Page 138 of Fire and Ice

Jack didn't expect to get any sleep with all the anticipation thrumming through his veins, but he managed to disassociate himself and find that zen place to regroup and take a restorative break. By the time the men gathered in the courtyard at 1:00 am, his mind was sharp and his heart rate steady.

Viktor was able to keep Gavlik at bay by showing him that he had a copy of the formula of the Rave-IX. After that, he had cut off all communication as they made their way across the Atlantic in the Gulfstream 550.

The choppers were fired up, ready for the rescue mission. There were approximately thirty armed men at the Gavlik compound. Erik Costa was adding twelve men to Viktor's eight. They were slightly outnumbered, but it was believed that the incursion team was better-trained.

"We'll be cruising at 160 miles per hour," Viktor announced. "We should be on target site right before 3:00 am. Our birds are outfitted with anti-radar detection and we'll be flying low to the ground. As a recap of our playbook: Alpha team will fast-rope down to the roof. Bravo team chopper will provide cover fire and will provide backfill if necessary. Team Charlie will fast-rope to the courtyard and will proceed to rescue the Guardians from the cell block. The whereabouts of Agent Pierce in the three-story building is unkown. Alpha team will do that search and rescue. No detainees. Gavlik is shoot to kill. Any questions?"

Everybody grunted their agreement as they dispersed to their respective choppers.

***

Maia wrapped herself with the only blanket available to her. It was winter in Russia and she was dressed like Jabba the Hut's harem girl. Damn Gavlik and his perversions, and her own smart mouth that had earned her this punishment. She tried to bury her cold nose in the pillows. It was damn hard to sleep when one was shivering with cold.

At first she thought she was dreaming when she heard the blunt rhythm of the rotor blades of a chopper. Temperature-controlled torture had been known to cause hallucinations. Then she heard shouts, rapid footfalls and bursts of gunfire. And then the alarms went off.

What was happening? Who was attacking? Erik?

Volynsky must have procured some helicopters for an air assault, because from what Maia had seen, the 30 foot walls of the compound were hard to breach.

Wide awake now, Maia tugged on the cold chain that was attached to the manacle on her ankle. She knew she may be used as a shield or as blackmail but she was prepared to fight.

Jack and Viktor led the assault of the Alpha team on the roof. Bravo team was doing a good job of keeping the shooters down to a minimum by raking bullets on the hostiles with their M4-carbines on fully-automatic. Jack fast-roped onto the roof, landing with more than 40-lbs of gear strapped to his body. As each man landed on the flat roof, they formed a loose line along the wall leading to the entrance of the building. One of Viktor's men knelt and set the breaching charge over the metal door. Everyone hunkered down as the portal was blown apart.

Bright light broke through as well as a spray of gunfire. Jack flicked up his night-vision goggles as another Alpha team member threw a grenade into the entrance to pave the way for their assault.

As soon as the grenade exploded, there was a brief stoppage of gunfire inside and that's when Alpha team swiftly moved in.

A man on Jack's team provided cover fire while he and the other five men disappeared into the building. Once they were clear, the man assumed sniper position.

Viktor took the top floor with one man while Jack headed down to the second floor with another, a guy named Brock. The fifth guy guarded the stairwell to backfill just in case. Erik, the leader of Charlie Team crackled through comms to inform them that they had also breached the first floor.

Jack ran into a hostile at the base of the second-floor stairwell. A bullet zinged past his head, which pissed him off, but he calmly squeezed two shots off to take down the other guy.

A barrage of bullets followed from the opposite side of the hallway, raining bits of plaster on them. Jack snuck a look down the hallway to check the number of doors. Three on the left, four on the right; it was a long-ass hallway.

Gavlik's men were not using suppressed firearms which would make their muzzle flashes easy to detect in the dark, so Jack pointed out the florescent lights on the ceiling to Brock indicating what he intended to do.

Jack shot out the lights and plunged the hallway into darkness. He and Brock quickly flipped down their night-vision goggles.

Jack signaled to Brock to cover him while he advanced along the hallway. At his nod, well-aimed shots took down the hostiles systematically at the other end. Jack quickly kicked down the door of the first room on the right. When it was cleared, his partner moved forward as he provided cover fire.

As expected, the hostiles became easy targets when their muzzle flashes revealed their positions.

After a couple of minutes, it was down to the last gunman.

There was a lull in the shooting when Jack heard a door crash, a distinct female voice curse and the sound of a scuffle. The commotion was happening in the last room on the right, from which light spilled into the hallway.

"Let go, you sonofabitch!"

Maia! Jack's heart leaped to his throat. He looked at Brock and nodded for him to be on the lookout. Jack slung back his carbine and drew his semi-automatic pistol. Flipping his night-vision goggles up, he concentrated on his pistol's front sight and turned into the room with his gun raised in a modified-weaver position. The remaining hostile had a gun to Maia's head and was screaming that he would shoot her if he didn't back off.

Jack vaguely registered Maia's startled gasp as she recognized him, but her eyes were calm. She suddenly flashed her three fingers over her abdomen and then started to count down three, two... damn it Maia...

... one...

She broke free and dropped. Jack squeezed the trigger.

Maia felt the man behind her go down even as she noticed Jack surging towards her.He came for her!She couldn't believe her eyes, couldn't fathom that he was there.

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