“Gentlemen, let’s be patient. Get ready to go on a moment’s notice.
As soon as the other guard appears, we’ll move, over.” Now that Hackett was in position, Coleman could watch Arthur. He judged the distance between Arthur and the house to be about forty feet. There was no way he could beat him to the door, so he would have to fire some warning shots in his path. He’d thought about shooting him in the leg, but the old man might bleed to death before they found out what they needed to know. Stroble’s voice came over their headsets.
“The missing guard just appeared from inside the house, over.” Coleman took a deep breath and stared at Arthur, who was puffing away on his cigar. “Do we have any other surprises, over?” One by one they responded that they were ready to go. Coleman gave
Michael the thumbs-up signal and they grabbed their ropes. “Cyclops, do you have a clear shot, over?”
“That’s a roger, over.”
“Hermes, do you have a clear shot, over?”
“That’s a roger, over.” Coleman took one more deep breath and said, “On my mark, boys. Three … two … one … bingo!” Hackett squeezed the trigger and sent a bullet smashing into the head of the guard by the cliff and then pumped a quick round into the dog. Out in front of the house Stroble fired three silent shots at the head of the guard by the front door. The first one hit him in the temple, killing him instantly.
Grabbing the rope, Stroble swung from the tree and landed just on the other side of the fence. Stroble dropped to one knee and searched for the dog. It was nowhere in sight.
Without hesitation, he snapped his gun up toward the roof and squeezed off a dozen shots. The bullets thudded into the metal casings that covered the cameras, sending sparks flying.
He heard a growl to his right, and the thick, black muzzle of the silencer snapped back to a level position, sweeping from left to right.
The dog was closing fast, growling as he ran. Stroble sent one bullet into the snout of the dog, and the creature skidded to the ground.
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Slamming a fresh magazine into his gun, Stroble rose and ran for the other set of cameras, firing bullets into the windows as he went.
Coleman hit the ground a second before Michael, and as he sprinted for the patio, he could hear the bullets from Michael’s gun striking the cameras above and to his left. The noise of the bullets hitting the cameras must have caught Arthur’s attention because he looked in their direction. Coleman thought he was reaching for a gun at first, and then he noticed that it was his watch. Arthur broke into a decrepit run for the house, and Coleman laid down a wall of bullets that sent chips of brick flying into the air. Arthur stopped in his tracks. As Coleman closed on him, he screamed for Arthur to put his hands in the air while he unleashed a volley of bullets at the second set of cameras. Just as he got to
Arthur, the floodlights came on. Coleman brought his boot up and kicked Arthur in the stomach, sending him to the ground. Coleman wheeled, firing at the floodlights hanging from the gutter of the house.
Michael did the same, and within seconds, darkness was restored.
Arthur was curled up and holding on to his stomach with both hands, gasping for air.
Michael pulled a chloroform patch from his thigh pocket and ripped it open. Shoving his gloved hand into Arthur’s face, he forced the old man to breathe in the fumes. After about ten seconds, Michael tossed the patch to the side and went to work on getting Arthur’s clothes off. Less than thirty seconds had passed since they’d gone over the fence. Stroble approached a moment later and helped Michael finish the job. Before leaving, he made sure everything was in the bag and then sprinted for the north wall. All that remained on
Arthur were his boxers. Michael threw the skinny old man over his shoulder and ran for the south wall with Coleman covering the way. When they reached the wall, Coleman jumped up, sat on the top of the wall, and pulled Arthur up by his arms.
Michael went up and over, and then Coleman dropped Arthur into Michael’s arms.
Coleman jumped down and the three of them disappeared into the darkness and onto the grounds of the old estate. Hackett watched from the tree and made sure Michael and
Coleman got over the wall safely. As soon as they were over, he fired three shots into the door of Arthur’s study and rappelled down the tree. He landed like a cat and turned for the cliff. By the time he reached the top of the steps, he could hear the twin engines of the
Cigarette boat revving.
He bounded down the steps, taking them three at a time. When he hit the dock, he broke into a dash for the boat. Stroble already had the boat turned around and pointing toward the open water. Hackett leapt through the air and landed on the cushioned pad that covered the engines and then he jumped into the cockpit. Both engines roared to life as
Stroble punched the two black throttles all the way down. The bow rose out of the water as the props forced the boat forward.
Hackett turned and scanned the cliff for any movement. The long, sleek boat quickly gained speed and planed out.
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Stroble checked his watch. One minute and forty-three seconds had elapsed since they’d gone over the wall. CHARLIE DOBBS WAS CONTEMPLATING HIS NEXT
MOVE WHEN The MONITOR to his right started beeping. Dobbs glanced over his shoulder after the second beep and moved his chair. The monitor beeped three’ more times, and the information came up on the screen. active personal ALARM subject
CODE NAME: RED COYOTE Dobbs stared at the code name and tried to match it with a face but couldn’t. These personal alarms had become kind of a pain in the ass for the
