down, at least until the shooting started. I really don’t think they thought anyone was going to be shooting back at them, you know?”)
They came through the door in good entry formation, Alena said, covering their angles. The lights were still off in the house, and they tried to be quiet about it. From where she, Natalie, Tamryn, and Dan had been trying to take position, they could see the shapes of their attackers in the ambient light. But they had all still been in motion at the breach, and that made them easy to spot, and it was the attacking force that opened fire first.
There was an initial barrage of fire from the MP5s, eerily quiet since the weapons were suppressed, and maybe as a result, their voices had seemed so much louder.
“Target, top of the stairs!” one had shouted. “With the shotgun, take her,
take her!”
From the volume of fire that poured in Alena’s direction, she had no doubt they were referring to her, and not to Natalie.
Tamryn went down almost immediately, before he could get a single shot off. He’d been on Alena’s left at the top of the stairs, and one of the first bursts meant for her had gone wide, and taken him instead. Alena, Natalie, and Dan had all returned fire, but none of them had scored hits. This didn’t bother Alena, since it wasn’t the object of the exercise, as far as she was concerned.
The object of the exercise, so to speak, was to get herself, Natalie, Dan, and Miata out of the house alive. If they could force the assault team back out the front door, then they would have secured an effective crossfire, and Vadim could pick their attackers off at his relative leisure.
Outside, in the tree house, Vadim had been lining up his first shot as the assault team had been taking up their formation. Three of the team had broken right, away from him, looking to go around the back of the house, but the rest of the group—there were eight in all—had taken up positions for the entry.
Now Vadim heard the barrage of fire from inside the house, and he felt that qualified as permission to do some shooting of his own. He fired, and put a .308 round through the head of the man furthest back in the assault team. His rifle wasn’t suppressed, and everyone heard the report, and this threw the entry team into chaos. One of them tried to immediately reverse direction and make for the cover provided by the Suburbans. The remaining three continued trying to gain the house.
“They went total bugfuck when I took their first guy down,” Vadim said. “They were all shouting to each other, trying to keep some sort of control of the situation. I only wish I’d been quicker, you know?”
Back on the stairs, Dan, Natalie, and Alena were continuing to lay down fire. The initial furious exchange of bullets had abated, and Dan had dropped his shotgun and dived past Nat and Alena, to where Tamryn had gone down. One of the assault team tried to capitalize on the move, coming around the door frame again, and Alena and Natalie both opened up on him simultaneously.
The man fell, and Alena said she was certain it was Natalie who had made the kill.
(I found that hard to believe, but did not say so. If Alena thought that crediting Natalie with the kill would somehow make me feel better about what happened to her, she was wrong. It didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the effort, or see it for what it was, but she was wrong.)
Then Dan threw the smoke grenade that Tamryn had been carrying, and it landed in the front hallway just as Yasha entered from the kitchen, firing wildly with his own Remington. The second shooter at the door put a burst straight into his chest, and Yasha fell at almost the same moment the grenade detonated and began filling first the hallway, then the house, with white smoke. Again, Natalie and Alena returned fire, and the man who’d killed Yasha pitched forward and didn’t move again.
At which point Natalie dropped the shotgun,
They came through the door in good entry formation, Alena said, covering their angles. The lights were still off in the house, and they tried to be quiet about it. From where she, Natalie, Tamryn, and Dan had been trying to take position, they could see the shapes of their attackers in the ambient light. But they had all still been in motion at the breach, and that made them easy to spot, and it was the attacking force that opened fire first.
There was an initial barrage of fire from the MP5s, eerily quiet since the weapons were suppressed, and maybe as a result, their voices had seemed so much louder.
“Target, top of the stairs!” one had shouted. “With the shotgun, take her,
take her!”
From the volume of fire that poured in Alena’s direction, she had no doubt they were referring to her, and not to Natalie.
Tamryn went down almost immediately, before he could get a single shot off. He’d been on Alena’s left at the top of the stairs, and one of the first bursts meant for her had gone wide, and taken him instead. Alena, Natalie, and Dan had all returned fire, but none of them had scored hits. This didn’t bother Alena, since it wasn’t the object of the exercise, as far as she was concerned.
The object of the exercise, so to speak, was to get herself, Natalie, Dan, and Miata out of the house alive. If they could force the assault team back out the front door, then they would have secured an effective crossfire, and Vadim could pick their attackers off at his relative leisure.
Outside, in the tree house, Vadim had been lining up his first shot as the assault team had been taking up their formation. Three of the team had broken right, away from him, looking to go around the back of the house, but the rest of the group—there were eight in all—had taken up positions for the entry.
Now Vadim heard the barrage of fire from inside the house, and he felt that qualified as permission to do some shooting of his own. He fired, and put a .308 round through the head of the man furthest back in the assault team. His rifle wasn’t suppressed, and everyone heard the report, and this threw the entry team into chaos. One of them tried to immediately reverse direction and make for the cover provided by the Suburbans. The remaining three continued trying to gain the house.
“They went total bugfuck when I took their first guy down,” Vadim said. “They were all shouting to each other, trying to keep some sort of control of the situation. I only wish I’d been quicker, you know?”
Back on the stairs, Dan, Natalie, and Alena were continuing to lay down fire. The initial furious exchange of bullets had abated, and Dan had dropped his shotgun and dived past Nat and Alena, to where Tamryn had gone down. One of the assault team tried to capitalize on the move, coming around the door frame again, and Alena and Natalie both opened up on him simultaneously.
The man fell, and Alena said she was certain it was Natalie who had made the kill.
(I found that hard to believe, but did not say so. If Alena thought that crediting Natalie with the kill would somehow make me feel better about what happened to her, she was wrong. It didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the effort, or see it for what it was, but she was wrong.)
Then Dan threw the smoke grenade that Tamryn had been carrying, and it landed in the front hallway just as Yasha entered from the kitchen, firing wildly with his own Remington. The second shooter at the door put a burst straight into his chest, and Yasha fell at almost the same moment the grenade detonated and began filling first the hallway, then the house, with white smoke. Again, Natalie and Alena returned fire, and the man who’d killed Yasha pitched forward and didn’t move again.
At which point Natalie dropped the shotgun,
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