Rabitowski let up on the trigger of the SAW machine gun with a satisfying click. "Tiger, one down first-floor foyer, main building."
He swung the muzzle slightly to the left as another door opened and a half-dressed Colombian stepped out waving a pistol. As he pressed the trigger Rabitowski could see the outlines of other men behind the first. He decided to make a clean sweep of things. Keeping the trigger depressed, he swept the doorway and then stitched a pattern on the walls.
The 5.56mm steel-jacketed rounds tore through the plaster, leaving carnage in the guard room. Rabitowski fired until he expended all one hundred rounds in the drum magazine. When the bolt slid forward and halted for lack of ammo, he expertly pulled another drum out of the bag on his hip and reloaded.
"Tiger, a bunch down, first-floor foyer, main building." Rabitowski smiled contentedly and glanced over at Cullen. The pilot shook his head. Some of these old guys sure were crazy.
Rabitowski swung his barrel to the left as two figures stepped out of the hallway from the east. He relaxed his finger when he saw through his goggles the glowing bands of tape on the newcomers. The old sergeant major's eyes widened as he noticed that one of the newcomers was a woman. Goddamn, he thought. What the hell was the army coming to?
Edberg was the second man into Ring Man's bedroom. They were met with the sight of the man, whose picture they had memorized, holding a pistol to the head of a naked young girl whom he held in front of him as a shield.
"I'll kill her if you come any closer," the Ring Man yelled out in Spanish.
Edberg keyed his mike. "Eagle. I've got our target here. Second floor. Center door. He's holding a young girl prisoner. Rest of floor secured."
From the hill Thompson updated the team leader. "Thompson. Sitrep. Compound secure. East and west wings secure. First and second floors main building secure. No sign of the prisoner. You've got the only live one there. Hawk two minutes out."
Edberg considered the situation. The girl was expendable. No one would say anything if they wasted her.
Another figure appeared behind Edberg. "Back out, sir. I'm Riley. I'll handle this."
Edberg didn't question the man and, nodding his head at his partner, he backed out the door around Riley.
Riley glared at the Ring Man. He knew the exfil bird was due shortly and they didn't have time to screw around with this fellow. He dropped his MP5 on its sling and drew his Beretta. He aimed it directly at the Ring Man's forehead.
"Where's the American?"
The Ring Man smiled. "If that is who you came for you are too late. He's not here."
The two cars that had left earlier, Riley realized. That was the only time they could have moved Powers. He took a step closer to the Ring Man.
"I'll kill her!" the Ring Man screamed as he screwed the muzzle of the gun into the side of the girl's head, causing her to cry out.
"Go ahead." Riley fired. The round impacted exactly in the center of the Ring Man's forehead, making a tiny black hole on entry. It exited the rear, blowing off half the back of his head. The pistol slipped out of lifeless fingers. The girl stayed where she was, frozen. Riley drew a bead on her momentarily, then lowered his barrel. He whipped off his belt, tied her hands together, and threw her over his shoulder.
"Riley. Ring Man dead. Has anyone seen any sign of Powers?"
"Thompson. Negative. Building has been cleared. He isn't here. Any idea where he could be?"
Riley felt as though he'd been hit with a sucker punch. All this only to find that Powers had been moved. "Riley. They must have moved him out this afternoon."
Westland appeared at his side as he carried the girl down the stairs. She pulled the mike away from her lips as she spoke to him. "What now? They must have moved Powers in that two-car convoy you saw leave earlier."
Riley nodded. His brain went into overdrive as he ran out into the backyard with his prisoner. The two cars had returned less than an hour after departing. If Powers had been in one of those cars, he had either been transferred to another vehicle or was being held relatively close by, probably in Bogota, Riley thought.
Thompson shifted his gaze as Tremont alerted him. "Tremont. Got a pickup truck coming up the drive. Probably the guards from the road. I can see two men in the back with weapons." "Thompson. Tiger, you copy that?"
"Tiger, roger."
Griffin released the safety on the RPG. He glanced over to the other side of the road where Jacobs was crouched, ready with his rocket launcher. Through his goggles he could make out the glow of the headlights coming closer.
Griffin pulled off the goggles and peered into the darkness through the NSP-2 infrared night sight of the launcher. The headlights appeared around a curve, eighty meters away, coming fast. Griffin centered the cross hairs of the RPG right between the two lights, and tracked. He waited until they were only fifty meters away before firing.
The rocket leapt from the tube. It covered the fifty meters in less than a second. The 85mm projectile tore into the front of the pickup truck and exploded, turning the vehicle into a blazing fireball that rolled off the left side of the road and tumbled down the slope toward the valley.
"Tiger, vehicle destroyed."
"Snake, roger. Hawk one minute out. All elements pull back."
Griffin and Jacobs ran back up the driveway, where they met Rabitowski, who had just lit the fuse running to the charges he and Cullen had rigged on the cars. The old NCO ran over to the OH-58 and threw in a satchel. He patted the side of the aircraft. "You done good," he muttered and then turned back to the other members of his team. "Let's go."
They raced around the building, where they were met by the other members of the strike force heading for the backyard. Edberg was standing next to the elevated diving board, counting heads as people came running up. He could hear the helicopter now, coming in from the west. He spotted Riley with a girl over his shoulder and ran over to him.
"What are you going to do with her? We can't take her with us."
Riley shook his head. "I'll keep her here. I'm not going with you."
"What!" Edberg glanced up as the massive HH-53 chattered in above them. "What are you going to do?"
"I have to find Powers. I'll take one of the cars up front."
Westland stood next to him. "I'm staying with you."
Edberg shook his head. He had no time to argue. "If you don't get on that bird you're not my responsibility anymore. Also, the cars up front are rigged to blow."
"How long a fuse?"
Edberg shrugged. "Five minutes, but I'm not sure how long ago Rabitowski lit it. He's…" His next words were lost in the roar as the helicopter settled in. Edberg shook his head as Riley and Westland sprinted off for the front of the villa, Riley still carrying the young Colombian girl.
The pilot of the Pave Low flared to a hover above the swimming pool and carefully rotated his aircraft around. The pool was the only place large enough, and clear enough, for the massive blades of the helicopter to rotate freely. As the pilot lowered the bird he listened to the instructions of his crew chief, who was leaning out the open back ramp: "Five meters. Four. Three. Little more back. Good. Two. One. Hold it. Hold it." The aft end of the aircraft hit lightly into something solid.
The pilot fixed on the horizon as he tried to steady the aircraft. In the back the members of the strike force were clambering on board, using the three-meter diving board leading to the back ramp. The pilot held the helicopter in place for the twenty seconds it took all the members to get on board.