Instinct: A Chess Team Adventure - By Jeremy Robinson Page 0,128
Along the way he wondered if the shock wave from all that C4 would be enough to crack the crystals high above. Would they crash down on them all? Would the deluge unleashed from the massive subcity fishpond wipe away the city? He didn’t know. But he did know the chaos would become his ally.
He hit the courtyard floor at a run, readying his AK-47.
A second burst of gunfire lit up the balustrades before him. Queen was firing warning shots, letting the VPLA know that the first man to enter would be the first man to die. The gate created a convenient bottleneck for them.
He reached the balustrades and crouched next to Queen, who no longer lay in her original position. Neither was Sara. She’d moved farther to the left.
Queen had changed positions twice, once after each burst of gunfire. First to make it appear they had a larger force defending the temple, but also to misdirect the aim of the man peeking in, who no doubt would soon lob a grenade in their direction.
King took aim at the gate. “Situation?”
“They’re peeking and I’m trying to convince them to stop,” Queen said, looking over the sight of her AK-47. “All set?”
“I just rigged the temple behind us.” King showed her the detonator. “It’s going to be a fast, wet ride out of here.”
Queen fired a burst as a man poked his head around the gate. Stone and sparks flew as the three rounds just missed the man’s head. King and Queen stood together and ran toward Sara. They stopped halfway there and took aim again. She motioned to Sara, who looked nervous, but kept her aim and concentration on the gate. “What about her?”
King looked at Sara, soaking wet and grimacing, yet somehow still beautiful. For a moment, he wasn’t sure what Queen was asking him. Was this mission related, or about the fact that Queen had been reading him like an open book since he’d first seen Sara? “What about her?”
“How is she holding up?”
King tried to hide his relief, but was sure Queen would see through that charade as well. “She’s a natural.”
“You sure about that?”
A three-round burst rang out behind him. A man shouted from behind the gate. Had he been hit? He looked back and saw Sara jump to her feet and move toward them, her aim never veering from the gate as she weaved in and out of the double set of balustrades. King smiled. She was a natural.
Queen slapped King on the shoulder as she stood up. “I’ll be damned.”
The group rejoined each other at the center of the balustrades.
“What’s the plan?” Sara asked.
“Move!” King shouted as the sound of multiple grenades clacking against stone filled the space between the balustrades and the gate. King yanked Sara up and the three of them ran back into the courtyard. The balustrades shattered and launched into the air as five separate grenades detonated at once. The tactic, similar to that of the Chess Team when facing the initial VPA regular army attack, was slightly smaller in scope yet no less effective as it eradicated the balustrades and created a shock wave that sent King, Queen, and Sara toppling to the hard courtyard floor.
King scrambled to his feet and ducked behind a raised garden at the back end of the courtyard. It held beds of red and yellow flowers and four palm trees. The position was defensible yet only twenty feet from the explosive-laden staircase. Far too close to attempt what he had planned.
Queen and Sara took cover behind an identical garden on the opposite side of the courtyard. Sara kneeled behind a palm tree and took aim. Queen lay flat behind the garden’s foot-high stone wall and took aim around the corner. They were like a pair of cats, bouncing back, ready to fight. And just in time, too.
Through the gate to the courtyard, a wall of debris marked the location where the balustrades had been. Seven soldiers bounded over the wall, weapons up and firing. Bullets pinged all around the courtyard as the VPLA men laid down suppressing fire and took up positions behind the raised gardens at the front of the courtyard.
King leaned out from behind the garden wall and fired four separate three-round bursts at two locations. The first six rounds ripped into the side of a palm tree. The second six rounds found only stone, exploding sparks into the air. Finding targets in the dim light would be a challenge since the