The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)(79)

Two men were at either side of the room, one kneeling, the other standing. Both were firing their guns out the window, and I noticed the night vision goggles strapped to both of their heads.

I shot the one standing first, in the back, before he could even turn, and he dropped. The man opposite him started to turn, and I squeezed the trigger again, feeling no remorse as he dropped lifelessly to the ground. These men weren’t men, and didn’t deserve to be recognized as such.

I moved back toward the hall, where Cruz was waiting for me, his gun trained down the hallway. I waved April over from where she was perched a few steps short of the landing, and made room for her as she moved over to us. Gunfire came from the four other doors down the hall, two on the left, and two more facing the street.

Holding up four fingers, I used hand signals to explain that I wanted two people to a door. They partnered up, and as a unit, we crept down the hall. Cruz and Carl peeled off first, stopping by the door on the left, just past the stairwell. Then April and Harry stopped, this time on the right. Alejandro and Marna held up just shy of the right, and I took the corner apartment on the left. I squatted in front of it and counted down on my fingers, starting at three.

On one, I threw the door open and quickly fired two rounds. One man dropped, but a second squeezed the trigger as he turned, his gun going off loudly as it fired into the wall. I dropped to my belly, shouting “Duck!” as the bullets tore overhead, and I squeezed the trigger twice.

The man cried out as my bullet struck him in the chest, his arms spreading as he tumbled forward. His weapon continued to fire as he fell, coming to a stop only after he hit the floor and it skidded away a few feet. I held my gun up and searched the room.

“Clear!” I shouted.

A chorus of ‘clear’ met my ears, revealing the apartment building had thin walls. I slowly got up on my feet, looking around, searching for injuries. “Everyone okay?” I asked.

Cruz gazed about, and then nodded, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “We are fine, my friend,” he said with a smile.

“Any enemy left alive?”

April wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and shook her head, her eyes unremorseful. “No.”

“Excellent. Everyone pick a room and get ready—we’re going to give Mags a little overdue backup. April, take a rifle and cover the stairs from the top landing. Alejandro and Cruz, get in the windows and fire a few shots, just to make sure everyone below thinks their people are still up there. Just don’t aim for our people. I’ll let Mags know the same. Carl, Marna, go downstairs and get us as much ammo as you can carry for the rifles left in this room, then get back up here. I’ll be in the corner apartment.”

I gave the orders rapidly, feeling the familiarity of it return. We didn’t have much time before the rest of the Porteque gang was in place for their ambush on the streets, and I wanted to make sure to flip this little trap on its head.

I moved up to the window that had a view of the street below. Looking around, I found the car Tim had sheltered behind, and though I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t see anybody else in that area either—definitely no sprawled bodies. That was a good sign. Hopefully, he was still hunkered down beneath his cover, waiting for the right moment to escape.

“We’re in their roost,” I transmitted to Mags as I set up my position, using the wall next to the window as cover. “There are no more enemies up here at this time. Don’t shoot at us; we’re going to hit their men once they start moving toward you. I want you and your teams to start pulling back to the stairs. Come around the opposite building through the alley and then come right for us. Use the park for cover, and we’ll give you cover from above.”

“Roger,” she said, as gunshots sounded from Alejandro and Cruz’s room. I picked up the rifle lying over the floor, next to the man I’d killed, and cradled it against my shoulder, taking a moment to check the magazines. There were a few more on the table next to the window, so I checked them too.

I took a few shots, but then noticed a large group below as they began to move out, heading for the park in low, crouching runs. “Get ready,” I transmitted, pulling the rifle up. “Fire on them and break them up. Shoot to kill—we don’t need any of these guys running around.” I thought of the woman in that room and gritted my teeth. “Ever.”

The men below began to creep farther into the park, spreading out and moving silently. I saw another group of men break away and head right, cutting across the street and using cars for cover. They were closest to me, so I angled my sights toward them.

“Everyone ready?”

“Ready,” announced Cruz.

“More than ready,” added Alejandro, his voice grim.

“Good—fire.”





28





Violet





“Amber, hold up. I got a big group emerging from the building just around the corner from your position.”

I tracked the small crowd silently from above, watching as it continued to grow, their heat signature becoming larger and stronger. The steady stream of bodies leaving the building stopped—I had lost count at about fifty people, as the bodies blended together on the scanner, but it was probably between that and a hundred—and I held my breath. The orange blobs at the head of the group turned right, and I cursed.