Right to Kill

  Exactly like LG’s attackers, the man wore digital camo and body armor, but armed with a menacing Mac-10 instead of a TASER.

  Radio traffic between Delta Lead and Harv buzzed in his ear.

  “The elevator’s on the move.”

  “Copy, Delta Lead,” Harv said. “Kilo Three, stay here and cover the exit corridor. I’m relocating to a position closer to the elevator.”

  In his mind, he saw Harv weaving between the cars, heading for the elevator.

  Delta Lead’s voice cut in. “Kilo Three. That gunman’s five seconds from reaching the glass along Olympic.”

  Nathan took slow, shallow breaths, calming his mind.

  It was all about timing. Perfect timing, he silently added.

  The door retracted again. Knowing the obstruction caused some puzzlement, he moved his foot back six inches.

  When the door struck his foot a third time, he started a mental countdown.

  The gunman’s expression changed to irritation and Nathan knew what was coming.

  Like a snake moving down a gopher hole, a hand extended through the opening.

  Three.

  The hand swept up and down on the wall—

  Two.

  And stopped at the switch.

  One.

  Putting his full weight behind the move, he shouldered the door shut and felt bone snap.

  A howl of pain erupted, but Nathan kept the man’s arm pinned. “Kilo Three, shoot through the door. Now!”

  Nathan yanked the door open, kicked his assailant into the corridor, and thrust himself backward.

  The showroom door erupted in a horizontal hail of splinters.

  Several of LG’s rounds pounded the gunman’s vest before he fell against the wall. The man grunted and tried to bring his Mac-10 to bear on the bathroom, but one of LG’s rounds struck the outside of his shoulder, missing the ballistic vest.

  Fountains of light now gushed through the perforated showroom door and Nathan could see the man still trying to bring his weapon up.

  Staying within the safety of the bathroom, he painted the gunman’s face with his laser and fired.

  A green hole replaced the green dot.

  “Kilo Three, cease fire, cease fire!”

  Any of LG’s bullets that hadn’t struck the first gunman had forced the second gunman to duck for cover.

  When the barrage ended, he pivoted into the corridor in a crouch, lined up on the remaining man, who sat on the floor applying pressure to a leg wound. With his free hand, the man tried to bring his weapon up. Nathan drilled him in the forehead.

  It wasn’t pretty.

  The guy began convulsing, then fell over and continued to jerk around like a tortured earthworm. Not all head shots resulted in a quick death. He’d seen this before.

  Nathan ended it with a bullet under the man’s chin.

  Three rounds fired, thirteen left in the magazine.

  He couldn’t afford to feel badly right now. Them or us, he reminded himself.

  After advancing to the door, which was propped open with a spare Mac-10 magazine, he flattened himself against the wall. Whoever remained out there had to know what was going on. Several of LG’s rounds had struck the exit door but hadn’t passed through.

  Delta Lead said, “The two gunmen in the alley are moving toward the door.”

  Before Nathan could click his radio, Harv said, “Kilo Three, incoming!”

  Harvey heard Nate’s order for LG to shoot through the showroom door and knew it would draw the attention of the gunman along Olympic Boulevard. It put LG at risk, but she’d deliver the suppression fire with no questions asked. Thankfully, Nate didn’t need a prolonged salvo. He called for an immediate cease-fire and LG’s pistol went silent.

  Sure enough, as soon as she opened fire, the gunman on Olympic did the same thing.

  “Kilo Three, incoming!”

  The guy discharged his suppressed weapon through the glass, sweeping it back and forth like a firefighter.

  The result was chaotic.

  Like a crystalline waterfall, a downpour of glass fell into the showroom.

  Windshields shattered, sheet metal tore, and tires flattened.

  Some of the slugs skipped off the granite floor and slammed into the offices on the far side of the room.

  Harvey slid sideways to get behind the rear tire of a Jaguar. “Kilo Three, suppression fire on Olympic!”

  He listened to LG’s shots change tone as she fired toward the shooter. The barrage from the street ended. Either she’d scored a hit or the gunman was changing magazines.

  He had his answer.

  Another salvo tore through the room and the mayhem began anew.

  The sound was surreal.

  The suppressed Mac-10 couldn’t be heard over the banging, clanging, and breaking glass, but it looked like invisible demons were unleashing Hell’s wrath upon the vehicles.

  He broke the side window of an Aston Martin and lined up on the elevator. It took all the control he had to keep his attention focused away from the shooter on Olympic, but he couldn’t allow anyone to flank them along the rear wall of the showroom.

  The elevator doors opened.

  Nothing happened.

  No one came out.

  Someone could be hiding in there, so he maintained his position.

  A bullet whizzed past his feet to the right. Shit!

  “Kilo Three, status?” he whispered.

  “He keeps ducking behind the corner. I can’t get a clear shot.”

  “Keep firing.”

  “Kilo team, the other gunman just turned onto Stewart Street. He’ll be in a position to shoot into the showroom near the main entrance in five seconds.”

  Harvey copied the transmission.

  The second barrage from LG’s gunman went silent.

  Delta Lead said, “Good shooting, Kilo Three. You winged him. He’s limping back to the east alley.”

  The stairwell door next to the elevator burst open and three men carrying pistols fanned out in different directions. Unless they’d changed clothes, these weren’t the men who’d entered the building with briefcases. These guys were dressed exactly like the mercenaries who’d attacked LG a few hours ago.

  Harvey reported the new threat to everyone and lined up on the first gunman. He scored a head shot, but the other two hit the deck and disappeared below the cars. He moved to his right a few feet.

  Good thing he did.

  Both gunmen opened fire.

  Several slugs careened off the floor where he’d just stood.

  “Kilo team, we recommend you shoot the overheads and switch to night vision.”

  He wasted no time taking out the overhead spots. Harvey concentrated on his half of the showroom while LG broke the others. Within six seconds, they’d engulfed themselves in darkness.

  Advantage good guys.

  “Switching to NV,” Harvey whispered. “I’m moving toward the rear wall. Kilo Three, maintain eyes on the exit corridor. Be prepared to give Kilo One more cover fire. Delta Lead, what’re the gunmen in the east alley doing?”

  Nathan didn’t like the delay in action and needed an update.

  Harv came through again. After giving instructions to LG, Harv asked about the gunmen in the alley.

  “They’re standing on either side of the door.”

  Nathan didn’t know if their Mac-10s were 9mm or 45ACP, but he was fairly certain the bullets wouldn’t penetrate this steel-clad door. If they did, they wouldn’t have much energy left. At least he hoped not.

  “Kilo One, the man Kilo Three wounded just limped into the east alley. One of your gunmen is running over to him. Now would be a good time to slam open the door and catch the remaining gunman on the right side.”

  Without answering Delta Lead’s transmission, he stepped back and kicked the door with all his strength.

  The door accelerated around its radius and hammered the gunman. Needing eyes on the two remaining threats, Nathan peered around the jamb toward Olym
pic.

  Caught in the open, the gunman running toward his wounded comrade stopped, focused on the exit door, then made the decision to abandon his humanitarian mission. He ran past his wounded comrade toward the mouth of the alley at Olympic.

  So much for loyalty, thought Nathan.

  The guy was savvy enough to weave back and forth, creating a difficult target.

  Nathan used the door’s frame to steady his aim. Not wanting to risk a head shot, he painted his laser on the gunman’s back, adjusted it slightly lower, and fired three shots just below the guy’s ballistic vest.

  Ten rounds left.

  The man shuddered from being struck at least once, but managed to stay on his feet. Limping as fast as he could, the gunman continued his retreat toward Olympic.

  Nathan checked the gunman who’d taken the impact from the door and saw the guy on his hands and knees—his Mac-10 a few feet away. Blood flowing from his nose, he looked up with a resigned expression. Even though this man wouldn’t have shown Nathan the same mercy, he made a split-second decision to spare him from the underworld, though he might need a cane for the rest of life. Nathan shot both of the guy’s shins, stepped into the alley, and kicked his weapon under the parked SUVs.

  Although hobbled, the man LG had wounded brought his Mac-10 to bear. Nathan darted back into the exit corridor just as the guy fired. The subsonic bullets missed him, but the man he’d spared wasn’t as fortunate. Multiple slugs pounded him. It wasn’t pretty and he averted his eyes.

  When the salvo ended, Nathan peered around the corner and saw the shooter frantically attempting to change magazines. He again used the jamb to steady his aim and drilled the gunman’s face. Nathan lined up again on the guy limping toward Olympic. He couldn’t allow him to reach the mouth of the alley and disappear.

  Nathan aimed at the man’s butt and fired three quick, but controlled rounds.

  The projectiles found their mark.

  The gunman tumbled.

  With only four rounds left in the magazine, he took a few seconds to reload. His shot count jumped back up to sixteen rounds. One in the pipe, fifteen in the mag.

  Nathan looked at the man he’d hammered with the door. Moaning in agony, the guy was a bloody mess. Half of his face was shredded and his neck spurted from a torn artery. He’d be dead soon. In an act of mercy, Nathan shot him through the temple.

  “Kilo One, incoming!”

  He took a backward step into the exit corridor as another salvo of bullets shrieked and howled down the alley.

  The faceless man shuddered as more slugs plowed into him. Farther down the alley to the south, the Mercedes shuttle and Dumpsters took impacts. Metal thumped and glass shattered.

  When the barrage ended, Nathan leaned out of the door and began a rapid-fire salvo of his own, firing several rounds per second at the remaining gunman. He purposely aimed low, skipping the bullets off the concrete. Some of the slugs might strike the guy’s vest, or miss altogether, but he needed to keep the last gunman from reloading.

  In an aggressive move, he left the safety of the exit corridor and charged down the alley, firing as he ran.

  At this distance, he didn’t try for a head shot, but concentrated his bullets center-mass, all at the same spot. He didn’t see the impacts, but he could hear them thumping the guy’s vest. Although they wouldn’t penetrate the body armor, their kinetic energy was delivering a beating.

  “Kilo One, a car’s approaching from the east in a big hurry. ETA twenty seconds. It’s not a cop. Recommend you drag that gunman deeper into the alley.”

  Nathan copied the transmission and kept charging.

  As he closed the distance, he adjusted his aim to the man’s head and ended the dispute.

  Eight rounds left in the current magazine.

  The score in the alley? Three to zip, good guys.

  He kept telling himself he wasn’t taking lives indiscriminately. This was a live-or-die fight. He didn’t feel good about killing, but didn’t feel terrible either. His situation reflected what it often did: the real world.

  The bleed headlight grew brighter and he sprinted the remaining distance. “Delta Lead?”

  “Ten seconds.”

  He hooked his fingers under the dead man’s vest at the shoulder and hauled the body deeper into the alley. Willing himself to be invisible, he flattened himself against the wall of Matthew’s Heating and Air Conditioning.

  He heard the vehicle’s tire sounds getting louder and louder as the bluish-white light reached a peak. To his relief, the vehicle sped past the mouth of the alley at twice the speed limit.

  “Stand by, Kilo One. That driver just hit the brakes.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Harvey heard Nate’s query to Delta Lead, “What’s that vehicle doing?”

  “It’s turning right at the next block. We’ll monitor and let you know if it circles back.”

  Delta Lead suggested Nate drag all the dead gunmen into the exit corridor and Nate copied the request.

  Harvey’s NV was a little too bright, so he adjusted it down a bit. Being able to see in the dark against an opponent not equally equipped made for a huge advantage.

  Staying low, he eased along the length of the Jaguar, then hustled across a gap between the next row of cars and kept moving toward the showroom’s east wall.

  He peered around the trunk of a car he didn’t recognize and saw a gunman crouched near the rear bumper of a Rolls-Royce thirty feet away.

  An image of shooting fish in a barrel flashed through his mind, but he shelved it.

  He painted the gunman’s ear with the laser and sent a bullet.

  His brain scrambled, the man slumped to the granite floor and lay still.

  The other gunman was somewhere near the offices toward the main entrance. Again staying low, he used the cover of the cars to work his way toward the elevator.

  “Kilo Three, maintain position to support Kilo One.”

  “I’m secure out here,” Nate said.

  “Kilo Three, move toward the interior truss and try to get eyes on the gunman outside the main entrance. Delta Lead, is he still out there?”

  “Affirmative. Target is looking through the glass near the corner of the building just shy of the main entrance. He doesn’t appear to be in radio contact with any of the other gunmen.”

  “I can’t see the gunman near the main entrance,” LG said. “I’m adjusting my position for a better angle.”

  “I don’t have eyes on the last man inside the showroom, but I think he’s somewhere near the offices. Delta Lead, does your ground-level asset still have eyes in here?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Maintain continuous eyes on the elevator and stairwell door.”

  Grateful for his gloves, Nathan hauled all the dead gunmen into the exit corridor. There wasn’t anything he could do about the snail-trails of blood. In the dim light of the alley, he doubted anyone driving along Olympic would see the smears. But if anyone turned into the alley, they couldn’t miss them. Based on everything that had happened tonight, he didn’t discount the arrival of more mercenaries. Thankfully, all the gunfire had been suppressed and the neighborhood fell into silence again.

  “Kilo One, status?” Delta Lead asked.

  “Available,” Nathan said.

  “Suggest you circle the building via the south alley and engage the gunman at the main entrance.”

  “On my way.”

  “There’s no police radio traffic specific to this location yet. The dark showroom helps, harder to see the broken—”

  Delta Lead stopped mid-sentence, then continued:

  “We’ve got activity on the roof. A man just climbed out of a hatch. He’s running toward the west side of the building. He’s in civilian garb and we spotted a handgun tucked into his waistband.”

  “Everyone copy that traffic?” Nathan asked.

  Harv and LG confirmed they had.

  “What’s he doing?”

  “He’s talking to the guy down
below at the main entrance.”

  “Is there any way down from there?” Nathan asked.

  “Negative. Check that, he’s climbing down the decorative lattice.”

  “Kilo Three, backtrack through the exit corridor and circle the building on the Olympic side.”

  “On my way,” LG said.

  Nathan ran past the shuttle and Dumpster and stopped at the intersection of the alleys. He peered down the south alley toward Stewart Street.

  All quiet.

  Halfway down the alley—next to the roll-up door the dealership used to get the exotic cars in and out of the showroom—some large recycling bins offered minimal cover. If he got caught out in the open, he’d have little chance against a fully automatic Mac-10. The slugs might cut through the plastic bins and their contents.

  “Delta Lead, how far away is the entrance to the dealership from the corner of the south alley and Stewart Street?”

  “About twenty yards. We lost sight of the gunman. We believe he’s inside the entry alcove.”

  “Kilo Two, can you pop off a few shots at the gunman outside the main entrance and pin him down? I’m going to advance down the alley.”

  “I’ve still got a live one in here,” Harv said, “but I can send a few shots through the windows. The falling glass will definitely distract him.”

  “Stand by to shoot on my mark.”

  Delta Lead cut in. “The man on the roof is about halfway down the wall; if he hangs from the bottom of the grid, he can drop the last eight feet to the sidewalk. He appears to be in good physical shape. He’s descending that latticework with ease.”

  “I’m at the corner of Olympic,” LG reported.

  “Let me know when you’re at the corner of Olympic and Stewart.”

  “I’ll be in position in ten seconds.”

  Nathan decided it didn’t make sense to have LG exposed along Olympic Boulevard. She’d be much better deployed covering his advance down the south alley. “Kilo Three, turn around and hustle over to my position at the intersection of the alleys. Let me know when you have eyes on me. Copy?”

  “Affirm,” she said. “On my way.”

  “Kilo Two, are you all set?”

  “Yes.”

  Nathan heard LG’s footfalls as she sprinted toward his position.