The next thing he knew, he was in Boston’s arms. The trooper broke their fall and set them on the ground.
“Damn, you’re heavy,” he told Nuri.
“Thanks.”
Boston scooped up the woman and hurried across the nearby road. Nuri followed, out of breath. It was now dark, and in the uneven field Nuri tripped again and fell flat on his face. As he rose, he heard machine gun fire back near the slaughterhouse.
By the time he reached the others, Boston had organized them into a little clump behind some brush at the edge of a thick layer of woods.
“Osprey will be here soon,” said Boston. “They just went in.”
“Good,” said Nuri, getting his breath.
The women clustered around Bloom, hugging her for warmth or perhaps protection.
“Shit,” said Boston, looking back toward the slaughterhouse.
“They’re coming down toward the road,” he said. “They must have seen us.”
One of the small buildings near the slaughterhouse erupted in fire. The red light silhouetted three figures with guns coming down the side of the hill.
“We can get deeper into the woods,” suggested Nuri.
“Don’t want to get too deep,” said Boston. “Who knows what the hell’s in there?”
“Whatever it is, it’s better than what’s in front of us.”
“I’m going to draw them away.” Boston got to his feet.
“Wait!”
“Don’t worry. Take them into the woods. I’ll get them from the side. When the Osprey is clear, I’ll hear and come back.”
“Boston! Hey! Stop.”
But Boston was gone.
Chapter 25
The Osprey pirouetted in the sky, its propellers straining. In level flight it was at least twice as fast as the average helicopter and considerably stronger. But in a hover it was not much more maneuverable than the average Blackhawk, and a somewhat bigger target.
The Stinger that had been launched at it sniffed its decoy flares, homing in on them rather than the baffled exhaust from the MV-22’s engines. It quickly realized it had been duped and exploded, spraying the air with shrapnel. Fortunately, the Osprey pilots were able to get the aircraft far enough away from the warhead so the hot metal fragments completely missed.
But they had a much more difficult time with the simpler rocket-propelled grenade, launched from a different window. Aimed by sight, it was fired as the MV-22 swung away from the Stinger, and by luck or well-trained design, it crossed the path the aircraft was taking. It struck the fuselage a glancing blow. The effect was not unlike what would have happened had the shell hit a caged armor arrangement, greatly decreasing the weapon’s impact. Nonetheless, it sent pieces of metal through the side of the aircraft and one of the propellers.
The MV-22 shuddered abruptly, a frightened horse trying to buck its rider at the sight of a rattlesnake. The two pilots settled her quickly, easing off the stricken engine and trimming their controls to compensate. They edged the aircraft into a wide bank as gently as they could, then found a place to land in a field opposite the railroad tracks, about eight hundred yards away.
In the few seconds it took for the Osprey to right herself, Danny located the room the missiles had been fired from. Hopes of recovering the Raven without damage were no longer operative; he pumped a grenade into the launcher attached to his SCAR, took aim, and fired the 40mm shell into the house.
There was a low thud as it exploded. The corner of the building imploded, crumbling in on itself.
“Osprey, what’s your status?” said Danny as the dust settled.
“We’re intact, Colonel. We’re on the ground. We have problems with one engine.”
“Can you fly?”
“We’re checking the systems. We should be able to, but I don’t know what our payload will be. I’m just not sure yet, Colonel.”
“Roger that. Keep me informed.”
My fault for letting them get too damn close, Danny thought.
“Colonel, doesn’t look like we have any more resistance,” said Sugar. She was on the other side of the building. “No more activity. No gunfire.”
“Hold your positions,” he answered.
Whether he’d been too aggressive in bringing the Osprey up close, Danny now reacted by being cautious, having MY-PID analyze the situation before proceeding. The computer assessed at fifteen percent the likelihood that some of the gunmen inside were still alive and able to fight. It based this assessment on an elaborate algorithm, the sum not only of what it had seen of the battle to this point but of hundreds of other firefights whose data had been entered into its memory.
But what did fifteen percent really mean? Danny didn’t know. In truth, he wasn’t comfortable with using the system in that way to help him make combat decisions, which was why he hadn’t bothered to ask for the assessment earlier.
It was better just to go with your gut.
“All right, team up,” he barked. “Shug, you know how this is done. Anything moves, nail it down. With prejudice.”
Sugar quickly organized a small group to enter the building. Rather than going through the front door, they blew a hole in the side, tossed grenades in for good measure, then entered in undertaker mode: anything that was alive wouldn’t be when they were done.
Danny watched the building anxiously for signs that it might collapse.
“Secure,” said Sugar finally. “We have seven individuals, all dead, on the main floor. Checking the rest.”
“Seven?” It was several more than MY-PID had predicted.
“There’s a basement, Colonel. Looks like they might have been sleeping or hiding down there.”
“Roger that.” He flipped up his shield. Melissa was standing nearby, looking at him.
“Nothing so far,” he told her.
“I want to go in.”
“I don’t know if it’s safe.”
“If it’s safe for them, it’s safe for me. This is my deal.”
“All right.”
“Where’s Li Han inside?”
“He’s still back at the other house.” MY-PID had the other building under surveillance; no one had moved inside.
“Don’t you think that’s strange? He missed an appointment here,” added Melissa. “With all the fighting? He’s still just sitting there?”
“You’ve been watching him, you tell me. You say he’s patient — he sat in a cave for weeks.”
“True.”
The damage to the Osprey upset Danny’s plan to hit the house immediately after taking this one. He needed to get over there fast, but they didn’t have transportation.
“Boston, you on the circuit?” he asked.
Boston didn’t answer right away. Danny had MY-PID zoom the Global Hawk image onto his location. He was surprised to see that Nuri and Boston had split up — Nuri was across the street, and Boston was in the field.
Then he saw why.
“Busy at the moment, Colonel,” answered Boston. “How long before that Osprey gets here?”
“We have a problem with the bird,” said Danny. “What are you dealing with?”
“Dozen tangos in the weeds. I have it under control.”
There was a burst of gunfire.
“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Danny told him.
Melissa stepped through the hole in the side of the building, then moved to the side, trying to get her eyes to adjust. It was dark outside but even darker in here; she saw absolutely nothing.