Blackout - By Tom Barber Page 0,81

were forced to scatter for cover, ducking into holding and interrogation cells as automatic gunfire suddenly erupted down the corridor from the far end, the silhouettes of three men lit up in the smoke and streetlights, muzzle flashes of automatic weapons lighting up the smoky darkness. Moving out into the corridor from the viewing room of the interrogation cell, his MP5 in his hands, Chalky crouched low and tried to take a closer look at who was coming.

Three men, dressed in black fatigues, and they each had a Kalashnikov rifle in their hands.

Chalky and Fox started to fire back, but the three men had the corridor and they unloaded with the AK-47s, pinning the team further and further back, the air filled with the brutal flash and echo of automatic gunfire, bullets tearing into the corridors and smashing windows. Chalky and Fox were forced to retreat, bullets smashing into the walls and glass panels on doors.

Back inside the interrogation room, Archer turned in the darkness to try and locate Wulf.

He heard the sudden scrape of a chair as the man moved and then something smashed into the back of his head.

As Bird and Bug kept the rate of fire up in the corridor, Spider pushed open the door and moved inside. Wulf was in there, standing over an unconscious Archer. The man raised his weapon at the officer's head, but Wulf shouted No in Albanian. Cobb, he mouthed afterwards, tapping his temple. He turned, laying his hands on the table behind him, and his lieutenant pulled a knife and cut through the plasti-cuffs.

'This way,' he shouted, over the gunfire in the corridor.

Wulf nodded, but on his way grabbed Archer, dragging the unconscious man with him by the collar. They moved back out into the corridor, moving fast towards the exit. A young woman with dark hair and glasses was cowering by the stairs. Spider hit her in the face hard with the butt of his rifle, knocking her out instantly, he grabbed her and dragged her with them too as she started to fall to the ground.

Down the far end of the corridor, the ARU were returning fire but hadn't put any of the Panthers down. Chalky risked a glance and saw the man called Wulf rushing towards the exit with another soldier, as the two other Panthers kept up their fire to pin the ARU officers back.

He saw Wulf was dragging someone behind him, a limp figure.

Archer.

'They've got Arch!' he shouted.

Turning, he ran across the corridor and up a flight of stairs into the ops room, bullets shredding into the wall, just missing him.

Upstairs, the tech team were all huddled in Cobb's office behind the safety glass again, but Chalky ignored them, sprinting over to the smashed windows from the gunfight earlier in the day. He ripped the brown paper covering the holes out of the way and started firing down on the soldiers who were at their vehicle, a white van. The men dove for cover as Chalky's bullets hit the car, smashing the windows and the brake lights. The other two soldiers started returning fire as they ran to the vehicle and Chalky was forced to take cover.

Looking back down, he saw them pile into the van, pulling the doors shut, and he ran for the stairs, sprinting down them and running through the front door into the parking lot as the Panthers sped off towards the exit. He paused, lifting his MP5 and firing on full auto at the van, blowing out one of the tyres and smashing the rear brake lights. Once the sub-machine gun clicked dry, he dropped the weapon and pulled the Glock and sprinted after them, racing across the parking lot as fast as he could.

The van screeched out into the street, turning a sliding right, and Chalky ran through the exit and turned, sprinting after them down the road. One of the soldiers fired back, hitting a car beside Chalky, but the car gained speed and started to pull away. No matter how fast Chalky sprinted, he was losing ground. In desperation, he continued to chase after it but the driver put his foot down and the van sped off into the night.

Chalky staggered to a halt, completely out of breath, desperate and scared, knowing Nikki and Archer were in the van with the four soldiers. He looked down the road but all he saw were streetlights. They were gone.

He turned and kicked a parked car in frustration.

'Shit!'

Back inside the building,