Page 119 of Into the Gray Zone

Policemen? In here?Taskforce intelligence said that rarely happened, and now they were outsideourtarget?

Brett came on and said, “I don’t think they’re real police. I think the Condor team has found the Garmin.”

“Why?”

“They’re pale, and the uniforms look brand spanking new.”

“Can’t you tell if they’re Chinese?”

“No. They’re hiding their eyes behind sunglasses, which is also strange, since it’s close to twilight.”

Knuckles said, “They’re armed. Pike, the police here don’t carry firearms. These guys are both sporting Glocks. It’s a screwup. They don’t know how the police operate.”

I peeked around the corner and saw them, two men in brown uniforms, each with a shock of black hair, sunglasses on their faces and pistols on their hips, both facing away from us. They were about thirty feet away, the entrance to the target another forty feet past them down the alley.

I said, “We’re out of time. Those guys are the recce for the target. They’re about to assault.”

“What do you want to do?”

I said, “We’re going to close the gap and take them down. As soon as we initiate, you head to the target. You make breach and we’ll be right behind you.”

Jennifer looked at me like I was crazy. Knuckles said, “I’m not sure if that’s a solid plan.”

I said, “You want to just assault the place while they’re standing there? Or wait on them to clean out the nest andthengo in?”

I heard nothing on the net, but off the net, Jennifer said, “What if they’re real policemen?”

I said, “We won’t go lethal. You take the one on the right, I’ll take the one on the left.”

Knuckles came back, saying, “Pike, this is Knuckles, standing by.”

I said, “Roger all. Listen, we need to get in and out as fast as possible, because we’re about to make a huge ruckus. We need to beat the real police if we want to get out of here without wearing handcuffs.”

To Jennifer I said, “You need to get on him quickly, wrap him up and choke him out. Knuckles said these guys are no joke, so no messing around.”

If I positively knew they were the bad guys, I’d have had us both use a knife to end the fight without a fuss, but I didn’t know one hundred percent, so we’d have to discriminate here, bringing them to the ground and subduing them. Which sort of sucked.

Jennifer tightened the rucksack on her back, and I did the same, cinching the straps as tight as I could so my kit wouldn’t flop all over the place. She nodded at me and, on the net, I said, “Executing now.”

We turned the corner and began walking up the alley at a rapid pace, ignoring the odd person staring at us. They were no longer an issue, because everyone was going to be staring fairly soon.

We got within six feet when my target glanced at us. I ignored him, like I was going to walk past, and then he looked like he’d been hit with an electric current, slapping his partner and drawing his pistol. He must have been on the team in Agra, because he recognized me.

Jennifer reacted instantly, closing the distance in a split second. She had one arm around her target’s neck before he could get his pistol out, using her other arm to trap his gun hand. She swept his legs out from underneath him, slamming him to the ground on his back, her arm cinched tight, pressing his neck into the crook of her elbow with the side of her head, pushing forward with her feet like she was in a rugby scrum.

My target managed to clear his holster, the weapon swinging aroundto my face, but he wasn’t fast enough. I grabbed the wrist holding the pistol and shoved it skyward, and it discharged, scattering the crowd. My plan now gone to shit, I punched him with a hard right cross, rotated into his body, and flung him over my hip while holding on to his gun hand. He hit the ground and his pistol went off again. I kicked it away and it fired yet again, the bullet smacking the wall next to me. The spall hit my face and I realized it wasn’t from his weapon.

Someone else was shooting at us. I hit the ground and looked up the alley, seeing two supposed slum dwellers wearing raggedy clothes with scarves around their heads, both with pistols out, shooting. My target stood up, a little dazed, and I grabbed him, swinging him toward the fire as I drew my pistol. He was hit twice right in the chest, and I could feel the impacts. I fired back, then saw the men rotating, firing away from me. Brett and Knuckles had finally entered the fight.

I saw one of the men in rags go down and dropped the dead weight of my target, swinging to Jennifer’s fight. She was still trying to choke out her target, but he was fighting like a banshee. I shouted, “Roll off!” And she did. The man slapped his hand on his holster and I drilled him in the head, flinging it back.

I turned back up the alley to see Brett and Knuckles running flat out to the target door, the other threat eliminated. They stacked on the right, Brett in the lead, Knuckles digging into his knapsack. I said, “Jennifer, on me,” and ran to the left side of the door. She stacked behind me, and I said, “Flash-bang.”

She dug into my pack and pulled out a banger, showed it to me, and I nodded across at Brett. Knuckles threw his in, Jennifer followed, and the building vibrated from the explosions.

I raised my weapon and entered at the same time as Brett.

Chapter70

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