He stuck his head out the door and almost ran right into a wire-thin laser beam. He brought up his gun and the Colt Python roared and bucked, sending a copper-jacketed, hollow-point. 357 magnum round slamming into the oncoming Lilliput commando, obliterating his entire upper torso and penetrating the miniature floater pak, which exploded in a tiny fireball.
Another laser beam singed Forester’s earlobe and one autopulser blast narrowly missed his head as he fired twice more, two handed, then hit the floor and rolled as two little exploding fireballs passed over his head. He came up on one knee and fired again, then cried out with pain as he took a direct hit on his kneecap. The Lilliput commandos had disposed of the security detail and were now swooping down on him like angry hornets. He fired his last two rounds, missing with one and taking out another miniature assassin with the last, then he threw the gun as one of the Lilliput commandos came diving down at him, firing his laser. He felt the heat as the beam grazed his check and then the Lilliputian went pinwheeling out of control as the thrown gun struck him a glancing blow. He struck the wall and the tiny floater pak exploded. Forrester dove through the doorway into his private quarters and slammed the door shut, locking it behind him.
Steiger and Delaney were in the lift tube, on their way up, when the alarm klaxon sounded. A second before the tube delivered them to the penthouse floor, the klaxon was silenced. Both men had their guns out. As they came diving out of the lift tube, they heard the unmistakable sound of Forrester touching off one of his antique firearms and it was the sound of the big magnum cutting loose that saved their lives. Stroud involuntarily glanced in the direction of the sound at the moment that the lift tube doors opened and the quick, diving exit of the two temporal agents caught him by surprise. Instinctively, he fired through the open lift tube doors, but Steiger and Delaney weren't there anymore and Stroud screamed as he was engulfed by two plasma bursts.
It took the Lilliput commandos scant seconds to blast their way through Forrester’s door, but by that time he had already reached his den, where he kept martial mementoes of the past, souvenirs brought back-or rather, brought ahead-by the men and women of the First Division. When the Lilliputians broke through the door and came flying through into Forester’s private quarters, they found him standing at the entrance to his den, armed with an M-16. As they came flying in and started to fan out, Forrester fired several quick bursts of the. 223 high velocity rounds, knocking several tiny invaders out of the air by pure chance, but it was impossible to achieve any kind of accuracy with a fully automatic weapon against such tiny targets moving with such speed.
Steiger and Delaney were racing down the corridor when they heard the M-16 light off. Several quick, sharp bursts were fired, and then the weapon suddenly fell silent. Fearing the worst, they came rushing through the entrance to Forrester’s quarters, heedless of their own safety, and Steiger recoiled with a cry of "Shit!" as a Lilliputian strapped into a tiny floater pak went screaming past him backwards in a line drive, trailing a spray of blood, to strike hard against the wall and explode with a sharp whuumpf as his fuel tanks went up.
Forrester stood in the centre of the room, holding the M-16 like. a baseball bat and swatting at the Lilliputians as they buzzed around him like wasps around a nest, the criss-crossing beams of their tiny lasers creating a fine latticework of coherent light around him, making it appear as if he were trapped inside some glowing spider's web.
"Moses, get down!"' Delaney shouted.
Instantly, Forrester dropped to the floor and Delaney fired his gun. The full intensity plasma charge streaked across the room, incinerating the Lilliputians in its path, slamming into the floor to ceiling window on the far side of the room and melting right through it. Steiger made a running dive and landed right on top of Forrester, covering him with his body, but the remaining Lilliputians were in full retreat, swooping out the ruined window with their jets on full power and dispersing in the night like fireflies. Delaney ran over to the gaping hole, but he held his fire. There were people down there and he didn't want to risk hitting any innocent bystanders:"
As he turned around, a squad of soldiers came running in, armed with laser rifles and autopulsers, all of which were suddenly pointed in his direction.
"'Freeze! Drop the gun! Drop it right now!"
Delaney rolled his eyes, dropped the pistol and raised his hands over his head.
"'Don't shoot, I'm one of the good guys," he said.
"On the floor! Flat on the floor right now!"
"Well, now that isn't very smart," Delaney said. "I just dropped my gun down there. If I got down beside it, I could pick it up and shoot you, you damn fool."
"I said get down-"
"Harris, you idiot, put down those guns.!" Steiger shouted, as he got up off Forrester. "It's over!"
"Colonel! I didn't realise-"
"No, of course not!" Steiger said, furiously. "Congratulations, Harris.
You've just disarmed and captured Capt. Finn Delaney.”
Harris paled. "Capt. Delaney! Sir, I'm sorry, I didn't recognise-"
Forrester groaned and rolled over onto his back.
"Oh, sweet Jesus Christ," said Steiger.
Delaney was at his side in an instant. "Oh, God. Don't move, Moses,"
Finn said. "Don't just stand there, somebody get a goddamn medic!"
Forrester looked like he'd taken a nap on a barbecue grill. His face and skull were criss-crossed with blackened laser tracks, not bleeding because the heat had cauterised the wounds. There was a hole in his right cheek where a beam had gone in at an angle, exiting through the neck just below his jawbone. Part of an ear had been neatly sliced off. His fatigues looked like they'd been shredded in places and there were numerous pinholes in his shoulders and arms. Miraculously, none of the vital organs appeared to have been hit. He groaned again and tried to sit up.
"Don't move, Moses, help's on the way," said Delaney. "Screw that," grunted Forrester. "Help me up."
They gently pulled him up to a sitting position on the floor.
"Anyone left alive?" he said.
"I don't know," said Steiger. "Well, check, God damn it!"
"Harris!" Steiger snapped.
"Yes, sir!" Hams rapidly detailed several men. "You, you, and you, come with me, on the double!"
"Somebody give me a cigarette," said Forrester, leaning against Delaney for support.
Steiger got him one and put it between his lips, lighting it for him. Forrester inhaled deeply and then slowly blew the smoke out. The smoke coming out through the hole in his cheek was disconcerting.
Harris came back into the room. His face was ashen.
"They're dead, sir."
Forrester looked stricken. "All of them?"
"I'm afraid so, sir."
"Where the hell were you?" said Steiger, his voice barely under control.
"Sir, we responded the moment the alarm went off," said Harris, "but there was someone in the tube…" He broke off awkwardly when he realised that the someone he was referring to were Steiger and Delaney.
“Yeah, that was us," Delaney said. "Don't blame Harris, Creed. They were incredibly fast. Whoever trained 'em certainly knew what he was doing.'" He glanced at Forrester. "Next time I warn you about keeping those antiques of yours, do me a favour. Kick me. But why the hell didn't you use a plasma gun?"
Forrester grimaced and pointed at the gaping hole where the floor to ceiling window in the far wall of his penthouse used to be. "That's why," he said, wryly. "I don't see the point in shooting sparrows with a cannon. Besides, bullet holes are a lot easier to fix. Jesus, look at this place!"
The medics arrived and pushed their way through. As they started administering first aid to Forrester, one of them turned to Steiger and said, "We've got to get him to a hospital right now"