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They came out with guns blazing.
Leopov picked off the first man before he knew where the threat was coming from. She was brutally efficient, one shot to the center of mass, another to the head. There was no getting up from that. Then she laid down covering fire for Maddock as he raced to join Bones back at the corner of the building.
Something shifted inside the helicopter. The struts holding the seats into the frame gave way. It was noise, not threat. He ignored it.
“She’s good, man, you have to admit it.” Bones cast an admiring glance in the woman’s direction.
“She’s a lifesaver. Now it’s all about how long she can hold them back.”
Maddock risked a glance around the corner. There was no sign of any of the Russians. They’d taken cover back inside the building. He heard the occasional shot. Nothing sustained. They were taking pot shots up at the woman in the tower.
“That it is, bro. That it is. We’ve got to do something before they get lucky,” Bones said.
It was only a matter of time before one of the stray shots clipped her.
The door had swung outward. It was a dozen strides from them. As long as the Russians didn’t rush out to storm the tower he’d have long enough to reach it. What he did after that he wasn’t so sure about, but he could at least slam it closed and rob them of their line of sight on Leopov.
He acted fast, before doubt could creep in.
He snatched up a piece of metal that was still hot from where it had torn free of the wreckage. It would be no defense against a semi-automatic.
He hugged the wall, brushing against the concrete blocks until he was close enough to reach out and touch the door. Another shot. He couldn’t tell if it came from the tower or from the building.
He was banking on Leopov reading his mind. She fired a single shot into the open doorway.
Maddock seized the chance. He hit the door hard, and slammed it into place, trying to force the sliver of metal underneath the frame to wedge it closed.
A staccato burst of gunfire erupted from inside and tore through the door, showering him with splinters of wood.
He pulled back against the wall, grateful for the thickness of concrete between him and the Russian bullets. The door was shredded. If he’d been behind it he would have been cut in half. He needed to get Leopov out of the tower. His pistol was one thing, but the gun she’d taken from the dead sentry was another altogether. They needed to match the Russians shell for shell.
Bones had read his thoughts.
The Cherokee reacted to Maddock’s move, charging toward the sentry tower. He could see Leopov making her way down the ladder, exposed.
“Wanna start a fire then, boss?” Willis said, appearing at the other side of the fence again.
“Let’s light this place up like the Bicentennial,” Maddock said.
Willis chuckled. “You’re a man out of time; that’s so Seventies. You couldn’t just go with the Fourth of July?”
Maddock rolled his eyes.
The overwhelming smell of gasoline filled the air. Willis carried a box stuffed with a dozen or so glass bottles, all of various shapes and sizes, each with a rag wedged into its neck.
“That’s me,” Maddock said, distracted by the sight of Bones and Leopov racing back across the killing ground toward them. “Time for the fireworks.”
“What’s the plan?” Willis asked.
“We take out the bad guys, get the egg back, save the girl and get the hell out of Dodge. You know, that kind of thing. Nothing to it.”
“Not that this girl looks like she needs saving.”
“No. But maybe I was calling you the girl?” Maddock grinned.
“Funny.”
“I like to think so.”
Bones reached the wall. “Ready to smoke those bad boys out?”
“I think we give them a couple of minutes then we open the door,” Maddock said.
A look passed between the four of them. Bones broke the strained silence. “Either I’m missing the joke or you’ve lost your mind.” He had a tight hold on the gun. Leopov had a huge smile on her face. Maddock almost told her she’d done a good job, but if she wanted to be treated like one of them she was going to have to get used to being taken for granted.
“I’m not sure we’ve got much of a choice. We can’t rain down holy hell on them. We need to get in after them, or smoke them out, if we’re going to complete the mission. Remember we’re here to get the egg. Simple as that. They have it. They’re in there. We want it. We need to go in and get it or bring them out and take it off them.”
“You make it sound simple,” Leopov said.
“Logistically it is.”
“What about secondary objectives?” she asked. “If the egg is some sort of assassination tool, how about we rig the place to blow—we wouldn’t get the egg back, but the Russians wouldn’t have it either.”
“We’d still have to go in to make sure it had been destroyed. We couldn’t risk someone finding it in the rubble, especially as we don’t have any idea of what’s inside or how well its contents are protected,” Maddock said.
“He’s got a point,” Bones said. “So we go in after it.”
A single semi-automatic, four handguns and a box of Molotov cocktails didn’t seem like much to go up against a crack team of Russian Spetsnaz who were armed to the teeth. The odds were stacked in the Russians’ favor. Maddock had never been one to worry about odds when he had a job to do. Maddock was working on the theory that the enemy wouldn’t be eager to die; self-preservation should take precedence. The problem was some things were worth dying for. What if the Russians saw this as one of them?
“We could try negotiating with them,” Leopov suggested.
“You think they’ll just hand it over if we ask nicely?” Maddock asked. “They’ve got us outgunned, we’re on their soil risking a major international incident. And let’s be honest, for all we know they could be radioing for reinforcements right now.”
“You make a compelling case,” she agreed. “Let’s go in through the front door then.”