“I’ll drive,” Jonathan said. “Raife, we’ll stop at your truck so we can have a secondary if we need it and you can grab your rifle. Whoever these terrs are, it’s time to kill them all.”
* * *
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Helpless and alone, Grey thought that after all the failures that made up his life, he should be used to it by now. His adrenaline high had crashed and morphed into a state of depression as the transponder on Reece’s vehicle raced away from the highway ambush site. Somehow, someway, he had escaped. No one was that vigilant, unless the team on the ground had made an unfathomable error or he had been warned.
Things went from bad to worse as he watched Reece’s vehicle travel back to the main house and then directly to a remote area where the second team had conducted their ambush. He called Dimitry’s phone; there was no answer. He then called Vitya, who couldn’t explain how Reece had evaded the ambush; everything had gone perfectly until that cowboy had pulled over and the target vehicle had reversed course and drove away. His team had stolen the cowboy’s truck and were now heading to the ranch to finish the job. Grey didn’t need to ask what happened to the cowboy. Without a doubt he was dead.
Even though the first attempt had failed, the mission was far from over. There were still two hit teams on the ranch. Their targets were outmanned and outgunned. Barring some miracle, James Reece and Raife Hastings would soon be in the ground.
CHAPTER 44
Kumba Ranch, Flathead Valley, Montana
DEFENDING THE HOMESTEAD WAS something that was bred into Caroline Hastings’s very being. As a child of Rhodesia, she’d watched her mother chase lions off the family farm while her father was away. Later, during the long and bloody Bush War, it was she who had defended the family’s lowveld ranch while her husband was at war. On the Dark Continent, self-reliance meant survival, and as a woman of both the African frontier and American West, Caroline was no stranger to the way of the gun.
The home’s spacious vault was built from thick concrete reinforced with yards of steel rebar and would withstand anything short of an air strike. Caroline marched her fire team directly to the gun room. With military precision born of practical necessity she handed Thorn an AR-15 with iron sights, knowing that he would be familiar with it from his days as a marine in Vietnam. It was essentially the same weapon as his old M16A1.
“Keep your deer rifle with you. We are going to high ground to keep them off. Once they get in close or into the interior, drop it and go with the AR. Here are your extra mags,” she said, handing him an old LBE belt and harness filled with loaded 5.56 magazines.
“This brings back memories,” he said. “Just like we had in Nam.”
“Liz, take this,” she said, handing her a scoped AR and three magazines. With a proficiency instilled by her military training, Liz pulled back the charging handle and pressed the bolt catch. A quick glance confirmed it was unloaded so the former Army Aviator inserted a magazine and released the bolt catch, slamming a 5.56mm round into the breech.
“Annika,” Caroline commanded. “You take downstairs. Hold on that front door. Use the hearth for cover. That thing will stop an artillery round. Stay down and only fire if they make it to the house.” Annika was already pulling the Benelli M1 Super 90 from the rack and shouldering a bandoleer of shotgun rounds. “Take my body armor,” her mother-in-law continued. “I know yours is in your house.”
“You sure, Mom?” Annika asked.
“Protect that child,” the Hastings matriarch ordered. “But if you die this day, die bravely.”
Who is this family? Katie wondered as she watched the scene unfold. These people were prepared for war.
“Katie.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Katie answered quickly.
“Can you shoot, dear?”
“I’ve shot a Glock a few times at the range, but that’s it.”
“Then take this,” Caroline said, pulling an AR with an Aimpoint optic off the wall and performing a press check. “It’s loaded and this is the safety. Just flip it, like so, and pull the trigger. You have twenty-eight rounds in the magazine. Liz, take Katie to your guest room at the end of the hall. You are our rear security on the lower level. Tuck inside the bathroom. These walls are stone and thick wood. Use that to your advantage. If we