Page 56 of Edge of Honor

As he looked at his phone and saw that the remaining attackers were lining up and getting ready to move from the cover of the trees, he realized there was only one thing he could do—flank them.

Radioing his team as he changed magazines, he told Haney to get downstairs and join McGee. It looked like the attackers were going to come in through the living room. And when Harvath gave the command, he wanted Haney and McGee to absolutely unload on them.

With their confirmations that they understood what he wanted them to do, Harvath got himself in place.

Because the house was on a slight hill that sloped down to the water, the flagstone terrace outside the living room was built several feet above the ground. It provided Harvath just enough cover as he came around the corner.

Double-checking the Dragonflies, he kept one overhead and sent the other on a sweep of the property. The last thing he wanted to be surprised by was that a fresh crop of reinforcements had arrived and that the attackers had swelled their ranks.

So far, there were only the six remaining. What was odd, however, was that they had stopped moving.

With two of their colleagues down and not responding, were they scrapping their attack and formulating a new plan? It didn’t make any sense. What the hell were they waiting for?

As Harvath continued to watch the feed, he saw two of the attackers break off and move down along the south side of the house, taking up positions beneath a pair of large floor-to-ceiling windows.

Raising his team over the radio, he told them what he was seeing and the subtle change he wanted Haney to enact.

The men confirmed his instructions, but the moment they did, the feeds started getting snowy. The Dragonflies were losing power.

The last thing Harvath saw before the feeds completely cut out was the remaining four attackers beginning to make their way out of the trees.

“Get ready,” he radioed, turning off his phone and flipping up the mount. “Here they come.”

From the far end of the patio, he watched as the now group of four men stepped onto the grass in a V-formation, their own suppressed weapons up and ready, and headed quickly toward the flagstone steps.

Because all of the remaining blinds and shades were drawn, McGee and Haney couldn’t see what was happening outside. So, as the attackers moved, Harvath quietly called out their distance over the radio.

When the black-clad figures hit the steps, Harvath gave his team a ten-second warning.

Then, once the attackers came to a stop in front of the sliding glass doors of the living room, he radioed exactly where they were standing.

As the two men in the center faced the house, the man on either end turned and faced outward to guard against being flanked.

It happened so quickly, Harvath almost didn’t have time to drop down and get out of sight.

He had lost the ability to have direct eyes on, but it didn’t matter.Activating his radio, he was about to give the “Go” command when the attackers facing the house opened fire.

They raked their fully automatic rounds back and forth, shattering all the glass and filling the living room with lead.

Even though the shooting had already started, Harvath activated his radio and ordered Haney and McGee to “Hit it!” and return fire.

The plan to surprise the attackers by activating the outdoor floodlights while simultaneously shooting at them through the blinds and the glass from the darkened house was now moot.

Above the suppressed shots of the attackers, Harvath could hear both the booming of McGee’s .45-caliber 1911 as well as Haney’s shotgun as they fought back.

At the same time, Harvath popped up over the edge of the patio and let loose with a barrage of fully automatic fire.

He swept his weapon back and forth, hitting the attackers in their lower extremities.

The man closest to him he nailed right in the groin. And when that man fell to the ground, he finished him off with a burst through his night-vision goggles to the face.

One by one, Harvath and McGee took out the men on the patio as Haney’s shotgun only fell quiet when he was reloading.

Finally, Haney stopped shooting and his voice came over the radio. He didn’t know if the two attackers on his side of the house were dead, even though they were no longer returning fire.

Harvath instructed Haney to stay put and let McGee know that he would be traversing his line of fire. He didn’t want to be mistaking him for one of the attackers.

Once they had both responded, Harvath began moving.

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