Right To Kill - Right to Kill Part 34
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Right to Kill Part 34

"Everyone ready?"

"Let's do this," LG said.

Nathan pressed the garage door opener attached to the visor.

The middle of three roll-up doors began its journey.

Nathan stopped twenty feet short.

On the rear wall of the basement, Nathan saw an opening with stairs beyond.

Someone stood in the garage.

There was no way Nathan could avoid being seen. The security lights on the eaves of the roof blanched the entire driveway. He'd hoped no one would be waiting in the garage.

"Harv, LG, get your windows down, we've got company."

At the roll-up door's halfway mark, Nathan saw a nice pair of shoes, slacks, and a huge revolver.

When the door reached head height, he recognized the man they wanted.

Tomas Bustamonte.

Hoping to buy an extra second of time, Nathan flashed the headlights in a friendly way. It didn't work. Bustamonte frowned and raised his weapon.

"Get down!" Nathan yelled.

He stomped the accelerator and the SUV answered the call.

Tomas fired as they crossed the garage's threshold.

Nathan closed his eyes and jerked his head down to the right as the windshield exploded.

He kept his foot on the gas, hoping to plow Bustamonte before he retreated into the stairwell.

Remembering the air bags, he slammed the brakes before the SUV smashed into the wall.

Harv and LG fired from their open windows, but their shots missed low when the car jerked to a stop.

Nathan clenched his teeth as Bustamonte bounded up the stairs.

LG yelled, "Shit!"

He kept his voice calm. "We stick to the plan. Get your bearings. This garage faces west."

"Nate, we-"

"We can't let them escape. We end this here and now. LG, take the south side, Harv, you're on the north. Circle around and get to a position where you can cover the corners. We'll call the three levels basement, ground, and second. Get going!"

Nathan hustled over to the door leading to the interior of the house and flattened himself against the wall. No noise came from inside.

He looked around and found what he needed near the washing machine. He grabbed the winter parka hanging from a coat hook.

He ran toward the door, purposely making loud footfalls. He stopped short, tossed the parka across the opening, and was rewarded with a booming report. The weapon sounded like a small cannon, probably a magnum. The coat jumped as the bullet perforated its form and skipped off the concrete.

"Nathan!"

"I'm okay, Harv. He's still in the stairwell." In Spanish, Nathan yelled, "Give it up, Bustamonte. You and Ursula can walk out, or be carried out, we don't care which."

His answer came in a string of vulgarities that would have impressed the most seasoned of Marines.

Nathan switched his Sig to his left hand, figured out the right angle to shoot, extended his arm through the opening and fired.

Figuring his shots had forced Bustamonte to duck for cover or retreat, he pivoted into the stairwell. Halfway up, the stairs changed direction to the left. Seeing a concrete block wall, he fired twice more at a safe angle, hoping to score a shrapnel hit. If nothing else, it kept Tomas from reappearing.

He heard a handgun boom from the east side of the cabin.

"Harv?"

"Someone just tried to leave through a rear door back here. I convinced him otherwise. I'm working my way toward the northeast corner. I had to duck under a kitchen window next to the door. There's not much of a backyard out here, just a retaining wall about ten feet from the cabin. The mountain slopes up from it. There're stairs coming down from the second-floor deck. From the layout of the windows farther along the ground-floor wall, I'd say I'm looking at a large bedroom, not multiple rooms."

"LG, do you see any doors?"

"No, just windows. I'm at the southeast corner. The retaining wall extends over to my side. I had to duck under some windows too. I don't have eyes on Fontana."

"I'm not seeing any footprints," Harv said. "No one's been out here."

"I concur," LG said.

"I want both of you to break windows on my command," Nathan whispered. "Shoot at an upward angle toward the ceiling to avoid crossfire. I'm hoping to flush the twins toward me."

His radio clicked twice.

Nathan steeled himself. If he was going to take a bullet within the next few minutes, now could be the time. He'd come close at the Expo line, but this was different. Every room inside this cabin was unknown and every corner blind.

Moving silently, he ascended to the landing and took a quick glance around the corner.

No one there.

He could see the ceiling beyond, but little more. Keeping his gun aimed at the top of the stairs, he ascended slowly, ducking lower as he gained elevation.

His cone of vision widened. Directly ahead, he saw a dining room table and a kitchen beyond. It looked like the living room lay to his right.

He had an idea, something Delta had suggested at the dealership.

"Stand by, I'm going to kill the power."

"A loss in power might trigger the alarm system," Harvey said.

"It's a risk we're going to take. If the twins don't have night vision, it will give us a huge advantage."

He hurried back down the stairs to the garage and hustled over to the circuit-breaker box. "Deploy NV."

Nathan opened the panel and located the master breaker at the top. "Now!" Nathan whispered. "Bust as many windows as you can."

The breaker made a clunk sound and the garage went black.

He hurried back to the midpoint landing of the stairs. Using the same technique, he reached around the corner and fired three shots toward the kitchen area.

The sound of shattering glass filled the cabin. Tonight hasn't been a good night for windows, he thought.

He risked a quick glance over the top step.

No one in sight.

Something thumped across the floor.

He saw the object in his NV, its menacing shape unmistakable.

An M84 stun grenade.

Headed straight toward him.

"Banger!" he yelled.

CHAPTER 28.

This was going to be bad.

Nathan flattened himself on the stairs and lowered his head onto a step.

The cylindrical object brushed his head, glanced off his back, and- Detonated.

The deafening blast compressed his eardrums to the bursting point. It felt like he'd taken a sledgehammer blow to the back of his head.

His left calf ignited with the collective sting of a thousand hornets.

He pushed himself down a few steps just as a handgun boomed.

Behind him, the block wall exploded.

The stinging on his calf grew worse.

Shit, his pant leg was on fire!

He reached down and swatted out the flame with his free hand.

Not all was lost. Only one of his ears took the full brunt. The ear with the speaker had been somewhat spared. The choking effect of burned powder, clothing, and flesh assaulted his lungs. He should've anticipated this. Good thing nobody was counting his mistakes because he'd made a slew of them.

Even through the disorientation and shock, Nathan's mind kicked into high gear. He aimed his Sig toward the kitchen, put desperation in his voice, and yelled, "I'm hit! I'm hit!"

No one appeared.

Harv said something, but he had no idea what.

He couldn't hear himself, but whispered, "I'm okay. One of them's in the kitchen. I was trying to draw him out."

He needed more time to recover. That damned grenade had thrown off his equilibrium. He'd managed to close his eyes in time, but the million-candlepower flash had penetrated his free eyelid and probably damaged his NV scope as well.

Like something out of a recurring nightmare, he heard the same thumping sound again.

You're kidding me!

A second grenade skipped over his head.

Fortunately, this one was moving faster. It smacked the wall behind him and dropped onto the midpoint landing.

Here we go again!

He buried his head into his forearm as the second device detonated.

His unprotected ear took another pounding and he wondered if he'd suffer permanent hearing loss.

Rage overpowered the fresh agony in his head.

Screw this.

He came up from his crouch and charged up the basement stairs, firing as he ran. His calf felt like charred skin was peeling off, and probably was.

His mind registered movement to his right beyond the kitchen, from an opening to a hall or other room.

A big man had pulled the pin on a third grenade! It couldn't be Bustamonte-this guy was Harv's size and wearing different clothes. The twins' personal bodyguard? Fair game then.

Nathan activated his laser and painted the man's chest.

The guy saw the bright dot, dropped the grenade, and pivoted out of sight just as Nathan fired.

He averted his eyes as a third explosion rocked the cabin.

Had he nailed the guy? He didn't know.

The place fell into eerie silence, intensifying the ringing in Nathan's head. He wondered if blood was dripping from his injured ear. Not wanting to stay exposed, he backed into the stairwell and crouched. Now that the threat from more stun grenades had been eliminated, this became a defensible position. Despite the disorientation, he directed his aim at the spot where the bodyguard had disappeared and fired two shots.