Chapter 340

I lay in the rotting vegetation all through the night. Sometime before the sun came up, I cranked up my level of activity just a little. Enough to go into the backpack for my spare tee shirt. I slipped it into the waist band of my jeans. There was more movement around the building. 8AM was when I expected to see the day begin for the family.

A bicycle like ours came down the road just before eight. I hadn't expected it but I had planned for it. It actually might prove to be a good thing. The rider of the bike was a male who looked thin like all the residents of the area. His bicycle was fitted with a basket which was filled with books. I dubbed the young man the tutor.

When the tutor was cleared through the gate, he rode directly to the front door. The door was opened and he entered with very little fuss. So Burke had said there would be a housekeeper/cook in the house. I had plans for her as well. That is if she survived the next thirty minutes.

The changing of the guard was due at any minute. I reminded Eve that anyone who rounded the corner or exited the rear door had to die, no exceptions. If the housekeeper or the tutor tried to run they were going to die. If they tried to defend their employers, they were going to die. Otherwise they just might live.

The security guards with their automatic rifles met after the last circuit of the grounds. The two night guards stood waiting for their replacements. My thinking was that they were going to be in a hurry to get to bed, so as soon as they were all together the slaughter had to begin.

The two new men came from the house still getting dressed. One of them even had a piece of toast in his mouth. The second new man seemed the most likely to react best, so I shot him in the head. I was aiming the rifle for the point of his nose, but I'm sure I fired to the left a bit. The left side of his head disappeared according to my stop action program. Next it was the one with the toast in his mouth, again it was a head shot that went just a little off target but he was standing in shock as he died.

The last two guards finally caught up with events and moved. The one from the last walking patrol tried to use the gate house for cover. It was a tight squeeze with the two men crammed into the area meant for only one. The walking guard's leg and shoulder on the left side were exposed just a few inches.

It was enough to put one of the exploding rounds into his hip. It threw him out of the gatehouse where I had a much easier shot. I had a problem after I finished him off. The fourth security guard was cowering in the gatehouse.

Since I had to go down there anyway, I decided just to rush the gatehouse. I figured that I had him so terrified he wouldn't raise his head. Just when you think you have assholes figured out, they do something totally stupid. In that ten second break in the firing he decided to make a break for the jungle.

He got about ten feet, when I shot him in the chest as he ran right at me. I saw his chest explode, but not out the back as the high velocity round should have caused, but the spurt of blood and bone came out the front where the bullet had gone in. I didn't even try to figure it, I just put second round in his head when he was on the roadway.

"Eve, I'm going in the front, you shoot anyone who comes out the back. Get in closer so you are ready to come inside instantly. The organized resistance such as it was has ended." It had ended without a shot being fired by the bad guys.

I probably could have found enough leverage to kick the door in but going through the window seemed easier. I left the .22 in the gatehouse as I ran toward the house. I heard one shot from the window which I had planned to go through, so I charged it and went airborne about six feet from the house.

Sure I felt the three hits on my vest. Even if I had been human I would have probably had a broken rib. I certainly would not have been dead. I sailed right through the window instead. I did one those airborne tuck and roll things I had seen on TV so many times.

When I came up, I came up with the Glock at the ready. The person who had done the shooting had to be the teenage boy child. I shot him in the face. A person with a weapon was dead. It was the rules of engagement I came in with. Which were just a little different from the Deacon's rules.

When I got to my feet, I had clearing the house in mind, but first I used the spare tee shirt to make myself a Muslim radical mask, Like the ones I had seen on TV a thousand times. With the mask in place I began to clear the house. The first door I came to after I entered the hallway leading to the rear of the house was a bedroom. When I listened I heard agitated breathing. I knew there was only one person inside and they were breathing hard and fast. I knew they were in fight or flight mode. I couldn't tell which of the occupants it might be but I expected the worst. When I backed off and kicked the door, I saw what had to be the housekeeper. She had a big ass butcher's knife and she made a move toward me. I have no idea what she had in mind. It could have been self protection or she might have been trying to save her boss, but it signed her death warrant. I shot her twice in the chest. I went into the doorway and listened. No one else was breathing so I move on down the hall.

The next doorway was a smaller room and there was the sound of breathing inside. One person again in the fight or flight mode. When I kicked that door open. I found the teenage daughter no weapon. She was dressed only in a bra and panties. For ultimate and immediate domination of her, I grabbed her by the bra with my hand between the cups and pulled her from the bathroom. I pushed her ahead of me down the hall. I came to the next door and heard multiple targets breathing.

"I'm coming in. There is nothing out here," Eve said. It was obviously the controller's decision.

"Come on in. come through the rear door but be careful. I am holding the teenage daughter prisoner at the moment. I would like to keep her alive a little longer." I pushed the girl ahead of me, while I blocked the door with all the breathing.

It was just a few seconds before Eve came to the far end of the hallway. "Tie this one for me I am going to finish clearing the house." I pushed the girl to Eve who not to gently threw her onto a kind of sofa in the room just inside the patio doors. Eve stood watching her and covering me in the hallway at the same time.

I gambled that behind the door I was going to find the tutor and the two small kids. When I kicked it, there he stood with the kids behind him. He was using his body to shield them. I looked him in the eye and said in Spanish. "If you or either of these children step foot out of the door you will be killed instantly. So you understand?" I asked.