He hit the hard dirt and rolled fifteen feet before coming to a stop. The second his momentum halted, he pushed himself off the ground and sprinted back toward the ridge where Emily was waiting just out of view. Behind him, the Jeep bounced along the road, kicking up a dusty fog.
Sean didn’t look back. He had to get out of sight or the entire plan would fail. His legs churned harder, and as he reached the top of the hill he dove forward and rolled into the weeds.
Emily was waiting a few yards away with her engine running. She motioned for him to hurry. Again, he got up off the ground and rushed over to the Jeep. He flung himself inside the open door, and Emily stepped on the gas.
The prairie outside the compound was mostly flat but extremely bumpy. Fortunately for the two agents, it was also grassy, which meant they wouldn’t leave a trail of dust to let Toli’s soldiers know where they were.
Their heads bobbed forward and back with every bump, like they were at a heavy metal concert. Emily kept her hands on the wheel, deftly guiding the vehicle around rocks and over a few humps that nearly sent them airborne.
In the distance, they heard the first sounds of the guards firing their weapons at the other Jeep. Emily eased the wheel to the right, keeping them on a course parallel with the compound’s southern wall.
“You gonna make the turn?” Sean asked. He looked at her with anxious eyes.
“Wait for it.”
“Wait for it? They’re shooting at the other Jeep.”
“Ten more seconds.”
“Okay, but you wanted a distraction. They’re distracted.”
The ridgeline leveled out, and the compound came into view five hundred yards away.
Sean looked back at the gate just in time to see the other Jeep smash into it. From their point of view, he couldn’t tell where the vehicle struck. Not that it mattered. The fact that it hit the target at all was pretty incredible.
Before he could say anything, Emily jerked the wheel to the right and put the Jeep on course for a smaller gate close to the rear. It had barbed wire attached at the top, but the weak chain-link fencing wouldn’t stop them. Especially not at top speed.
Sean grabbed his assault rifle and pressed the stock against his shoulder. He checked the wall with his sights to make sure there were no other guards looking their way.
He noticed one, but the man was running in the other direction. The diversion had worked.
Emily’s knuckles were white as she gripped the wheel. The secondary gate was only a few hundred feet away.
“Once we’re inside, you turn this thing around and leave the engine running!” Sean shouted over the combination of motor and wind. “I’ll take out the first guards, then we press to where they’re holding the SEALs.”
She didn’t acknowledge his order. They’d already gone over the plan. Now it was time to execute it. The gate loomed a hundred feet away as Emily kept the pedal pressed firmly against the floor.
10
Fletch was crouching next to the door, about to burst through when the thunderous gunfire started. He looked over at Mueller and then the other two with the same questions in his eyes that they had.
He moved back to the nearest window and peeked around the edge. The soldiers outside were shouting and running toward the front gate.
“What’s going on?” Tevin asked. “Backup arrived?”
“No idea. But whatever it is, it’s got Toli’s men distracted. They’re all heading to the main gate. This might be a good time for us to… ”
A huge bang erupted outside, cutting his comment short. The men looked around at each other and then back at Fletch. “I say we go out the back.”
He sidled back over to the door and flung it open. A group of four soldiers were running by. They didn’t notice the four Americans inside. All their attention was on the main gate where a column of black smoke roiled into the air.
Fletch stepped out and turned left, right into a group of three more of Toli’s men. His weapon was already trained on them, and before they could react he cut them down in a barrage of metal. The other three poured out of the building, Alberto joining Fletch, and the other two covering the back.
The gunfire at the front had ceased, which caused the shots Fletch fired to receive more attention than the Americans would have preferred. Two guys came around from behind a transport truck and were cut down by Alberto. The group who’d been running by as the SEALs left the building turned around to see what was going on behind them. Tevin and Mueller took care of them, firing one shot at a time in quick succession to maximize the number of rounds they had on hand.
Fletch kept the group pushing forward to the rear gate. He scooped up one of the dead men’s rifles in his hand and slung the strap over his shoulder. The others rearmed themselves as well.
They stayed together in a tight formation and cut left behind the corner of the building where they’d been held. Immediately, Fletch and the others realized their position was not advantageous.
“We need a way out of here,” he stated the obvious.
“May as well take one of Toli’s trucks,” Mueller said.
Fletch nodded.
It was a forty-yard sprint across the courtyard to reach the nearest transport truck. And it would put them out in the open — easy targets for anyone on the wall with a weapon.
The leader didn’t wait for one of the others to volunteer to go first. He took off at a dead run, pumping his legs as fast as he could. Halfway to the truck, the dirt around him exploded in little bursts. He slid to one knee and spun around. The shooter was on the wall around thirty yards away.
“Move!” Fletch yelled at the other three. They ran toward him as he took aim. He felt the trigger tense under his finger and then squeezed. The muzzle erupted six times. The barrel tried to ride up, but Fletch kept it tightly locked on the target, peppering the gunman with four of the six rounds.
More shots were fired behind him as his companions ran headlong into a rally by Toli’s men.
The rebels were terrible soldiers and gave no thought to strategy or planning. Dozens of them were cut down in a wave of heavy fire from the SEALs. But the victory was only temporary.
Tevin was the first to signal he was out of ammunition. Mueller came next. More gunmen were running down the causeway above the wall. Fletch emptied his magazine, clipping one of them in the leg. But four others took up positions and started firing.
Pinned against the back of the transport truck, they were trapped, out of ammo, and out of options.
Toli’s troops flooded the courtyard from the different buildings and charged the Americans.
Suddenly, a crashing and screeching blasted through the courtyard from the rear gate. An ancient tan Jeep burst into the area with a brunette woman driving and a blond man with an M16 in the passenger seat.
In an instant, the muzzle blazed hot metal at the enemy, slicing through their ranks and sending them scattering for cover.
The woman jerked the wheel to the left, pushed the Jeep into a power slide that finished with it aiming toward the gate they’d just plowed through.
“Come on!” the blond man yelled as he hopped to the ground and crouched next to the Jeep.
He took aim at the men atop the wall and fired. One. Two. Three. Four shots, three dead. The fourth gunman dropped below the wall’s concrete railing and stayed hidden.
Toli had gone to the front gate to see what had happened. At first he’d believed it was some kind of brash attack or perhaps someone who’d strayed away from the main road, killed by his men in the towers.
It didn’t take long for him to realize what was really going on. Someone had planned a diversion to help the Americans escape. He ordered the men who had been tending to the wreckage to move to the rear of the compound.