"Like hell he sent you!" a voice said from behind the door as it was pushed closed with force. Declan dropped his bag and turned as a man stepped forward with a pistol aimed. Blocking the man's advance, he grabbed his thumb and twisted his hand and the gun away, pointing it back at it's owner as he brought the man to the floor. He placed his knee onto the man's chest and held him down with the gun under his chin.
"Fu-Fuck you!" the man spat as he tried to struggle.
"Jesus Declan let him go!" Meaghan screamed as Declan heard the sound of a rifle being charged. Two more men stood from behind a couch, one with an AK-47 aimed.
"Let him up! Now!" the rifle man ordered.
Declan kept the man where he was. He recognized the others as Paul Boyle and Dean Byrne, two Provisionals with a list of small attacks throughout Belfast and the surrounding areas. He looked down at the man he was holding and slowly released him. Callum O'Connell stood gingerly from the floor and re-aimed his pistol. "You just couldn't stand that she was here with someone else, could you?"
Meaghan looked aghast as she stood there between O'Connell and Declan.
"That's got nothing to do with it," Declan said. "I'm here because McGuire picked up intel that the Brits were onto you, that they'd sent a team of UDR thugs to wipe out the entire unit, just like they did in Gibraltar."
"Oh fuck McGuire!" O'Connell shouted. "That old man would have us runnin' around making kissy faces with the touts and tryin' to-"
The sound of a vehicle skidding to a stop came from outside and Declan turned to the door, pulling it open as he withdrew the Beretta from his belt. "No time for talking, they're here! Get down!" He aimed the pistol at the black SUV and squeezed the trigger twice. The bullets impacted the windshield as the vehicle's occupants exited and ran for cover. Declan sighted one as he ran towards the cluster of Loblolly trees and dropped him with a double shot to the head before he turned to another and fired three times into the man's chest as he ran sideways, aiming.
The clatter of machine gun fire sounded from the trees and bullets impacted the side of the house, tearing away chunks of plaster. Declan slammed the door and pulled Meaghan onto the tiled floor. "Get down! Get down!"
Boyle and Byrne retook their cover behind the furniture and O'Connell hit the floor below a window. "What the fuck's goin' on?" he shouted as bullets lacerated the shutters and the door, raining chunks of wood onto them.
"McGuire said there were seven and I just dropped two!" Declan shouted as he kept Meaghan huddled in the corner with him. The gunfire outside stopped and O'Connell stood, pulling open the shutters and aiming his pistol.
"No! Don't!" Declan yelled.
A three round burst from an automatic sounded and O'Connell's face disintegrated, blood and brain tissue flying into the air as his body fell lifelessly to the floor, what was left of his head landing with a hollow thud.
"No!" Meaghan screamed and reached towards her fallen lover.
Declan held onto her tight to keep her away from the doors and windows. "He's dead! There's nothing you can do!
"Are you sure there's seven?" Boyle shouted as he peeked around the side of the couch with his Kalashnikov.
"No!" Declan said. "Could be twenty out there! We need to get out the back while their fire's concentrated on the front! They haven't had enough time to spread out but that'll change quick!"
"Right!"
Boyle and Byrne crawled towards a sliding glass door. As they neared it Byrne raised himself into a crouch and reached for the door handle. Gunshots exploded from the opened window and the interior of the house was shredded with bullets, Byrne catching several in the chest before falling onto his back where he lay still.
"Fuck!" Boyle shouted as he scooted furiously away from the door and back behind the couch.
Declan could see the muzzle flash of the weapon. The gunman was standing at the window and firing in. He pushed Meaghan away and rolled out, pulling the Beretta's trigger rapidly. The gunfire stopped as Declan's shots impacted the windowsill. Declan jumped to his feet and ran for the window, passing it in a rolling motion as he fired at the fleeing gunman who screamed in pain as he was hit. Declan lowered himself to the floor again as his attack was met by more automatic gunfire from outside. If McGuire's intel was good, there were four left. He low crawled back across the room to where Meaghan sat huddled in the corner, grabbing his bag and dragging it with him.
"Are there any other vehicles here besides the Rover?"
"There's a moped in the garage!" Boyle yelled.
"No good. We need something a lot faster. Anything else?"
"There's a speedboat by the pier!"
The gunfire from outside slowed to the occasional burst. Declan knew that was meant to keep them at bay while the men outside spread out. Soon, they'd have the house surrounded. But how long could they hold it before the police showed up? Would the police come? Did the police in Anguilla even have guns? He wasn't sure.
"Where's the pier?"
"Straight out the back door and down to the bay, about a hundred yards," Boyle answered.
"Any cover?"
"Some low lying brush and it's downhill through a gully most of the way."
"Can you operate the boat, love?" Declan asked.
"Aye," Meaghan said nodding.
"Looks like it's a gonna be a run for it then. I hope you brought some shoes. Boyle get her to the boat and I'll cover you as you go."
"I can shoot, too!" Meaghan scolded.
Declan released the magazine in the Beretta and reloaded. "I know, but I want your attention on that boat. It's your only ticket outta here." He handed her the Beretta. "Once you're in and the motor's started, cover Boyle as he boards and then the two of you get out of here!"
"What about you?"
"I'm gonna draw their fire. I'll be better off on my own."
Boyle stayed low as he left his cover. "I hope all that shite they're sayin' in Belfast about you McGuire boys is true, for your sake," he said as Meaghan pulled on a pair of tennis shoes.
Declan removed two Taurus PT92s and an H &K MP5 from his backpack. "Belfast doesn't know the half of it," he said as he pushed a magazine into the H &K, charged the weapon and flicked the selector switch to semi-automatic. "I'm going out first. Keep your eyes on that front window until you're outside the building. Ditch the weapons once you're a safe distance from the shore and meet me on the beach at Conto Bay. It's a short walk north to the airport from there."
Boyle nodded as he replaced the magazine in the Kalashnikov. "I gotta give it to McGuire. He knows how to get things done."
Declan stood, placed the pistols in holsters on his belt and moved towards the sliding glass door that led to one of the property's pools. "I'm going to draw them south away from the pier. With any luck, they'll think I'm all that's left and follow."
He gripped the door handle and pulled it open. Stepping onto a narrow porch with a staircase leading to a pool below, he ran to the right where he was covered by the edge of the house. Gunshots clattered and chunks of wood were torn away as bullets struck the bannister, the glass window in the door shattering. From his cover, Declan could see the gunman in a patch of trees on the north side of the pool. Surveying the surrounding area for other attackers and seeing none, he flicked the MP5 to full auto and rolled out. Bullets flew from the snub-nosed barrel as he pulled the trigger. Wisps of dust followed the shots to the clump of trees where they tore branches loose until they found the gunman, who screamed painfully as his body was riddled and fell away into the tall grass. Declan stopped firing, slung the H &K onto his back by its shoulder strap, placed both hands on the bannister for leverage and jumped off the porch onto the deck below. Running to the left, he jumped off the pool's decking and onto the dusty ground at its base, concealing himself from the view of anyone else on the north side of the house. From the south, a gunman rounded the corner of the house and aimed an AR-15. Chunk. The weapon jammed. Declan kicked the gun aside with one foot as he spun and delivered a back kick to the man's stomach, knocking him down. Drawing his pistols, he shot the man twice before placing his back against the house and looking for the other men he knew were about.