From where she was sitting, Helen had a clear angle on the two men in the rear. The two approaching the house would be slightly more difficult because of the distance, but she thought those targets were both within her range. If Joe was still in the house, she would need to take them out first, which would mean her position would be given away to the two men in the rear. She knew what she had to do.
Helen raised her weapon and trained it on the man who had taken up a position at the base of their porch next to the stairs. The other was directly across from him. If she did it right, both targets could be knocked out before the remaining four realized she had moved.
Something moved in the leaves behind her, and she spun around with the assault rifle held level.
“Don’t shoot,” a familiar voice begged from behind a thin tree.
Joe’s body stuck out from both sides of the narrow pine, while he held both hands up. “It’s me, Helen.”
She lowered her weapon. “Joe, get over here,” Helen hissed, dispensing with the pleasantries. She kept her emotions in check at seeing that her husband was okay.
He padded over to her spot and crouched down next to her. “What’s the situation?” he asked.
“Two guys are getting ready to go in the front door. Two more are by the middle truck, and the last two are covering the rear. I was just about to take out the two next to the porch before you snuck up on me.”
“Sorry.”
“You should be,” she sneered. “I almost blew your head off.” She offered a grin that told him there were no hard feelings, but that her threat was real enough. “I’ll take out the two at the porch. But as soon as I shoot the first one, those guys taking up the rear will know where we’re shooting from.”
Joe nodded, understanding the situation. “Looks like the best plan is for one of us to take out the guys in the front at the same time the other takes out the men in the back.”
She liked the plan and approved it with a quick smile on one corner of her mouth. “I’ll take the two near the house; you get the ones in the back.”
“Why do you get the harder shot?” he asked as she got set up in her position again and took aim.
“Because I’m the better shooter.”
He couldn’t argue with that, not that it mattered anyway. Joe got down on his belly and took aim at the first man in the back. The guy was scanning the woods fifty feet to Joe and Helen’s left near the woodshed. The man’s weapon went back and forth as he searched for any threat.
“Ready?” she asked.
“When you are, dear.”
“Fire.”
The two targets were knocked over immediately. A moment later, the other two panicked men were dropped with nearly simultaneous shots.
“Good job,” Helen said, almost in a surprised tone.
“Did you think I would miss?” he tried to sound wounded.
Helen glanced back at him. “You never know with men,” she smirked again. “We have two left in the center.”
The last two men she spoke of were scrambling to take cover anywhere they could. At present, the only place they found protection was underneath the center SUV. Both of them scurried under the carriage of the vehicle, lying on their stomachs. Their heads darted back and forth, wondering where the shots were coming from.
“You think you can hit the gas tank from here?” Helen asked, sure to keep her voice low.
Joe answered with a sarcastic nod and crouched back down, lining up the exposed underbelly of the vehicle’s fuel tank. He squeezed the trigger and sent a round straight into the metal container. He frowned at the result. Gas had started leaking from the hole in the tank, splashing freely onto the ground and on one of the men.
“Why didn’t it blow up?” he asked, perplexed.
“That only happens in the movies,” she asked. “Fire off another one and see what happens.”
He put his eye back to the scope and squeezed the trigger again. The second bullet had the same result, ripping another hole in the gas tank. This time, however, the shot got a reaction from one of the men under the vehicle. He started firing his weapon, spraying bullets into the darkness, completely forgetting the consequences for such an action.
The gas ignited instantly, setting both men on fire amid terrifying screams. The blaze shot up into the tank of the SUV and immediately turned the vehicle into a giant torch on wheels. Both men hurried out from under the carriage, their bodies completely engulfed in flames. They ran away from the burning truck and tried to douse themselves by rolling around on the ground, but the damage had been done. After a minute or so, both charred bodies had stopped moving as the deadly flames began to die down.
Joe turned away from the sight. “That’s got to be a bad way to go.”
Helen had a resolute look on her face. “They were going to kill us, Joe. These were really bad guys.”
“I know,” he nodded. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Me too,” she exhaled. “That was a heck of a shot, by the way. I thought I was done for when that guy had a gun to my head.”
“You ain’t getting’ off that easy,” he chuckled. Then a worried expression washed over his face. “The dog is probably freaking out down in the bunker.”
Helen smiled. “He’s going to wonder what in the world happened to the house.”
The two stood up and started walking down the driveway, weapons slung over their shoulders and in their hands. They had only taken ten steps towards the wreckage when they heard a strange thumping sound in the distance. It grew louder and louder, causing them to stop and turn around to see what it was. Joe had a feeling he already knew.
Sure enough, over the treetops beyond the clearing, a helicopter searchlight came into view. Through the trees, they could make out a few more headlights rolling down the long driveway.
“You gotta be kidding,” Helen sounded exhausted.
“I guess this is it,” Joe said, holding up the assault rifle and taking aim at the body of the helicopter.
She looked over at him for a second before copying his stance and pointing the barrel of her weapon at the oncoming machine.
“I love you, ya know?” he said.
“Me too, Joe.”
As they were about to squeeze their triggers, a female voice boomed through the area from a speaker on the helicopter. “Put your weapons down! This is AXIS team three here to assist. Repeat. We are an AXIS support team here to secure the area.”
Joe and Helen lowered their weapons apprehensively. They glanced at each other, both with a look of relief. Joe raised a hand and waived to the pilot as two SUVs rumbled up to where they were standing. Four men and women piled out of the vehicles and ran towards the cabin, checking the bodies and the hit squad’s trucks for any threat.
The helicopter landed in the small field next to the driveway. A moment later one of the back doors opened up and a brunette woman wearing a black business suit, white blouse, and her hair pulled back tight exited the flying contraption.
She jogged over to where Joe and Helen were standing. Black smoke from the burning wreckage swirled around in the slowing helicopter rotors.
“Are you two okay?” Emily asked stopping short of the heavily armed couple.
Joe looked at his wife then back at the house. “We’re fine. But our house is a mess. If we’d known you were coming over we would have cleaned up first.” Emily stared at Joe for a second before she forced a few laughs. “I guess Lindsey sent his goons here to recover the vial we took from his Biosure facility. Unfortunately for him, Jenny Solomon has it now.”
Emily nodded. “Yeah, we have another unit over at their building keeping an eye on things. We’ll keep it locked down as long as we can until the WHO takes over.” She looked around at the carnage, assessing the situation. Her face produced a suspicious grin. “Remind me to never come over to your place unannounced.”