“Diciasette – Rosolini’s headed your way. A black Mercedes sedan. Intercept the car and kill everyone inside.”
I was right:
Romeo would make a fine second-in-command.
125
Rachel
Outside The Mansion
As my head poked through the vines on the ground, I took stock of my surroundings.
The western wing of the mansion lay 200 feet behind me. Huge plumes of black smoke boiled up into the air. Flames roared out of shattered windows. Entire sections of the stone façade had collapsed.
But the most important thing was the five helicopters hovering in the air above the mansion.
They were Bell 412s – civilian versions of the American Huey helicopters used in the Vietnam War.
Government agencies and corporations used Bell 412s for search and rescue, transport, even power line maintenance.
It made sense. Whoever these assholes were, they’d come in civilian copters because they didn’t want to draw the attention of the Italian military. They could fly Bell 412s anywhere in the country without raising eyebrows.
The most recognizable feature of Bell 412s was the removable side doors. Back in Vietnam, the open bays had allowed for door gunners with machine guns.
These helicopters weren’t equipped with weapons –
But the men inside were.
Even at a distance, I could make out the black fatigues, combat helmets, and submachine guns.
Mercenaries, most likely. Definitely not Italian, UK, or American soldiers.
I watched as one of them braced a two-foot-long cylinder on top of his shoulder.
A second later, a projectile shot out, trailing a plume of smoke –
And a section of the mansion’s stone façade exploded.
SHIT –
They’re using LAW rocket launchers.
LAW stood for Light Anti-armor Weapon. The most common was the M72, a portable, single-use, 66mm disposable rocket system used since the 1960s. They were used to blow up everything from tanks to bunkers –
And 600-year-old mansions.
M72s were light-weight, easy to use, effective in combat, and extremely cheap for what they could do.
$2000 per shot for something that could disable a $24 million tank? An absolute bargain.
You had to aim LAWs manually, so they weren’t incredibly accurate from long distances –
But these helicopters were all within 300 feet of their target, and the shooters were aiming at a building 800 feet wide. They couldn’t miss.
The mansion was a lost cause –
But I figured these guys were here for a ground assault. They were just softening up resistance before they moved in.
