The interior of the compound is a smattering of trees and landscaped bushes. The grass is neatly mown and clearly loved.
Four men are running toward us.
I switch my rifle to automatic and spray them with bullets, breaking their bodies to bloody shreds, black in the starlight. Grass glitters with their ruin. Finn runs on, hurrying over the corpses as more shouting comes from the house. The alarm’sraised but that’s no surprise, given the mess we’re making. Other shadows coalesce in the evening, groups of three and four, several of them pinned down by gunfire, others running in the same direction.
Everyone knows their job, they’re all prepared for what might happen, all of them know their families will be taken care of if they don’t come home, but for the first time in forever, I’m worried about them. My thoughts pull in a dozen different directions: young Geno with his new baby, the Sarcone brothers and their ailing older mother, wild and stupid Ginger Colin with his six sisters. What’ll happen once they’re gone? How much grief will ripple out from them, how much anger and rage, how much more death and blood?
Worthless thoughts in a firefight.
The sort of worries I never had before Regan. Now it’s like once I started making myself care, I can’t fucking stop it.
“Got to make this fast!” I shout over the clack and scream of bullets as we come to a staggering halt beside a low rock wall surrounding a pristine and beautiful pool. A man floats in the deep end, dark blood spreading around him in tendrils. “The longer we’re here, the higher the risk.”
Finn’s expression shines with excitement. He loves this almost as much as I used to. “What’s the plan then?”
I gesture toward a copse of decorative bushes. Inside, barely visible, are several tall tanks. “We blow those.”
His eyebrows raise before a grin slips over his face. “Devilish. I like it.”
“Can you make the shot?” I pull a grenade from my harness. Typically it’s not that deadly. We use them to clear tight spaces, like hallways or small rooms. Outdoors they’re barely more than firecrackers.
“Easily.” Finn unslings his rifle and sights it. He takes a steadying breath as more shots break out to our left. Six men pile from the back door, all of them wearing tactical gear. They move in a tight formation, clearly well trained and highly paid.
“Do it.”
Finn pulls the trigger twice. His gun bucks. I yank the pin and throw, the small grenade spinning in the air as it loops toward the tanks. I’m not sure if Finn’s shot hit, but I have to trust him.
Bullets rake across the wall, forcing us down. The six men from inside spotted us and are moving in our direction. I risk a glance up?—
As an explosion rips the night into pieces.
Fire screams into the sky. Light blinds me. Heat sears my face from thirty yards away. The concussion hurts my ears. I’m blinking, trying to shake myself back into control, when Finn comes up beside me shooting. I watch dimly as he mows down the six soldiers, only two of them still on their feet, the others knocked by the force of the blast. I have the awareness to help out, adding the strength of my gun, putting bullet to flesh and leaving corpses strewn beside the pool.
The house is on fire.
Half the structure is shattered. Seconds later, wood splinters rain down around us, pattering into the pool like hailstones. Anail gashes across my cheek, sharp and ugly, as I cover myself with my rifle and hunch down.
“Make it rain!” Finn says happily. “How are we looking?”
“If they weren’t sure we were coming, they sure as fuck are now.”
“You were right at least. Half the damn house soldiers are missing.”
“Only way we made it here.” I look grimly at the structure now once the debris stops dropping. “Pull the others back.”
“You think that’s good enough?”
“No, definitely not, but we can’t all go in there now. Place is burning.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Finish this.”
Finn grabs my arm roughly. “You can’t go in alone. Fire or not, we wait for everyone inside to rush out, and we kill them. Once it’s clear, we make sure the dossier burns with everything else.”
“If it doesn’t? And Baranov keeps it in a fireproof safe or some shit?” I shake free of him. “No other choice, Finn.”
“You’re not going in there alone.”
