In the cover of night, a small platoon of soldiers from the 1st Legion Tercio regiment surrounded the building where Johnny Guvera was known to be staying in. They had been told to expect the enemy to have some light support. But 'light support' was an understatement for the three Assassins currently living with him.
Gautier Tashfin, the Berber mercenary, was on guard on the rooftop when he spotted the soldiers getting into position. Silently he returned into the building and informed the rest of what was going on.
"How are we going to stop them?" George asked.
Darko suggested, "I imagine these men as trained killers who know where are the strategic positions in this building. Naturally they'll head for these positions first. How about we hide ourselves in places considered 'non-strategic' to them, and take them out silently?"
"Cunning, I like it," Gautier said.
Johnny agreed. "Quick, let's get into position. It won't be long before those guys come charging in."
Entering the building, the squad of soldiers fanned out, splitting up into smaller groups of three to search. Darko, who was hiding behind a desk in a study, was the first to encounter the soldiers.
Firing a Phantom Blade at the furthest soldier, Darko hopped over the desk and thrust his Hidden Blade into the second soldier's chest. The third soldier, raising his rifle, never got a chance to fire as Darko snatched his rifle and stabbed him with its bayonet.
Gautier Tashfin was the next to encounter the soldiers. Two three-man squads entered the basement, where Gautier was lying in wait. He had somehow managed to perch himself upside down above the doorway. Landing silently on the floor, Gautier released both his Hidden Blades and charged at the six soldiers, whose backs were all facing him.
Stabbing two soldiers in the back at the same time, Gautier quickly forced his Hidden Blades out before slashing another two soldiers. The last two soldiers swung around and raised their rifles instinctively, but Gautier merely danced around to their exposed backs and killed them.
"That was exhilarating," Gautier muttered to no one in particular. "It's been a while since I've had this much fun."
George, despite being non-combat fit, was proficient with a blowpipe. It was a small but handy tool which had saved George more times than he could count.
When the three-man squad burst into the bedroom, they were surprised to find a lone American standing there. There seemed to be blood all over his clothes, and he had some kind of small tube in his mouth.
"Are you alright, sir?" one of the three soldiers asked. "There's blood all over you."
Firing a berserk dart into the soldier that had asked the question, George replied, "I'm fine, but you're not. By the way, it's not blood, but tomato ketchup on my clothes."
Simultaneously, the soldier lost his mind and began attacking his comrades. George watched as the crazed soldier killed his comrades, before he himself died once the effects of the dart wore off.
The last two three-man squads converged on the main bedroom in the building, where Johnny Guvera was supposed to be sleeping in. They were not disappointed, as Johnny appeared to be sleeping soundly in bed, hugging what seemed to be a bolster.
"Put your hands up!" a soldier demanded.
In the blink of an eye Johnny got up and grabbed the 'bolster', which was actually his Browning Auto-5, and shot dead all but one of the soldiers.
"Put your hands up," Johnny said mockingly as he reloaded his shotgun lazily.
The soldier had no choice but to comply. Dropping his rifle, the soldier knelt on the floor with his hands in the air. Soon the other Assassins entered the room.
"This isn't good," Johnny informed them. "This soldier here claims that there are reinforcements outside, ready to ambush any of us if we manage to get out."
All of them glanced at the soldier, who was bleeding and a good portion of his skin was bright red. "What do we do now?" George queried.
Gautier suggested, "Disguise ourselves as the soldiers and get out of here. But we need to do it quickly, before the snipers outside get suspicious."
Knocking the last soldier unconscious, his uniform was stripped and donned on by Darko. The others took from other soldiers whose uniforms were not as blood-stained or had no blood on it at all.
Minutes later, four soldiers walked out the front of the building, clutching their rifles. By then the backup soldiers had abandoned their ambush positions and were surrounding the house.
"What took you so long? And where are the others?" a sniper asked.
Darko shook his head. "It was very bad. Johnny had some friends with him, and they quietly took us out one-by-one. By the time we realised it we were the only ones left. We barely escaped with our lives."
"Were any of the targets killed?"
George, who was pretending to be wounded in the abdomen, nodded. "I managed to kill one of them in the building. Russian by the looks of it, with some strange-looking blade on him."
The sniper's eyes widened at hearing George's words. "If that is who I think you've killed, I believe you've earned yourself a big promotion. I'll go in personally and investigate. But at the moment you should recuperate. It seems that you were shot in the stomach."
"A couple of minutes with the medic should be all it takes," George said.
Summoning a small group of soldiers, the sniper, who seemed to be quite senior, rushed into the building with them. Meanwhile, the four Assassins left the scene unmolested due to their uniforms.