29
Hoyt and Jaredlifted the rappelling guns to their shoulders and fired. A loud crack whipped through the night air and purple smoke drifted upward.
“Go.”
Hunter and Ranger grabbed the ropes and pulled. “Secure.”
Mack ascended, climbing barehanded, the rope burning his palms, but he didn’t feel it. He still couldn’t feel anything other than the burning need to exact revenge.
Jack Mankel’s death was so close, he could practically see the blood spilling out of his body, feel the warm stickiness on his fingers. Mack wasn’t leaving here today until that bastard was a corpse.
As Mack crested the wall, thick smoke wafted into his nostrils. He breathed in deep, savoring the smell of their concealment. “Clear.”
Mack jumped to the ground seven feet below and waited on his men to follow. Once he saw the first couple pop over the edge of the wall, Mack started moving forward, clearing a path.
He caught a slight movement to the left and turned to look around. Thud. The sound of a body hitting the ground, followed by a grunt. And then silence.
Mack kept moving, alert for any hint of a noise. It wouldn’t be just one guard patrolling the yard.
To say Jack Mankel was a paranoid bastard would be the understatement of the century. He had guards for his guards. And it was only a matter of seconds before they swarmed out of the compound.
“Mine,” Hunter said, and shot off a round. Another body hit the ground.
The team moved through thick smoke, completely relying on their hearing to guide them.
Mack sensed the presence of his men flanking him, spreading out to cover more ground as they pushed forward like an unstoppable force.
The large front door came into view: thick wood with black metal hinges. “Merc, it’s yours.”
The towering form of Merc stepped in front of him and kicked in the door, which splintered open with a loud bang. Gunfire erupted. Mack dove to the left, behind the cover of the wall.
The smoke had started to clear, but there was still enough of it to lower visibility. Mack was used to such conditions; the guards inside the compound would not be. He had to use every advantage available to them. “Moving.”
Staying low, he fired off two rounds into the doorway. The first one hit a guy dead center in the chest. The second one hit a guard on the right shoulder, sending him sprawling backward, but it didn’t knock him to the ground.
“Got it,” Merc said. He sprinted forward, pulling his knife free as he ran. The injured guard was dead within seconds. Merc wiped the blood off his blade before he sheathed the knife once more. “Clear.”
They breached the doorway, weapons braced and heads down, ready for anything. The entryway was small; the walls made of concrete cinder blocks, as ugly as a pig’s ass. Knowing that this place robbed Mankel of his preference for over-the-top luxuries gave Mack a small surge of satisfaction. The bastard had always pampered himself, but this place—this place was straight-up, basic training austere.
“Bet Mankel loves it here,” Mack grunted out.
Ranger heaved a laugh, knocked his rifle to his shoulder, and sidestepped into an open doorway on the left. “We’ve got them on the run.” He reemerged from the room he’d just cleared moments later, clutching a medieval battle ax. “Might not be Mankel’s taste, but I’m all kinds of digging this joint.”
“Shit, I’ve always wanted one of those,” Riser muttered.
“Let’s go.” There was a narrow stairway built against the right wall, and a path beside it just wide enough for them to file down it two at a time.
The air filled with the sound of footsteps pounding the halls overhead, rushing up from the back of the house. “Here they come.”
Mack barely had time to prepare before another round of gunfire broke out. The lights went out, and the hall went completely dark except for the sunlight filtering in from the open doorway behind them.
Mack fired off a round. He dove left, and then came up firing.
Bullets whizzed past his ears, clanged into the walls, and ricocheted off the concrete. The smell of gunfire burned his nostrils. Talk came slow and steady in his ears. Damn, he loved this.
He fired off another round and then called out the order to halt. Straight-up silence permeated the space.
“Merc.”
