the man outside heard the almost inaudible click of the safety moving to the “fire” position.
Less than ten minutes had passed but she still struggled to remember what Caroline had told her: put the stock in your shoulder, aim this red dot at whoever tries to come across the back garden, and shoot them until they go down.
Katie pulled the stock into her shoulder. Her eye found the red dot of the optic.
Where did he go?
Her eyes traveled back to the pillar.
He was kneeling, part of his body concealed by the round support. The AK was pointed directly at her. Before she could press the trigger, the glass door exploded.
CHAPTER 46
CRESTING A RISE, THEY could hear shooting. Jonathan pinned the accelerator to the floor.
“We are coming in on the X,” he called out. “No time for anything fancy. They could already be in the house.”
Tactically, Reece wanted to take the high ground and flank, but this was an in-extremis situation. Katie and the others could already be dead or dying.
It was time to kill.
A blue F-250 sat at an awkward angle in front of the house, three of its four doors open. Two men here behind nearby trees, firing sporadically at the home. They were completely unaware of the approaching vehicles to their rear. Jonathan slammed Reece’s Land Cruiser to a stop and bailed out, sprinting forward with his FAL at the ready. Knowing that vehicles quickly turned into bullet sponges in combat, Reece opened the passenger door and instinctively took up a solid position at the base of a large rock. Raife skidded his Defender to a stop behind them, and, armed with his truck rifle, a SIG SG 553 carbine, raced after his father.
Reece found a target, dropping him with a solid head shot. Jonathan fired as he moved, ten rounds from the FAL tearing through a man at the base of a tree. Raife had reached the truck within seconds, clearing it and putting rounds into a man in the backseat and another in the driver’s seat.
The three sprinted toward the house. Reece’s head swiveled up and around to take in the surrounding area, looking at positions on the high ground.
Stacking on the front door, the three prepared to make entry. Visions of Reece’s wife and daughter riddled with bullets dying in a pool of blood on the floor of their home flashed through his thoughts. Jonathan’s voice brought Reece back to the present.
“Caroline!” the former Selous Scout yelled. “Annika!”
“We’re here, Dad!” his daughter called back.
“Three coming in!” Jonathan shouted.
Zulu charged through the breach and went straight for Annika, taking up a protective position at her left side.
“You okay, baby girl?” Jonathan asked, kneeling next to her.
“I’m fine, Dad. Mom is upstairs with Thorn. Katie and Liz are down the hall in the guest bedroom. I just heard shooting down there.”
Reece sprinted down the hall without waiting for more.
“Katie? Katie?”
Nothing.
“Katie!”
“I’m here, James,” Katie said.
She sat on the bed. Liz was next to her. Glass was strewn across the back entry where the door had once been.
“Are you okay? Stand up,” he said, pulling her to her feet and looking her up and down for injuries. “You’re not hit, are you?”
“No. I’m okay.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Liz interjected sarcastically. “I’m just fine.”
“Sorry, Liz. Is everyone else okay?”
“I think so. Well, not this guy,” she said pointing her rifle toward a man on the patio.
There was no need for a security round as half his head was missing.
“Liz?”
“He almost got the drop on us. Katie here did a fabulous job.”
“Did you…?” Reece asked.
“No,” Katie answered. “As I brought my rifle up, he fired and the whole room seemed to explode. I fell back into the bathroom. I guess he was a bad shot, or I was lucky. Maybe both. Next thing I know Liz is standing over me.”
“It was just like Iraq, Reece. It’s been a while but my self-preservation instincts are still strong.”
“Thank you, Liz.”
“James, I was so worried about you,” Katie said. He could feel her body shake as they embraced.
“Come on. Let’s go check on the others.”
Annika was in a chair at the kitchen table, and Jonathan was coming down the stairs with his wife as Reece, Katie, and Liz entered the main room.
“Where’s Thorn?” Reece asked immediately.
“He’s upstairs keeping an eye on things, just in case. We’re not sure that was all of them.”
“Reece, you’re hurt!” Katie exclaimed as they emerged into the lighter portion of the home and she spotted the bloody tear on