Option to Kill (Nathan McBride 3) (42 page)

He set Jin down inside the house, steadied his stance against the jamb of the front door, and took aim at the driver’s side. The door flew open, and the first gunman he’d seen earlier got out and used the open door for cover. Before the guy could bring his MP5 to bear, Nathan placed the crosshairs on the middle of the door panel and fired. The armor-piercing round easily went through the sheet metal and found its mark. Nathan reacquired the gunman through the scope. The man was on the ground in a fetal position, holding his stomach.

Voda must’ve seen his man go down. He drove his SUV off the road and raced toward the west side of H1, using it for cover. Nathan didn’t have a shot from his position. The brush lining the road, coupled with the shallow angle, prevented a clear line of sight. Without leaving the cover of the building, he’d never get a shot. Voda and his man could now use the first three houses for cover as they advanced.

“Lauren, where is the third SUV?”

“
It’s past the turn in the road, and it’s going real fast.
”

“Keep watching it.”

By now, Voda and his other gunman would be out of their SUV. Both Voda and his cohort had leg wounds, and from what Nathan had seen earlier, Voda’s man wouldn’t be able to run very well, if at all. They’d both have to advance cautiously, and Nathan believed they’d stay together, at least initially.

“Jin, I need you to hunker down in the biggest bedroom’s closet.”

She began to protest.

“You’re in no shape to help me. Take this.” He pulled his SIG and offered it to her.

She shook her head. “Keep that. You’re going to need it.”

“Jin, you shouldn’t be unarmed. You — ”

“Keep it!”

Her white top was a problem. He shucked off his ghillie suit coat and tossed it to her, knowing it would mask her glaring white shirt. “I know your feet are bad, but if you get an opportunity, head up to Lauren’s position.”

“Nathan, go. Get moving, Marine!”

He ran through the debris littering the floor and peered through the rear door toward H1.

“Lauren, did you copy everything I just said to your mom?”

“
Yes.
”

“Where’s the third SUV?”

“
It’s almost to H1.
”

“Copy that.”

He placed himself in Voda’s head. With reinforcements coming, he’d probably sit tight and wait for the extra firepower to arrive, which was mere seconds away. He didn’t have time to replace the two .308 rounds he’d just fired, which left him with three rounds left.

“
The car isn’t slowing down
,” Lauren said.

Nathan knew then what they planned to do.

He stepped out of H5’s rear door and began an all-out sprint toward H6. He couldn’t allow Voda’s new arrivals to flank him. There was nothing he could do for Jin right now. He hoped she’d take an opportunity to bug out if given the right circumstance. Dealing with the new arrivals had to take priority. If Voda’s SUV made it through town, he’d be fighting this battle on two fronts. He sorely missed Harv’s presence, but at least he had Lauren’s eyes up in the saddle.

Nathan ran past the corner of H5 and angled toward the road, giving himself some cover from behind. The fifty-foot separation between H5 and H6 seemed like miles.

Nathan heard it then, the oncoming roar of the SUV’s engine.

Lauren voice cut through his earpiece. “
Nathan, look out!
”

The stucco wall of H6 exploded at the same instant he heard the clatter of MP5 fire, dozens of slugs cratering the wall. Whoever had fired that burst hadn’t missed by more than two feet. The gunman who had just opened up on him had to be positioned north of the row of buildings. There was no other way the bullets could’ve impacted where they did otherwise. Either Voda or his gunman was in the brush.

“I’m okay,” he told Lauren, and scrambled farther south toward the road. A second barrage nailed the wall behind him, but he knew it was a desperation burst. The gunman no longer had a line of sight on him.

“Lauren, where did that come from?”

“
He’s in the bushes near H2.
”

Nathan was more than impressed. Not only did Lauren sound calm, she’d used his tactical designator for house number two.

“Good work. Let me know if he approaches H5.”

“
I will.
”

Nathan had the speed advantage and used it. Believing the newly arriving SUV would blow through town, he hustled back toward H5 and took a knee at its corner. Shouldering his Remington, he lined up on the approaching vehicle. Sure enough, it was barreling down the road, raising a massive dust cloud. A gunman behind the driver had his upper body extended out of his window, aiming his AK at the line of structures. Nathan had intended to shoot the driver, but this man with the machine gun became his primary threat.

The gunman saw Nathan and fired a burst.

Nathan ignored the exploding dirt to his right and steadied his Remington. He saw a tiny amount of heartbeat bounce in the scope, but not enough to matter at this distance.

Fully automatic AKs climb when fired, and that’s exactly what happened next. In less than a second, the slugs impacting the ground moved up the wall of H5. The gunman hadn’t held it low enough. Jin should be okay, since she wasn’t positioned where the slugs hit the wall.

Before the guy could level his AK for a second burst, Nathan aimed slightly in front of the man’s chest, and executed a controlled trigger pull.

The concussion of the rifle’s blast shook loose dirt and dust from H5’s roof. It rained down like mist. He cycled the bolt and lined up on the driver. In the right edge of his scope’s image, he saw the man he’d just shot now hung out the window like a rag doll, his head and arms dangling down. Nathan drove his next bullet through the lower-right quadrant of the windshield and scored another hit. The driver slumped to the right. He cycled the bolt, loading his last round.

Out of control, the SUV screamed past his position, clipped the corner of H6, and veered across the slab of H7. Sparks flew as the SUV’s differential sheared the edge of the exposed concrete. The Escalade bounced, swayed, and nearly tipped over.

Nathan slung his rifle over his head, pulled his SIG, and took off in pursuit. He knew the SUV had enough momentum to carry it across H7’s slab and into the vegetation north of the houses. If there were more gunmen in that Escalade, he wanted to neutralize them before they had a chance to recover from their jarring ride.

Running in a full sprint, Nathan followed the SUV into the brush. It hadn’t slowed down, but it was turning to the left much faster than it could handle. Through a rapidly forming maelstrom of dust, he watched the Escalade roll. The man who’d fired the AK cartwheeled out of the window. The SUV rolled at least two more times before he lost sight of it in the billowing dust.

Nathan realized he had a solid tactical opportunity, but he had to hurry. Following the path of destruction, he squinted and nearly tripped over the body of the man who’d flown out of the window.

Thirty yards beyond H7’s slab, he found the Escalade right side up but totaled. All its glass was broken out, including the back window. SIG in hand, he approached the hulk in a crouch and peered inside. The driver was dead, but the man who’d been in the front passenger seat clung to life by a thread, clearly out of the fight. Both of his arms were crushed, probably from being outside the SUV when it rolled. Semiconscious, he looked at Nathan with a resigned expression.

Despite what this guy would’ve done had their situations been reversed, Nathan knew that killing him wouldn’t sit right with his conscience and decided to let the authorities deal with him, assuming he lived.

“Lauren, is this dust cloud heading toward the man hiding in the brush?”

“
That was crazy! I’ve never seen anything like that.
”

“Stay focused and please answer my question. Will the dust cloud envelop the man hiding in the brush?”

“
Yeah, I think so.
”

“Copy that.”

His radio clicked.

Nathan waited until the dust completely cleared the SUV before falling in behind it. Working his way through the vegetation, he had to maintain a medium-paced jog to stay on the dust cloud’s trailing edge. It wasn’t as dense as a smoke screen, but it offered a good visual cone of concealment encompassing his ten-to-two o’clock threat area.

“Lauren, keep your eye on me. Let me know when the leading edge of the dust reaches the man, then tell me when I’m around one hundred feet away from him. Did you copy that?”

“
Yes,
it’s almost there…Okay, I can’t see the man anymore.
”

“Don’t worry about that. Pick a landmark beyond his position and use that for a visual reference. Let me know when to stop. When the dust clears, tell me where he is with a vector from my position. Due west will be twelve o’clock. Do you understand what I’m asking?”

“
Yes.
”

“I’m going silent.”

His radio clicked again, and he couldn’t help but smile. Lauren amazed him — she’d make a fine operations officer someday. He hoped she’d get the distance right, or he’d end up running right into the guy’s lap.

Nathan had always believed the best way to attack an enemy was to be unpredictable. Blindly following this dust cloud into his enemy’s territory fit the bill. He didn’t think Voda or his gunman would be expecting such an aggressive move.

Lauren voice broke his thoughts. “
I can’t tell exactly, but I think you should stop now.
”

Nathan clicked his radio.

He chose a large clump of creosote and dropped down. He knew the row of houses was off to his left, but he wouldn’t be able to see them for several more seconds, until the dust moved through. At least the reverse was also true: if Voda had hidden himself in one of those houses, he hadn’t been able to see Nathan’s approach.

Time seemed to stretch as the dust continued to drift.

Through the thinnest parts of its nebulous form, he spotted the slab of H4 and knew he needed to go a little farther. He advanced another fifty feet and crouched on the northeast side of another creosote bush.

Nathan focused straight ahead, looking for any kind of motion.

“
Okay, I can see him. He’s at your…two o’clock.
”

Nathan clicked his radio again and waited for the last of the dust to clear.

An eerie silence fell over the landscape, touched only by the whisper of wind through the brush. Nathan remained motionless, focusing on the vector Lauren had supplied, but saw nothing.

It became a waiting game, and he took the opportunity to reload his Remington.

His ghillie suit pants still screened the lower half of his body, but his upper half held sharp lines. Although his 5.11 shirt was tan, it didn’t offer more than color in terms of camouflage. As long as he remained frozen, he felt he wouldn’t be seen. Slowly turning his head, he looked toward H3. Partially obscured by the brush, the black opening of its rear door loomed large. Voda could be in there, or in H2, or H1. Lauren hadn’t reporting seeing Voda, but then again, he hadn’t asked about him. But Nathan felt confident Lauren would relay any change down here, especially seeing Voda.

Knowing it involved some risk, Nathan needed to force things. In slow motion, he reached down and picked up a grapefruit-size rock. Keeping his arm as low as possible, he tossed it in an underhanded motion. The rock arced through the air and hit the middle of a creosote bush thirty feet distant — his intended target. Had the wind been blowing harder, the bush’s movement wouldn’t have been detectible, but its sudden shuddering made it stand out clearly from the other plants.