Knox could have exited his home through the garage door and made a clean getaway, but he decided more work remained to be done. He returned inside. As he walked, he balanced the shotgun with one hand while pushing another button on his remote control. He felt a sense of satisfaction that years of paranoia finally paid dividends.
That other battery powered device-the hidden electronic box-sprung to life. This one did not radiate light but, rather, radiated sound…
…Ray Roos stood on the knoll with one hand holding the binoculars, another holding his radio. That radio burst into static then it burst…it burst into…into music.
"In-a-gadda-da-vida, honey,
Don't you know that I love you?
In-a-gadda-da-vida, baby,
Don't you know that I'll always be true?"
…The commando codenamed Huey moved from the extra bedroom into the dinette area with the goal of getting to the garage. He meant to radio Louie to meet him there, but when he activated his transmitter he could only hear music. Rock 'n roll, in fact.
"Control? Louie? Anyone copy? I've got interference!"
Gordon Knox approached the confused killer from behind and drew a hunter's knife across the man's throat. Knox held him up as he gurgled last words, arms flailing as if shimmering to the sound of classic rock playing over his headset.
"Never send I.S. pussies to do a man's job."
The assassin went limp. Gordon thought the fellow might yet be of some use…
…Ray stared at the radio. The music continued to play, overriding any message to or from the entry team. For that matter, the team might already be neutralized.
The Witiko officer leaned toward the radio and questioned, "What is that?"
Roos answered truthfully, "Iron Butterfly," while his eyes focused on the dark and-seemingly-quiet house. At that point, the Director of Internal Security decided to up the ante. He turned to the Witiko officer and nodded. That officer, in turn, waved to his Skytroops.
Both aliens stepped forward and activated their jetpacks. With a hiss of thrust, they leapt into the sky, more jumping than flying across the two hundred yards between the observation point and Knox's house.
The first landed in a crouch on the beveled roof adjacent to the glass-enclosed Lanai. The second went further, dropping to his knees as he landed hard above the front entrance. He hopped down from the roof to the stoop, raised his long alien Gatling gun-like rifle, and stepped through the battered doorway.
The first Witiko smashed through the glass Lanai and dropped alongside the pool. In reaction to the darkness, the alien activated a small visor on his helmet. Instead of seeing the room in shades of light, the Witiko's visor saw the room in shades of heat.
He walked around the pool to a set of closed double doors. While balancing his gun in one hand, the Witiko slid one open. His visor immediately spied the glowing orange and yellow heat signature of a human being. It took a half-second for his gun to whirl to speed and spit a volley of low-caliber projectiles: the Witiko favored quantity of fire over stopping power. The heat signature bobbled side to side absorbing the rounds…but did not drop or flee. Confused, the alien retracted his visor. In the darkness he saw a man standing like a rag doll. No, one man holding another man… BOOM.
Knox's shotgun blasted the befuddled alien, sending his big silver body to the tile floor of the Lanai with a metallic clang. Gordon then let go of the dead commando he had used for a human shield…
…The second Witiko heard the shot. He walked quietly toward the master bedroom's inner door. Meanwhile, the last remaining human assassin-Louie-left Gordon's den and proceeded cautiously into the kitchen area on his way toward the front of the house…
…Roos paced back and forth on the knoll. The Witiko officer eyed him but said nothing.
The Director of Internal Security considered his third and final option if the Witiko team did not complete the job. That third and final option would require a cover story about fuel tank ruptures and a house fire. Thankfully Knox lived in an isolated locale. That would give Roos the time and latitude to paint a picture for any parties who took an interest in the 'accident'.
He tapped his thumb impatiently and waited for a sign…
…There were two ways into the master bedroom, one being through the double doors from the Lanai where the body of the first Witiko now lay. The other a smaller door leading toward the foyer. Gordon crept in that direction with the aim of sweeping through the living room and toward the kitchen.
He opened the bedroom door and took one step. An alien hand slammed down on his shotgun, spinning it from his grasp.
Gordon did not hesitate, but neither did the Witiko, who tried to bring his own weapon to bear. Knox managed to get one hand on the end of the barrel and another near the stock. They grappled in a test of strength between two evenly matched competitors.
First, Gordon pushed the alien into the wall. A framed and autographed University of Miami Hurricanes #55 Jersey with the name "Ross" on the back fell and cracked.
Next, the Witiko grunted and turned the tables, swinging Gordon into the wall. This time no collectibles fell but Gordon saw movement out the corner of his eye: Louie the commando stopped at the kitchen archway and stared across the wide open living room at the struggle.
Knox broke the stalemate with a solid knee to the stomach of the alien. The enemy crunched over but did not relinquish his grip on the rifle. Gordon admired his foe's strength and determination, but the intent had not been to wrest the gun from the soldier. Instead, Gordon wanted access to the Witiko's back.
It surprised the Witiko to feel Gordon let go of the gun. It surprised him even more when Knox pulled a wire on the alien's jetpack. The rockets ignited in a brilliant blast of orange fire and sent the silvery humanoid across the dark living room like a giant bullet. With his arms flailing the alien slammed head-first into the bewildered I.S. commando, pushing him and the Witiko into the kitchen area where they crashed into a counter. The fuel from the jet pack ignited and a small explosion spread through the front of the house…
…Roos saw the sign he waited for: the flash of something big detonating inside Gordon's home. He considered it possible that the explosion meant Gordon Knox just died, but the instinct that had served Roos so well since the onset of Armageddon told him that was not the case.
Writing off both entry teams, Roos waved his hand at the house and told the Witiko officer, "Fuck it. Blow it all up."
The officer sent a signal via a wrist-mounted communicator.
High above the quiet cluster of homes nicknamed "Knoxtown," a ship about twice the size as Gordon's house broke through the clouds with running lights off and its profile invisible to the radar net protecting northeastern Pennsylvania.
Ray gazed skyward until he spotted the shadow of the Stingray descending. He heard the gentle roar of its rocket propulsion and began contemplating a series of cover stories should any witnesses catch sight or sound of the approaching ship. If need be, D'Trayne's people would take the fall by playing the role of renegades seeking revenge. Hopefully it would not come to that, but Roos and the Boy Scouts shared the same motto: always be prepared.
The alien ship dropped to five hundred feet and hovered. Roos watched as a highly focused energy beam cut across the night above the treetops and directly into the home where Gordon Knox made his last stand. The crackling glow of the weapon cast the landscape in a soft illumination next of kin to moonlight. Roos thought it a beautiful sight.
Slabs of roof jumped off the home, walls collapsed, and flames engulfed everything.