Oath of Loyalty (Mitch Rapp #21)(25)

The muffled sound of an explosion reached him as he entered the kitchen and opened a drawer in the granite island. It was on full-extension slides but stopped three-quarters into its travel. A hard yank broke the piece of wood blocking it, revealing a Glock 19 and two spare magazines at the back. He had similar stashes all over the house, but none were as accessible as he would have liked. The price of living with a seven-year-old.

“They’re using one of the SUVs to push through the gate and—”

He heard Anna say something unintelligible. Whatever it was got an immediate response from her mother. “Get back down on the floor and shut your mouth!”

Not surprisingly, barely audible sobs ensued.

“It’s okay,” Rapp said calmly. “One step at a time. Are they through yet?”

“Yes. One man on foot. He’s holding a pistol but I can’t see what kind. The others are still in the vehicles. One driving toward the front door, the other toward the east wall.”

What happened next wasn’t hard to predict.

“The dogs are coming around from the back, Mitch. Anna! Stay under the table and keep your head down! It’s going to be okay.”

Rapp jogged into the living room but stayed near the back wall. The sound of revving engines was followed by rapid firing from what sounded like a single weapon. He moved to a position where he could see what was happening through the westernmost living room window. The shooting went silent when Aisha and Jambo collided with the man. He lost his grip on his weapon and was relegated to trying to fight them off with bare hands. A few moments later, Rapp’s concerns about Anna’s dogs being more bark than bite were laid to rest. Their muzzles were stained red and their victim was no longer a threat.

“The one on foot looks to be out of the fight,” Claudia said. “Men are getting out of both vehicles.”

“Can you give me a head count? I can’t see from my position.”

“Not yet,” she said. “The dogs are going after the car along the wall.”

Rapp moved right until that vehicle came into view. Both animals hit their targets: the first two men out of the SUV’s driver-side doors. Both intruders were thrown back and both went down, one firing reflexively but not hitting anything. The smaller of the two dogs was the smartest. She went straight for the throat and started shaking the man by it.

The other had her target by the arm. He seemed to have panicked to the point that he’d forgotten the purpose of guns and instead of shooting was using his as an ineffectual club.

“I’ve got the vehicle by the wall in view,” Rapp said. “Talk to me about the other one.”

“Stand by… Okay. They’re out. Five men in total.”

All were out of the east one as well. The remaining two men had wisely exited the other side and were coming around the front and back. The fact that the dogs were now more or less stationary made them easy targets. They went down in a hail of bullets, but not until after leaving two men dead and one injured. The odds against Rapp had been significantly reduced but, at the same time, a number of questions had been raised. Most important, who were these assholes? Not pros. They seemed more like a group of drug cartel enforcers he’d once faced in California.

“Ten men in all.” Claudia’s voice over his earpiece again. “Two are down; one is still active but with a wounded left arm. Both dogs are down.”

Anna’s voice rose up, but again she was cut off by her mother. “I told you to stay down and shut your mouth!” This time Anna’s sobs rose to the level of outright bawling.

“The three men from the east vehicle are going around that side of the house,” Claudia said, her tone returning to one of confidence-inspiring serenity. “The injured one is bleeding badly but not doing anything about it. Armed with a pistol. The other two have assault rifles. All the men from the other vehicle look like they’re going to come through the front door. Two more assault rifles, the other three have handguns. No body armor is obvious, but they could have light vests under their clothes. One is wearing a tactical belt with pouches that look like they might contain grenades. It’s possible that the men going around back are equipped with explosives, too, but I don’t have the angle to confirm it.”

“What’s the status of the interior doors?”

“Most are open, but I’ve locked all of them. If you close them, they’ll stay that way.”

Fortunately, the old house was cut up into a lot of individual rooms—compartmentalized in a way that favored a single man against a larger force. Rapp started through the ground floor, pulling doors shut as he went. With Claudia’s help, he’d be able to enter any room he wanted, but his attackers would find themselves relegated largely to tight hallways, landings, and the main living area.

Another advantage he had was understanding the materials that made up the house’s interior. Some doors were just wood, but others had bullet-resistant cores. Similarly, some walls were made up of studs and insulation, others original stone, and still others were reinforced with ballistic fiberglass. All were subtly color coded so he didn’t have to remember which was which in the heat of battle. Add a few Kevlar-reinforced pieces of furniture, and that’s what he had to work with. Nowhere near the standard of his house in the US, but not the end of the world, either.

“Two men out front have broken off and are going around the west side of the house. That will make five in the back, one injured. The three in the front are spreading out. One toward the door, one toward the first dining room window, and the remaining one with an assault rifle toward the first living room window. The man at the front door is talking, probably into a throat mike. They’re coordinating and he looks like he’s in charge.”