Suddenly, a voice came over Mitchell’s earpiece. “Where are you guys?” asked Sam.
Mitchell grinned from ear to ear. “We’re on the second floor of the hangar,” he said as he helped Corrine to stand.
“Which end?” Sam asked.
“Southwest, I think,” Mitchell said, not entirely sure of their exact location.
“Hang on, I’m on my way,” said Sam. “I’ll be there in thirty seconds or less.”
Mitchell quietly pointed to the far end of the hallway. Corrine nodded and then dashed off, leaving Mitchell standing alone beside the battered staircase. Pointing his AK down, Mitchell fired off a quick burst to keep their attackers pinned for a little while longer, before sprinting after Corrine.
Sam spun the wheel in her hands and saw the hangar race towards her. Aiming for the corner of the building, Sam had no plan other than to use the massive truck as a battering ram; she was going to smash her way inside the hangar. Looking down, Sam saw a couple of cars parked outside of the hanger. She did not intend to try to drive around them. Relying on the sheer weight and brute power of the truck, Sam braced herself and jammed her foot down hard on the accelerator. The roar from the massive engine of Sam’s stolen truck drowned the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass as she rode up and over the parked cars, reducing them to flattened debris in a matter of seconds. The corner of the hanger loomed large. Sam gritted her teeth and grabbed on tight to the wheel as the building filled her windshield.
Teplov had had enough. Pushing past the lead Mauritanian soldiers still pulling the bloodied bodies of their dead and dying comrades back down the stairs with them, Teplov grabbed a blood-smeared AK. He checked that it was loaded and then sprinted up the stairs, easily taking them two at a time. Suddenly, the entire building rocked back and forth, as if an earthquake had hit it. The hangar sounded like it was being torn apart. Teplov reached out and grabbed the railing to stop himself from being thrown back down the slick stairs by the unnatural swaying of the building.
Blinding dust and debris filled the air.
Mitchell staggered back and forth on his feet. Looking down, he saw that Corrine was lying on her back, knocked off her feet by the impact. Turning his head towards the far corner of the hanger, Mitchell could just make out the cab of some outrageously large truck through a jagged hole ripped into the side of the building. Inside the cab, Sam was waving at him to get moving. Mitchell bent down and helped a bruised Corrine up onto her feet. Together they carefully picked their way over the debris strewn across the floor. Stepping to the edge of the opening, Mitchell could see that Sam had wedged her truck into the side of the hanger. All they had to do was step out and over onto the narrow metal platform running along the outside of the driver’s cab.
“Come on, Mrs. March. It’s time to leave,” said Mitchell as he stepped aside and helped Corrine climb her way through the debris and onto the side of the truck. Seeing her coming, Sam opened the door to the cab and helped Mrs. March move in beside her. Mitchell was about to jump over when the crack of a bullet striking the wall beside his head startled him. Instinctively spinning around, Mitchell dropped down onto one knee, his AK raised. Looking down the weapon’s sights, he saw two soldiers charging towards him, screaming like demons and firing their weapons from the hip as they ran. Following closely behind them was Teplov. Mitchell took aim at the closest man and pivoted as he fired down the hallway, cutting the men down as if they were wheat under a scythe. The bolt to his AK locked back; he was out of ammunition. Tossing the empty weapon aside, Mitchell turned and then leapt over onto the cab of Sam’s truck. His feet had barely touched metal when Sam threw the vehicle into reverse and jammed her foot down on the gas pedal. Mitchell felt the truck move and had to quickly grab onto the side railing to prevent himself from being tossed over the side of the truck as it pulled away from the mangled side of the hangar. The sound of tearing metal was deafening as wreckage pulled from the side of the hangar rained down to the ground. As soon as the truck was free, the wrecked corner of the hangar collapsed like an avalanche where the truck had once been. Opening the cab door, Mitchell shot Sam a smile of appreciation and then jumped over her, landing in a heap beside Mrs. March.
“Sam has them both and they’re on the move,” said Cardinal calmly into his throat-mic as the truck drove straight back from the building, smashing anything in its path to pulp.
“It’s too dangerous now to use the chopper,” said Jackson, his mind working out a new escape plan for the team. “Yuri, take off and head back to the old airbase. We’ll RV with you there and make arrangements to get us out of the country ASAP,” he said with a reassuring wink at Fahimah.
Yuri responded. His helicopter, already warmed up, leapt into the air and away from the mayhem.
Jackson spoke, “Cardinal, guide Sam back here to us.”
“Can do,” replied Cardinal as he calmly dropped a couple of soldiers aiming an RPG at Sam’s truck.
Standing at the end of the demolished second-story hallway, staring unbelieving at the escaping truck, was a bloodied Teplov. One of Mitchell’s bullets had gone straight through one of the soldiers and into his left shoulder. Gritting his teeth in pain, Teplov raised his pistol and pulled the trigger. He screamed like an enraged animal as his aimless bullets flew into the night. Hate filled his dark heart. If it took him the rest of his life, Teplov vowed he would have his revenge on Mitchell and his family. He would hunt them all down and see that they died painfully.
Sam acknowledged Cardinal’s directions to their link-up point and with a loud squeal from the massive tires, she swung the truck around so she could see where she was heading. Being two stories up, Sam could not really see what was directly below the truck until she either smashed into it, or drove straight over it. Panicked refinery technicians and workers scrambled out of the way of the enormous vehicle that was ploughing its way through the refinery like a maddened bull elephant charging through the wilds.
Suddenly, a jeep with three soldiers in it raced out of a side street, chasing after the rampaging truck. Mitchell looked out the side mirror and saw that one of the men had an RPG in his hands, the grenade already loaded and primed. Mitchell’s blood ran cold; he could see that the RPG gunner was trying to get a clear shot at the cab. Mitchell knew Sam could not see them from her side of the cab, and it was doubtful if Cardinal perched high up on his tower could either.
“Sam! Do you have a gun with you?” asked Mitchell as he watched the jeep race towards them. He figured they had ten seconds or less until they were fired upon. There was no way the cab could survive a hit from an RPG; he had to deal with them right away, or they would all be dead.
“Yeah, I’ve got an AK74 beside my seat,” said Sam, her eyes glued to the road in front of her. “Why do you ask?”
Mitchell instantly reached over and grabbed it. “I need to get rid of some unwanted guests,” replied Mitchell as he crawled over Corrine, opened the passenger-side door, and then jumped out onto the platform running the length of the cab. Looking down, Mitchell saw the jeep speeding up. In a matter of seconds, it was almost parallel with the cab, the gunner ready to fire his deadly missile. A soldier in the jeep looked up and saw Mitchell. He tried pointing him out to the soldier with the RPG, but was too late. Mitchell pulled back on the trigger. Bullets sprayed around inside the back of the open jeep, killing the two men before they knew what was happening. Quickly changing his aim, Mitchell fired off a burst into the driver. A moment later, the jeep slowed, and then swerved towards Sam’s truck. Mitchell watched as the doomed vehicle disappeared underneath the gigantic truck. A second later, Mitchell felt and then heard the massive rear tires riding up and over the doomed jeep, flattening it and everyone inside of it. Realizing that they had dodged a close one, Mitchell opened the door and crawled in beside Corrine. In the distance, like a lighthouse showing them the way to safety, was Cardinal’s sniper tower.