Chapter 5 - FIRE IN THE DUST
The world exploded in a deafening roar of fire and flying metal.
The first SUV hit the buried C4 charge beneath the driveway, lifting the three-ton vehicle two feet off the ground before it slammed back down on its side in a screech of tearing steel and shattering glass. Flames erupted from the engine block, illuminating the terrified faces of the men who had just spilled out of the doors.
"Ambush! Ambush!" someone screamed in the chaos.
Before the remaining mercenaries could recover, Alessandro moved.
He didn't hesitate. He stepped out from behind the engine hoist, his MP5 barking twice in rapid succession. The lead gunman, leveling his rifle toward the garage entrance, dropped instantly, a clean hole between his tactical goggles.
"Left flank, three men!" Sophia called out, her voice cutting through the gunfire with absolute clarity as she tossed a smoke grenade out the side window.
A thick, white cloud billowed across the clearing, blinding the second SUV's turret gunner. The mercenaries began firing blindly into the darkness, chewing up the wooden walls of the garage with a hail of lead that sent splinters raining down over the worktables.
Alessandro ducked behind a steel workbench as a barrage of bullets chewed up the concrete floor inches from his boots. He glanced across the room. Sophia was gone from her position.
Smart, he thought. Never stay where they expect you.
A heavy thud echoed from the roof above. Someone had climbed the ladder at the side of the building.
Alessandro didn't wait. He scrambled up the interior wooden staircase leading to the loft storage area, his boots hitting the wood in a muffled thud. He pushed open the hatch just as a booted foot kicked downward through the aging shingles.
He grabbed the boot, yanked hard, and sent the mercenary crashing through the roof hatch onto the floor below with a sickening crunch.
Before the man could groan, Alessandro descended the stairs, sweeping his weapon across the clearing.
Two more mercenaries rushed the main entrance, their rifles raised.
Bang. Bang.
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They dropped before they could clear the threshold.
Silence fell over the clearing as quickly as the storm had arrived, broken only by the crackle of flames licking the chassis of the overturned SUV and the hiss of escaping radiator fluid.
