by itself and the door opened inward. Standing directly in front of her was a large, dark-haired man with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder laying flat against his chest. For one instant they both froze in shock, eyes locked. In the next instant, all hell broke loose.
The man recovered from his surprise, stepped toward EJ and clutched at his rifle. She reached out and grabbed the rifle's sling strap, stepped backwards and to the side and pulled hard, leveraging his forward momentum as she stuck out a foot to trip him. Fighting to keep his balance the man let go of the rifle and staggered forward into the room, past EJ as she lost her grip on the sling. Although she put every ounce of strength in her effort the man was strong and recovered quickly, never falling. He turned toward her, hands gripping his rifle as he brought it up, preparing to fire. EJ brought her Sig up without thinking and snapped off two quick shots which found their intended mark - the center of the man's chest. He collapsed, dead on the spot.
Letting out a string of curses EJ moved back to the door and peaked around the edge into the hallway. It was empty, but she knew the shots would bring other armed assailants to her in short order. Abandoning caution she moved down the hallway back toward the kitchen, opening and checking each room as she went, her pistol ready. But each room was empty, no sign of Gibbs. Growling in frustration she slammed her fist into the hallway wall.
Crouching down EJ approached the hallway junction where, to her right was the entrance to the living room and to her left was the kitchen. Straight ahead, past the junction, the hallway was short and ended at the stairs leading upward. She needed to get to the second floor, needed to find Gibbs. With her presence known it was unlikely she would get out of this alive. But she had to know Gibbs's fate, whether he was alive or dead, it didn't matter now; she just had to know.
She could hear shouting outside the front of the house, voices coming closer. Peaking around the corner into the living room her eyes met those of another man as he sighted down the length of his pistol. Pulling away hard she fell back on her heels as several bullets ripped through the corner of the hallway she had just vacated. She regained her balance, her mind frantically searching for a plan of action. There was no other way out of this hallway and if she got pinned down here she wouldn't last long.
She snapped her head toward the left, her ears ringing as several shots were fired from the kitchen, followed by a heavy groan in the living room. For a split-second she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. The weapon fired from the kitchen sounded familiar, just like her agency issued, 40 caliber, Sig-Sauer. But that wasn't possible, unless ...
"EJ?!" it was McGee's voice shouting her name from the kitchen. For just an instant relief washed over her.
"McGee!" she called back.
"I've got you covered. Get in here. Stay low and to the left," he clipped out.
Following McGee's directions she peaked around the corner toward the living room. Finding no one in her line of sight she darted around the corner into the kitchen and joined McGee behind the island at the left side of the room.
Sliding down to the floor she caught his eyes and nodded, "Thanks, Tim."
McGee's expression was earnest as he nodded in return, then pulled his eyes back toward the living room, peering over the top of the counter from behind their island cover.
EJ sat catching her breath and considered their current situation. A soft chuckle left her throat and she shook her head.
"What is it?" McGee asked.
"Deja vu," she said. "This is almost exactly the same situation Gibbs and I were in a couple of months ago. We got stuck behind an island like this in a chemistry lab in a shot-out with some bad guys. It was one of Gibbs' PI cases."
"Oh, Yeah," McGee acknowledged. "Tony and Ziva told me about that."
"Except this time we've got plenty of ammo," she quipped.
"Maybe," he said. "But there's also a lot more guys with a lot more firepower."
"Boy, howdy!" EJ groaned in affirmation.
"Any sign of Gibbs?"
"No, nothing," she frowned. "I didn't have time to get upstairs."
Just then several short bursts of bullets ripped through the back door of the kitchen, splintering counter tops as they left a wake of destruction. Because the island was offset from the backdoor, their hiding spot was not in the line of fire.
McGee tipped his head toward the backdoor. Understanding his meaning EJ crawled over to the wall next to the door and slowly stood up to peak out its window. Luckily, in her current position, she couldn't be seen from the living room. Jerking her head to the window and then quickly back, she caught a glimpse of several men in the back of the house crouching down behind a makeshift barricade made of several bales of hay they had brought from somewhere.
"Two guys with AK's," she said.
"Crap," he huffed.
As she dropped down back behind the island shots rang out from the living room followed by bullets hitting the wall behind them at the end of the kitchen, sending puffs of sheetrock dust into the air. On cue more shots zipped into the kitchen through the back door, crashing into cabinets and sending splinters of wood onto the floor. The onslaught of shots continued from both directions, sending EJ and McGee prone to the floor.
EJ's breath came in short bursts, her gut churned and she felt panic begin to crowd out rationale thought. They had no recourse to the barrage of bullets, no way to fire back without breaking cover and getting cut down in the process. Their enemies could wait them out, sending random bursts into the kitchen hoping for a lucky shot. But more likely they would engage in a frontal attack, using their overwhelming force in men and guns to end the battle quickly.
Worst of all she had not found Gibbs. She had failed him, sealing his fate, if he was not already dead. That realization ripped her heart open, her grief pouring out. Tears welled in her eyes. This was it, they were going to die, right here, in the middle of no-where. 'Better to die quickly now,' she thought to herself, 'than slowly, a piece at a time, without Gibbs.'
Her head on the floor, she turned to look at McGee. She knew her fear showed in her face and she could see McGee's fear in his eyes. He reached over and grabbed her hand as bullets continued to fly into the room. She knew their aggressors would soon launch a full-scale attack on the kitchen. And a few seconds later both she and McGee would be dead.
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