Quickly he headed for the rear-facing door. Dahl was already there. “Clear for now but they’ll be coming.”
“Go.”
The company rushed out onto the concrete balcony that ran around the outside of the hotel’s first and only floor. Bright yellow rails stood before them with featureless doors stretching to either side. A tattered seat stood outside every room.
“Up!” Dahl made the decision, jumping so that his boots hit the top of the narrow rail, balancing with his arm against a tinny upright. Flinging his gun over his head he sprang upward, catching the lip of the roof. With one easy maneuver he was over. Drake quickly followed, Mai at his side.
Mercs were abseiling out of open helicopter doors, the machines’ flamboyant colors and cheerful appearance undermined by the falling men and their wicked-looking guns. Dahl opened fire as he began to sprint, catching the men as they touched down. Those he hit twisted and fell, screaming. Others jumped from above, riding their luck. Still more leaned out of the open doors and returned fire.
Drake sensed Alicia at his back. He saw Trent out of the corner of one eye. The Disavowed man looked grim. “The others are racing both ways along the balcony. Shots from below. We’re split three ways now.”
“Have faith,” Drake yelled. “We’ll not be apart for too long. And we’ll run all the way from this rooftop right to the goddamn facility if we have to!”
Men struck the ground inches to his left.
Alicia fired upward, forcing the choppers to veer and sway. Dahl was already approaching the edge of the roof. Mai darted into a merc who had somehow escaped a bullet, making him wish he hadn’t as she crushed his windpipe and cheekbone at the same time.
With a deft movement she stole his gun.
Drake ducked a hail of fire and shot a man leaping toward him straight off a rope that swung in the air.
For better or worse, good and evil, they were all fully committed now.
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
Drake saw eight rope lines dangling from the assembled choppers. The combined thunder from their rotors was more than deafening; it was a sheer onslaught to the senses. Keeping his sense of balance as low as possible he ran hard, following Dahl, hoping the mad Swede had some kind of plan.
Dahl skidded to a stop at the edge of the roof. “Whoa, didn’t expect that.”
Balls.
Drake tackled a merc around the waist, forcing him to the ground. Alicia’s weapon barked. Mai peppered pilots with devastating ammo. Two choppers jerked violently as their pilots reacted, sending men tumbling from their ropes.
But still more men landed than the five could deal with.
Trent smashed his stern visage into a merc that landed just in front of him, then faced three more. A wild shot skimmed his midriff. Mai vaulted in gracefully from the side, using hands and feet to raise bruises and break bones. Trent joined her in the melee, battering his opponents with heavy strikes.
Dahl stared over the edge of the roof. Alicia skidded up to him. “What the fuck’s up, Torsty?”
Drake ground his teeth. “That’s a long drop, mate.”
“No!” the Swede said. “There!”
He sidestepped several times to a new position, right above a bright red soft drinks machine.
“Ya thirsty?” Alicia wondered. “Or in need of caffeine?”
Dahl jumped three feet to a lower thin brick ledge, then to the top of the drinks machine and, without pause, leaped off and landed with a roll across the grass. Then he was up, gun raised.
Drake shook his head. “It better be as easy as it goddamn looks.”
Alicia turned, opening fire as several men converged on their position. Mai and Trent were steps away, the west coast man flinging a struggling merc face-first to the floor. Even Alicia almost winced as the man bounced.
“Nice move.”
“Where to?”
“Ah, down…”
Drake jumped, landing briefly on the ledge and using it to spring forward so that he landed atop the drinks machine. From there he bounced and rolled just as Dahl had, becoming slightly tangled in his weapon’s strap but still retaining dignity.
Alicia covered Trent as he jumped down. Then she waved Mai forward but the Japanese woman smiled sadly.
“You first, Taz. This is part of my burden, I believe.”
Alicia shot a looming merc. “You looking to die, Little Sprite?”
“My own fate is out of my hands now.”
Mai sprayed the mercs, giving them much to consider as Alicia made the jump. As she fired she plucked a smoke bomb from her vest and flung it. Mercs shouted and dived for cover, not knowing the type of grenade she’d used. Mai used the distraction to skip stylishly to the floor.
“A tad better than Yorkshire style,” Dahl observed.
“One thing I’ve thankfully never been accused of,” Drake said, “is having too much style.”
The Swede moved to the side of the building just as men approached from the front parking lot. Before they could blink, the team were under fire again.
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Crouch sprinted the length of the balcony as men shot at them from below. Caitlyn ran behind him, sheltered by Healey and Russo, both returning fire. Behind them raced Silk, Radford and Yorgi. The remainder of the company jogged in the opposite direction, splitting the enemy forces.
Crouch reached a door and yanked it open, herding the others through. Healey headed straight for the stairs.
“Move it,” Crouch told Yorgi, the last through. “There are civilians here. We have to vacate asap.”
The Russian made eyes at him, probably wondering “Ya think?” and slipped one leg over the staircase handrail, passing their frontrunners as he slid down. Not the best of decisions, since he was a non-soldier and that put him first in the firing line, but one he couldn’t now change. Yorgi flew off the end of the handrail and landed face-first onto the carpet of the hotel lobby. Crouch flew down after him but Russo, seeing the danger, leaped three steps at a time and hit ground level almost simultaneously.
Mercs were entering the front doors, spilling into the lobby. Russo saw a side door, yanked Yorgi up with one hand and headed right for it. They were halfway across the lobby before they were spotted.
A shout went up. Guns swiveled. By that time Crouch and the others were behind Russo and already firing.
The hotel lobby erupted in a hail of gunfire. Potted palms disintegrated and turned into dust motes flitting through the air. Plaster exploded from the walls in large white chunks. Glass shattered, raining to the floor. Crouch and his team dived and rolled and crawled through it all, covered in debris, faces turned away from the worst of the flying wreckage. Most of the mercs remained upright and paid the price, struck by jagged pieces and razor-sharp shards, badly aimed bullets and falling candy-bar dispensers. Others fell back through the doors they had just entered, sprawling outside. Crouch hit Healey’s scrambling feet but rolled on, falling through a fragmented hell, blood trickling from a dozen cuts and gashes. Russo lumbered through the side door without even thinking of stopping to open it, the man-mountain tearing the hinges right off. Staggering outside, he still held the entire door as mercs descended on him. Russo swung it to and fro, knocking assailants aside like bowling pins.
Crouch was the last to enter the parking lot as his team covered their flanks. Some way off to his right he had already spotted Drake’s impromptu team, keeping pace with them. His mind turned to thoughts of the others.
Hayden led the team that ran across the balcony in the other direction, followed mostly by SPEAR members with the addition of Special Agent Claire Collins. Kinimaka was beside her as always, positioned between her and the exposed railing. Hayden pushed her body hard, wondering if she’d feel any discomfort from the now relatively old gunshot wound, but felt nothing. Great news, considering the position they were in. Hayden slammed open the door, ducked as a stray bullet shattered the glass, and slipped through. Karin came next, pushed by Komodo. Smyth and Collins brought up the rear, untroubled by the mercenaries below.