the doorway, then hopped into the V-100 and hauled the heavy hatch shut. ‘I’ll drive,’ he said, making his way to the front. He couldn’t help noticing that the armoured car had an extremely vulnerable spot; part of its roof was completely open so that a gunner could stand on a step to operate the machine gun. A grenade tossed into the parapet would kill them all.
He would have to make sure nobody got close enough to throw one. ‘Hold tight!’ he warned as he dropped into the driver’s seat. He had driven similar armoured vehicles in the past; the controls would be heavy, but once it got moving it would be almost impossible for anyone – or anything – to stop it.
The engine was already running. He put it into gear and stepped on the gas.
The Commando’s acceleration wouldn’t break any records, the vehicle weighing over nine tons. Eddie swung it towards the gate, peering through the narrow slot of toughened glass that acted as a windscreen. The men ahead had regrouped, taking up positions behind the Tiunas.
Rifles ready. Flames blossomed ahead as they opened fire.
Nina shrieked and ducked as bullets clanged off the V-100’s sloping front and ricocheted into the night. More impacts struck the APC’s rear as soldiers poured out of the mansion and joined the attack. The noise was like being trapped in a steel drum during a hailstorm.
Despite this, Eddie almost laughed. ‘Takes more than an AK to get through this much armour.’
Kit looked through one of the small rear windows as the V-100 picked up speed. ‘I think they have something more!’
Stikes’s mercenaries emerged from the Clubhouse, pushing the soldiers aside. Their M4s were, if anything, less powerful than the Venezuelans’ AK-103s – but the M203 grenade launchers beneath their barrels were another matter entirely.
Eddie couldn’t see what was happening to the rear, the V-100 lacking mirrors, but from Kit’s alarm he could make an educated guess. Foot pressed hard on the accelerator, he spun the wheel back and forth. More shots grazed the APC’s flanks as it swung from side to side. The armour might be able to withstand a grenade impact, the hull angled to deflect incoming fire away - but he was more worried about the wheels. They could still run on the reinforced tyres even if they were punctured by bullets, but a grenade explosion would destroy them.
Kit dropped flat. ‘Incoming!’
Eddie hunched down, Nina and Suarez shielding their heads as an M203 round hit the back of the armoured car – and spun away to explode on the lawn. The hull had done its job.
But they might not get lucky a second time. Eddie yanked the wheel hard over, the Tiunas looming—
Another grenade hit, this time solidly. The explosion rocked the vehicle, shockwaves through the metal causing scabs of paint to spit across the cabin like razor-sharp splinters. Kit cried out as one sliced the back of his head, another catching Suarez’s hand. The V-100 rang like a gong.
But it was now too close to the soldiers ahead for the mercenaries to risk firing any more grenades. Eddie raised his head as more bullets banged off the forward armour – then the firing ceased as the Venezuelans realised he wasn’t stopping and bolted. ‘Hang on!’
The APC was barely doing thirty miles an hour, but with nine tons of weight behind it even the bulky Tiuna might as well have been a matchbox. The V-100’s prow bowled the Jeep on to its roof before the armoured vehicle crushed it beneath its huge wheels. The Commando’s occupants were thrown about the cabin, Eddie clinging to the steering wheel.
The gate was right ahead—
If the Tiuna had been a matchbox, the gate was made from toothpicks, bursting apart as the V-100 ploughed through it. Eddie brought the vehicle into a hard turn.
Lights flashed in a driveway, and Mac’s rented Fiat came into view. Eddie braked to meet it. ‘Open the side hatch, quick! It’s Mac and Macy – let ’em in!’ He hopped from the seat as Nina and Kit levered the hatch open. ‘Get in here!’
‘No, you get in here!’ Mac yelled back at him.
Holding his bleeding hand, Suarez looked through the rear window – and saw the second Tiuna peel out of the ruined gate. ‘Vienen!’
‘Shit!’ Nina yelped, glimpsing the approaching 4×4. ‘If that means “they’re coming”, then yeah, they’re coming!’
‘Get fucking in here, now!’ Eddie roared, before jumping back into his seat.
By now, both the Fiat’s occupants had seen the Tiuna