“I’ll take my chances in here,” said Jovic.
“You’ll die in here,” said Srecko, rushing to the office door. “He’s coming.”
“He might already be here,” said Jovic.
The statement stopped Srecko in his tracks. He gave Jovic’s comment a quick thought, glancing between the dozen men running for the vehicles inside the warehouse and the three men seated in the office. He’d take his chances with the larger group. He put the phone back up to his ear.
“Hello? Did you have another heart attack?” Marko Resja taunted.
“Fuck you!” he spat into the phone. “I’ll fucking kill you and that whore no matter what it takes. You’ll never be safe!”
“Don’t get your heart all worked up, Srecko. I wasn’t all that impressed with that hospital,” said Resja. “Speaking of unimpressed, where did you find that joke, Dragan? I hope you didn’t give him a down payment. I don’t think you can afford to throw money away like that.”
Srecko threw the phone against the warehouse floor, scattering plastic pieces in several directions.
“Three vehicles. All SUVs. Four men to a vehicle. You’re with me in the middle vehicle!” he yelled to his security chief, the last sentence fading to a grunt as the pain in his chest became unbearable.
While Obrad organized the men, Srecko dug under his collar and pulled a gold chain necklace out of his shirt. He feverishly worked the cylindrical gold pill fob hanging from the chain until he’d retrieved one of the nitroglycerine pills he kept for chest pain emergencies. The rest of the pills fell to the floor. He only needed one! With a trembling hand, he forced the pill into his mouth, under his tongue. Unable to draw more than a short gasp of air, he stood frozen several feet from the loaded vehicles.
Obrad rushed over and escorted him into the backseat of the middle SUV while the tall warehouse door slowly opened. His breathing had eased by the time the line of vehicles had reached the sliding gate fifty yards in front of the warehouse. The effects of the nitroglycerine were finally kicking in.
“Get us as far the fuck away from here as possible,” he ordered.
The wide, reinforced chain-link gate ambled along its track, seemingly making little progress.
“As soon as they can fit through, they go,” he barked, not wanting to spend a single moment longer than necessary in the open.
Obrad relayed the order, and the first SUV edged closer to the gate.
Chapter 26
Daniel lay as flat as he could manage behind the motor unit opening the chain-link gate. The long, six-inch-high concrete platform holding the motor in place gave his legs just enough concealment to remain unseen. He hoped. As the trucks’ headlights swept the fence line and the gate and tendrils of bright light poked through the motor housing, he felt entirely exposed. When the gate rumbled to life and he could see right into the driver’s side window of the first SUV, there was no question about it. He was exposed. Staying hidden for several more seconds was critical to their hastily assembled plan.
Munoz was hidden in a patch of scrub next to the fence, twenty yards on the other side of the gate, outside of the facility. Ideally he would be inside the fence line to engage the rear vehicle, but their surveillance team didn’t have enough time to analyze the warehouse’s electronic security signature. A few wireless motion or disturbance detectors hidden along the perimeter could trash the element of surprise. They had their hands full with something more important and impactful.
The team had hijacked the remote control signal for the gate motor, and Petrovich had reached through the gate and snipped the wires powering the automatic motion sensor inside. Under normal circumstances, when the vehicles pulled up to the gate from the inside, the gate would automatically open. Access from the outside required a paired remote control. According to the techs, control of the gate was solely in their hands. Of course, none of this could be tested prior to the vehicles’ arrival, but it seemed to have worked. Unless he’d cut the wrong wires and the motion sensor was still operational.
Even if the trick didn’t work, it wouldn’t matter. They could pound the trucks with bullets and sniper fire until everything was quiet. He’d lose the opportunity to return Srecko to prison, where he’d most certainly be held without possibility of release, but that was a price he was more than willing to pay. Just knowing he was gone would be satisfaction enough.
He watched the gate roll slowly past the stones he had set in the road. When the rollers passed the second of four rocks, he triggered his radio.
“Stand by to engage,” he whispered.
No response followed. They had checked and rechecked the communications just prior to the warehouse door opening. He was passing information to Melendez, who lay on top of the warehouse a hundred or so yards beyond Daniel. The rollers passed the third rock.
“Stand by. Stand by.” The rollers reached the fourth rock, where he’d calculated the vehicles would be able to squeeze through. “Fire!”
The lead vehicle lurched through the opening in the gate, and Daniel pressed the suppressed MP-7’s trigger, sending several 4.6mm bullets through the driver’s window. Before he could fire again, a supersonic crack snapped overhead, Melendez’s bullet hopefully taking out the driver of the second SUV. Daniel’s second burst peppered the rear driver’s side window and upper door. The SUV continued past the gate, the driver’s foot stuck on the accelerator. He’d anticipated this possibility.
“Munoz, switch targets with Melendez.”
The entire motor housing unit shook next to him as the second SUV lurched to a stop halfway through the gate. The surveillance team had reversed the gate in time to catch the second vehicle’s rear driver’s side door, halting its forward motion and pressing it against the opposite gate post. The door dented inward with the continuing pressure, trapping the rear passengers. Daniel fired a quick burst through the already shattered driver’s window at the head of a man yelling in the front passenger seat, instantly silencing him.
Staccato bursts of suppressed gunfire echoed across the road from Munoz’s position, repeatedly striking the unobserved side of the lead vehicle with hollow, metallic thumps until it finally slowed.
“Melendez?” Daniel said.
“I got one more fucker playing hide-and-seek behind the last vehicle.”
“Munoz?”
“All quiet in the lead vehicle,” Munoz replied. “I have some frantic movement in the backseat of the middle truck. Watch yourself. I don’t have a good angle on them.”
Neither did Daniel, and he wasn’t keen on raising his head above the motor unit. He reloaded the MP-7 and waited for the standoff at the rear vehicle to play out. Srecko wasn’t going anywhere. A supersonic crack was followed by a report.
“Rear vehicle neutralized. Want me to put a round through the back of Srecko’s SUV?”
“That would be kind of you,” said Daniel, still flinching when the bullet passed several feet above him, shattering the SUV’s cargo compartment window.
“Srecko!” said Daniel.
Gunfire erupted from the backseat, bullets pinging off the fence and motor. Daniel pressed himself into the hard dirt until the fusillade ended.
“I can see right into the backseat now. Srecko is leaned up against the passenger-side door, grasping his chest. There’s one other guy in back with him, staying low. Probably reloading.”
“Can you hit the gunman low through the door?” Daniel asked.