Josh’s voice sounds in my ear, interrupting my last-minute checks. “Right,” he says. “One guard is approaching the security gate now. Possibly switching shifts. Hold steady.”
There’s a minute of silence on the line.
“Okay, he’s walking away again now,” announces Josh. “On my mark, stay low and move fast to the wall. Flatten against it until I give you the all-clear to scale.”
“Roger that,” I say.
Another moment passes before I finally get the order to go.
“Okay, move!”
Staying low, I sprint across the road and stop when I reach the wall. I press my back against it and catch my breath. The painkillers are doing their job — breathing isn’t causing me any discomfort at all in my torso, which is a pleasant change. I should’ve taken some days ago…
“I’m in position,” I whisper.
“Okay, up and over the wall on my count — remember to land and roll right. Three… Two… One… Now!”
I clamber up the wall, heaving myself up. I lie flat along the top for a moment, catching my breath. I then swing my legs over and drop down into a crouch on the other side. As I land, I roll to my right and come to a stop behind the trees, exactly as Josh had instructed.
I lower my goggles into place and activate the night vision mode. Everything flickers in front of me and turns a pale green. I quickly scan the area. I see the south-west corner of the house in front of me. To my left, in the distance, is the security hut. To my right is a long lawn with two sets of garden furniture positioned along it. No sign of any movement.
I look up at the house. There are a couple of lights on in windows on the top floor, which flare up and obscure my view through the green glow of the goggles.
“Josh, I’m in.”
“Okay, this next bit is the tricky part,” he says.
“The tricky part? I’ve not seen the easy part yet… So far, all of this has been tricky, Josh.”
“True. But this next part in particular will suck more than the rest.”
“I can barely contain my excitement…”
“From here, you need to head to your right. On the left in front of you, you should see a wine cellar entrance. You got it?”
I look over and see the alcove, maybe a third of the way along the side of the house. In the middle of the alcove is the entrance — two doors open out on an angle leading under the house and to the cellar. Decent-sized gaps on either side are completely covered in darkness.
“Yeah, I see it.”
“You should have enough cover at the side of that, but to get there you’re going to have to run across open ground. You’ll be completely exposed for close to fifteen seconds.”
“Oh, wonderful…”
“I’m tracking the patrols now,” he continues. “I see a total of six guys working the perimeter in teams of two, with a lone guy based in the security station. You’re clear to your left, as you’re out of sight from the station, but to your right you’ve got two guys patrolling. It’s gonna be tight, but you should make it. Once there, you’ll be in total darkness again, so they shouldn’t see you.”
I lift my goggles up and look at the world as it is. Josh is right — there’s no way anyone will see me, and I doubt very much Pellaggio’s goons are equipped with the same tech as me. I pull my goggles back on and turn the world green once again.
“Okay,” says Josh again. “When I say, you run like hell, yeah?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Just up ahead, I catch a glimpse of one of the guards. He’s walking toward me down the left hand side, carrying an assault rifle, which he’s holding loose, and letting hang in front of him from the shoulder strap. I figure that means the other guy is walking away from me down the right… Plus, as I suspected, he’s not wearing any night vision goggles, so I’ll keep my advantage as long as I don’t get too close to anyone.
Seeing what I have to do, the enormity of the risk involved begins to sink in. As soon as the guy nearest to me turns his back, Josh is going to tell me to run. By the time I reach my cover, the guard will be out of earshot, but the guy patrolling the right hand side will be coming toward me, and I’ll be horribly close to his line of sight. Even in the dark, if he’s facing my direction and I’m running, he’ll see enough by what light is coming from the house that he’ll be suspicious and come in for a closer look. That, in turn, means there’s a very high chance of someone discovering me, and if that happens, it’s game over.
Shit.
“Be ready,” says Josh.
I stand slowly, preparing to run.
“Okay, go now!”
I set off like a sprinter out of the starting blocks. I have to cover almost three hundred feet in less than fifteen seconds. As I run, my weapons bounce around, adding extra resistance. I feel myself slowing down as a result.
Five seconds.
“Adrian, the guy on the left will likely be out of earshot by now, but the guy coming toward you on the right will have line of sight any second — you gotta push the pace…”
I grit my teeth and press on. I’m usually pretty fast, for someone my age, but I’m not an Olympic sprinter by any means. Plus, despite normally being in good shape, the pounding my body’s taken recently is making quick, heavy breathing a very painful experience. Subconsciously, I know I’m not running as fast as I’m capable of.
Ten seconds.
“Adrian, he’s almost in position — you need to get to cover NOW!”
I approach the cellar doors at full speed. I drop and do a baseball slide into the corner and slam into the wall, struggling to suppress a grunt of pain caused by the impact. I look out across the lawn and see the other guy almost level with my position. I’m gasping for breath. My lungs are burning — each intake is sending a white-hot stab of pain shooting into my ribs. I lift up my goggles, and the guy disappears in the darkness.
“Don’t move,” says Josh in my ear. “We’re not clear yet.”
I do everything I can to slow my breathing down as the seconds tick by. There’s nothing out of the ordinary just yet. But the big test will come when the first guy comes back toward me down the left flank.
“Okay, first guy is heading your way now. Don’t move, don’t breath, don’t do anything.”
My breathing is finally returning to normal. The guy on the left is approaching the cellar doors. I curl up into a ball in the small alcove, tucking myself away in the shadows in the corner next to them. I can’t see my hand in front of my face, which means he shouldn’t be to see anything if he looks my way. I slip my goggles back on and see the guy walking right in front of me. He can’t be more than ten feet away…
I hold my breath, causing a fresh pain to pulsate through my chest like a fire spreading through a forest. My eyes water, blurring my vision through the goggles.
Come on… move, you piece of shit…
The guy’s almost past me, but I can’t hold it in any longer.
I grimace at the burning sensation as I let out a breath.
Fuck!
I immediately clasp my hand over my mouth, but it’s no good. The guy stops, listening intently. Then he takes a couple of paces backward and stares into the small abyss where I’m crouching down against the wall. He doesn’t know it, but he’s looking right at me.
Josh’s voice sounds in my ear. “Oh, bollocks…”
24
The guy’s standing directly in front of me, squinting into the same darkness I’m desperately trying to hide in. I’m convinced he can hear my heart beating inside my chest. He takes another step closer, his hand tightening around the barrel and stock of the machine gun he’s holding.