PRIMAL Fury (The PRIMAL Series) (43 page)

CHAPTER 79

“Do we know who started this shitstorm?” Ryu was pacing the casino security center like a caged animal.

“No, all of the teams are denying firing the first shot,” one of the Kissaki replied.

“Of course they would. Because they know once I find out who it was, they’re dead.”

“Sir, we’ve lost three of our cameras covering the rear of the facility,” another Kissaki reported. “We’ve also had a breach of one of the rear fire exits.”

“The foreigners or SAT?” Ryu left his own terminal.

“I’ll bring up an internal shot from the stairwell.”

Ryu stood behind him as the operator displayed the camera feed on his screen. Two figures in SAT uniforms climbed the stairs toward the cameras. A weapon pointed directly at the screen and then it went blank. Ryu took his radio from his hip.

“Echo Two this is Echo Zero, we’ve got SAT in the central stairwell. Inform the
waka-gashira
and escort him and the girl to the command center via the eastern elevators.”

“Echo Zero, this is Echo Two, acknowledged,” Hideaki replied from outside of Karla’s room.

“Sir!” interrupted the Kissaki who had reported the loss of the cameras. “One of the teams has reported helicopters approaching.”

“Warn the gangs; ensure they defend the rooftop.”

“And what about us?”

“Be prepared to extract once the
waka-gashira
arrives. I’ll alert the reserve team. The mission here is over.”

“They know we’re here.” Bishop had shot the CCTV camera from its wall mount.

“That was always going to happen,” Saneh said curtly. “Keep moving, we need to be on the next floor.”

Bishop moved up the staircase. “You’ve been a real joy to work with this time around.”

“Just shut up and keep moving, we’re here to do a job.”

“Right, recover Kurtz’s girlfriend.”

“You can be such a callous bastard.”

“Job’ll do that to you.”

They reached the fire exit for the second level. Bishop eased the door open a crack and peered into the corridor. “All clear.” The corridor was bare concrete, awaiting the attention of the painters.

“Did you hear that?” Saneh stopped. Over the crackle of automatic fire they could just make out the dull thud of rotor blades.

“Bishop, you’ve got about twenty seconds until the air assault hits the roof,” Kurtz reported.

Saneh consulted her iPRIMAL. “Her room should be about halfway around the corridor.”

The hallway followed the horseshoe shape of the building, curving around with rooms branching off on either side. The doorways were empty, the rooms yet to be fitted out.

“Sitrep on air assault?” Bishop asked as he and Saneh moved down the corridor. The sound from the gunfire and helicopters outside was muffled but still audible.

“First birds are hovering over the top level. Snipers have effectively suppressed or killed all hostiles.”

“Roger.”

“Have you found Karla?” asked Kurtz.

“Negative, moving in on the rooms now.”

The burst of fire caught Bishop by surprise. It narrowly missed him, ricocheting off the bare concrete walls. He fired a double tap instinctively as the shooter slipped away.

“Did you see him?” Saneh asked.

“Negative.”

Bishop pushed forward, his weapon held ready. Saneh moved slightly behind him and off to one side.

Another burst of fire ricocheted down the corridor. Bishop sprinted forward, catching a glimpse of a black-clad figure. He fired again as the man disappeared around the bend.

“This is where she should be,” Saneh announced as they reached a section of completed hotel rooms. One of the doors was open. “Looks like someone left in a hurry.”

“Check the room, I’ll cover you.”

Saneh ducked into the room, reappearing a few seconds later. “Not here…definitely occupied by a woman, though. I can still smell the perfume.”

“They’re moving her.” Bishop took off down the corridor.

“Aden, wait!” Saneh chased him.

He charged around the corridor just in time to see two gunmen dressed in black shepherding Karla and Masateru into an elevator. Bishop slid onto one knee, raised his Tavor, and as the red dot of the Aimpoint sight hovered over his target, squeezed the trigger.

The SLAP round took the Kissaki gunman square in the chest, plowed through his soft armor, and dropped him to the ground with a thud.

The second man, Hideaki, fired a burst at the same time. A round slapped into Bishop’s armor and he toppled sideways, firing wildly as he dropped, blowing chunks out of the concrete wall.

Before Hideaki could adjust his aim Saneh fired a single shot that punched through the bridge of his nose and spread his brains across the wall.

The elevator doors shut with a thud as Bishop regained his feet. “Fuck. Where does this go?” He leaned against the wall, fighting for breath in the wake of the bullet’s impact on his armor.

“I’m not sure, probably down to the parking lot. You OK?”

Bishop ignored the question and started jogging back down the corridor. “We can use the stairs. Head them off on the lower levels.”

“No, wait!” Again Saneh was too late; he was already disappearing around the bend.

“SAT has secured the roof,” Kurtz broadcast.

Saneh caught up with Bishop at the fire exit door to the staircase. “Aden!” He was already through the door and heading down the stairs.

At the ground-floor exit, Saneh grabbed his arm. “You get Kurtz’s last update?” she hissed. “Things are about to get real hot in here and we need to go.” She pulled him toward the doorway they had breached on their way in.

“We can still grab her if we get down to the lower levels.”

“You listen to me, Aden! We’re about to be caught between a police assault and the rest of the Mori-Kai. We’ve got to exfil now!”

“The plan was to recover the girl.”

“Yes, but only if it was low risk. The police have this place locked down tight. If we don’t get out now we’re going to be in serious trouble.”

Bishop knew she was right. “Aleks and Kurtz, we’ve failed to locate the girl. Extracting now.”

“Roger, we have your exfil covered but you need to move fast,” Aleks replied. “Also, just so you know, HQ was trying to raise you.”

Saneh led them in a sprint out of the building. Rotor blades beat the air as they dashed for the wire fence. Reaching the safety of the ditch, they glanced up at the two helicopters hovering over the casino. Long black ropes hung underneath and lines of men were sliding down them onto the roof.

“Bishop, this is Bunker,” Bishop heard over his earpiece. “We’ve got those floor plans.”

“Bit bloody late,” Bishop snorted as he lay in the ditch, lungs heaving.

“You’re going to want to take a look at them. There’s a tunnel that leads from the basement level out eight hundred meters to the east. It links into a warehouse.”

“Is it uploaded?” Bishop asked.

“It’s on your iPRIMAL.”

Bishop pulled the device from his vest and pulled up the mapping screen. A GPS icon showed his location and the tunnel was marked in red. “Saneh, check this out.”

“You’re kidding me. They’ve got covert access to the casino?”

“Makes sense. They’ll want to be able to move high-profile guests in and out without being seen by police surveillance.”

“Obviously that’s how they’re going to get her out,” said Saneh. “That’s where we’ll find Masateru and his cronies.”

“Kurtz, do you have obs on that location?” Bishop asked.

“Negative, it’s blocked by the right-hand side of the casino construction.”

“UAV?”

“Out of power. I’ve ditched her near the van.”

Bishop checked the map. The distance across to the warehouse was about the same as the distance back to the van; however, they would have to run along a track between paddy fields. They would be exposed to anyone on the upper levels of the casino.

“We’re going to move on foot, Kurtz; can you guys make sure no one engages us from the roof?”

“Yes.”

“Once we’re clear pack up and meet us at the warehouse.”

“Acknowledged.”

“You think we can get there in time?” Saneh asked.

“Probably not.” Bishop started jogging. “But we’ve at least got to try.”

CHAPTER 80

“Rooftop secure, sir.” The air assault section leader had his team assembled around the roof fire exit door. “I’ve got at least ten dead hostiles in my location.”

“Sniper section will provide support as you assault downward,” the SAT commander responded.

“Do we have any snipers located to the south, in an apartment block?” The team leader examined the body of a Chinese gunman. He had been shot by a heavy-caliber bullet. The round had punched clean through an air-conditioning unit and torn him in half.

“Negative. All our assets are located to the north.”

“Acknowledged.”

The SAT commander continued. “Ground units are in place. Alpha has been extracted. Bravo is in cutoff. You are to proceed with your clearance down through the floors. Use of gas is authorized.”

“Yes, sir.” The section leader gave the apartment complex a glance before giving his lead team the thumbs-up. “Mask up, we’re using gas.”

His men took their gas masks from the pouches on their belts and put them on in pairs, one man covering as the other adjusted his equipment. Once they were ready the section leader gave a nod. A group of his men gathered around the air-conditioning units and shoved gas grenades into the air ducts. The grenades popped, billowing tear gas into the air-conditioning system and down into the casino.

“Go, go, go!” the section leader transmitted.

The lead assaulter threw a gas grenade down the stairwell and his team charged through the door and down the stairs. There was a volley of shots as the team pushed into the gas cloud and engaged the Mori-Kai gunmen. More dull thuds and shots sounded as the team threw more gas and continued clearing through the upper level.

AK assault rifles barked, Mori-Kai gunmen firing blindly at shadows, their eyes streaming with tears and lungs burning. They staggered away, spluttering, as the gray clouds spread.

The black-clad SAT moved through the white cloud like wraiths. Unaffected by the smoke, they pushed forward, ruthlessly cutting down Korean and Chinese gang members with well-aimed shots from their MP5s.

The final group of gunmen on that level consisted of a small group of Triads. The Chinese put up a savage fight, shooting magazine after magazine into the haze as it rolled toward them. The SAT dived to the ground as the bullets zipped through the air, slamming into the freshly constructed walls. Eventually, the weapons fell silent as one by one the Triads succumbed to the gas.

Once the fighting on that level had died down, the section leader moved into the stairwell. “Progress?” he asked his team commander, his voice sounding alien through his gas mask.

“At least ten hostiles dead. Snipers had already killed the rest.”

“Any casualties?”

“Only one minor wound so far.”

“Very good.” He checked his watch. At this rate they should have it all wrapped up in under an hour.

“They’re on level five. Gas has been deployed,” one of the Kissaki reported. “Our men are taking heavy casualties.” The carnage seen on the CCTV screens was evidence enough that the gangs were woefully equipped to deal with the gas.

“Any
gaijin
?” Ryu asked.

“Nothing, sir. Only SAT.”

“Damn it.”

“How long until they get to our level?”

“They’re averaging a floor every five minutes. But if the gangs break and flee they will be much faster.”

“Where the fuck are Masateru and Hideaki?” Ryu scanned the video screens.

“I can’t raise them.”

“We need to be prepared for the worst, then. Erase the video servers and lock down the door.”

The security room had a thick steel door that until now had been left open. It took two of the Kissaki to push it closed.

“Stop!” Masateru appeared in the doorway with Karla behind him. “Let us in.”

The Mori-Kai
waka-gashira
was breathing heavily as he collapsed into a chair. “You weren’t going to leave without me, were you, Ryu?”

The Kissaki sealed the heavy door with a thud.

“I feared the worst.”

“Then why didn’t you come looking for me? We were nearly captured by the police. Hideaki was killed.”

Karla stood in the corner, her eyes wide with fear.

“I would have secured your release from the police later,
waka-gashira
. But if all the Kissaki were killed or captured it would be much harder for us to recover.”

“True, that is exactly what the foreigners would want.”

“You think they planned this?”

“Without a doubt,” said Masateru.

“Sir,” the Kissaki behind the computer interrupted, “the SAT have reached the third level. The Chinese and Koreans are offering little resistance.”

“We need to leave now,” Ryu said. “Those thugs won’t hold much longer. We can always replace them.”

“They were always meant to be disposable,” Masateru added. “Let’s go.”

Ryu opened an electrical panel that was bolted to the wall. He flicked a number of switches in a preset order. There was a hum of electric motors and one of the concrete wall panels swung inward, revealing a set of stairs.

Masateru took Karla by the hand and led her down the stairs into a well-lit concrete tunnel. Two electric golf carts were parked bumper to bumper, facing away from the stairs. He and Karla climbed into the passenger seats of the first cart. The remaining four Kissaki loaded computer equipment and weapons into the second cart. Ryu closed the escape door behind them and took the wheel of the first cart. He glanced around to check everyone was ready, then set off down the tunnel.

They drove without speaking, the whine of the electric engines the only sound as they raced through the tunnel. A couple of minutes later they reached the end, where a ramp curved upward, and they followed it until they emerged through an open door into a large warehouse.

Parked under bright lights were four black SUVs manned by the reserve squad of Kissaki, all armed to the teeth.

“Load the rest of the equipment,” Ryu ordered his men, nodding toward the second golf cart. “
Waka-gashira
, this way.” He guided Masateru and Karla across to the closest vehicle.

“Is this it?” Saneh asked as they reached the warehouse.

Both were breathing hard and sweating in the midday sun. Moving as fast as they could between the older warehouses and rice paddies, they had taken a good ten minutes to reach it. Their boots and pants were coated in mud from a drainage ditch they’d used to avoid being spotted by a police checkpoint.

Bishop checked the map on his iPRIMAL. “Yeah, this is it. We’ll breach here once the others are in position.”

He checked the back door. Locked.

Saneh examined the door. “I’ll prep the charge,” she said, taking off her backpack.

“Aleks and Kurtz, how are you tracking?” Bishop asked over his iPRIMAL.

“This is Kurtz; we’ve collapsed the overwatch position and loaded the van. Will be on the move in a minute. Have you found Karla?”

“Negative. We’ve located the warehouse but no sign of the girl or the Mori-Kai. We’re going to wait in place until you arrive at the cutoff. Once you’re ready Saneh and I will clear the building and you can pick up the squirters.”

“We’ll be with you soon,” Kurtz replied.

“Roger.” Bishop turned to Saneh. “I’m going to have a quick scout around the corner and see what we’re dealing with.”

She nodded as she taped two saline bags to a slab of explosives and placed the charge at the base of the door. “Charge ready,” she said, sliding a remote detonator into the slab.

Bishop walked slowly toward the front of the warehouse, seeing no sign of any CCTV or surveillance devices. He peeked around the corner; a huge roller door covered most of the frontage. Still no sign of any security.

A faint noise started from the inside. It grew into a loud rumble, the distinctive sound of a diesel engine. Other engines joined the first and the roller door started slowly clanking.

Bishop sprinted back down the side of the warehouse. “Saneh, hit the charge, they’re going!”

“What about the rest of the team?”

“Just fucking hit it.”

He rounded the corner as the charge detonated. The pressure wave rolled over him as he slid into the breached doorway, his Tavor held ready. He fired as the first SUV leaped out under the roller door, closely followed by the second and third, his bullets chasing them. A fourth vehicle was waiting with its passenger door open.

Bishop caught the man responsible for opening the roller door in the open. He hit him with a burst; the man’s body convulsed and dropped to the ground.

Seeing his comrade fall, the driver of the last vehicle slammed his SUV into reverse. Tires squealed as the truck shot backward toward Bishop. He emptied the rest of his magazine as he leaped out of the way.

Saneh was coming through the doorway as the SUV shot backward. She skidded to a halt and the truck hit her with a thud, knocking her to the ground.

The SUV lurched forward, its wheels spinning on the smooth concrete as they fought for traction. Bishop pulled the trigger again but the bolt had locked back on an empty magazine. He let the rifle drop on its sling, drew his pistol, and fired at the truck as it accelerated.

The heavy vehicle jolted sideways as a tire deflated, dropping onto a flat rim. The driver failed to compensate and hit the side of the warehouse with a crunch. Wheels smoked again as the truck scraped against the wall, slowly turning toward the exit.

Bishop sprinted after the truck, firing his pistol into the back window. The big V8 diesel roared and the vehicle straightened up and accelerated. With a cry, Bishop launched himself through the air, grabbing the tailgate through the shattered rear window as the SUV rocketed out of the warehouse and swung onto the road. The momentum flung him sideways and he hit the ground with a thud, ripping his Tavor from its sling and sending him sliding across the asphalt on his back.

He groaned as he staggered back to his feet and watched the truck disappear into the distance.

“You OK?” Saneh handed him both his guns.

“Yeah.” He gave her a concerned look. “What about you?”

“Just a few bruises. Could have gone a lot worse. If we’d banged in a few minutes earlier it would have been a bloodbath.”