The black GMC Yukon pulled from the driveway and headed north. In what would prove to be a fatal security lapse, the Green Hornet and Kato failed to look south and see the five sitting in the Honda Pilot.
“Get ready to move,” whispered Kareem.
Just as he started the engine and prepared to drive forward, Candy spotted Tommy pulling up to the security gate. “Wait!”
“Why would he return?” asked one of the terrorists in the backseat.
“Quiet,” whispered Candy—unaware that a woman giving orders to a radical Islamist would be an unforgivable offense.
They watched Tommy punch the call button on the security arm extending out over the driveway.
“Yes,” came a male voice in heavily accented English loud enough for those in the Honda Pilot to hear.
“Mr. Park, I’m sorry to bother you again. I know it’s getting late. I just spoke with Jake. May I come back in and explain about Reid?”
“You’ll need to wait a minute. I have to deactivate the alarm system.”
Hearing the exchange over the speaker at the gate, Kareem said, “Get ready!”
“For what?” asked one of the men from the backseat.
“Change of plans. As soon as Tommy pulls forward we move.”
“This was not the plan,” said the man in the backseat as he looked to the others.
“It is now! Take out the security cameras as we rehearsed. Everybody gear up! Now!” said Kareem, handing latex gloves to his four passengers.
He reached into the backseat and grabbed an aluminum baseball bat he kept behind the driver’s seat. It served as a convenient legal weapon that wouldn’t be questioned by the police if he was pulled over. He handed it to the shortest of the three men in the backseat. “Jam this between the brace and the gate after it swings open.”
As Tommy’s Lexus cleared the gate and headed down the driveway, the Honda Pilot pulled in a few seconds behind. Inside the SUV, everyone was wearing black cotton balaclavas, the preferred attire of terrorists and thugs. The masks had holes for only the mouth and eyes, covering the head and neck.
Two of the men jumped from the backseat of the vehicle. One fired paintball pellets at the overhead camera focused on the front gate. The balls splattered and within seconds an opaque film covered the lens, obscuring visibility. The other man jammed the metal baseball bat into the gate’s hinges, preventing it from closing.
Kareem drove through the open portal, stopping long enough to pick up his two co-conspirators, then slowly made his way up the driveway after giving Tommy enough time to enter the residence.
From the driveway the occupants of the SUV saw lights come on in what Candy had told them was Park’s first-floor office. Kareem turned to the others and said quietly, “We go now.”