Page 100 of Iron Willed Warrior

“How do you know about that?”

“I’m psychic.”

“They’ll be suspicious. They’ll try to stop the car.”

“You think they won’t be suspicious if they see me instead of O’Hanlon? Wave and smile. Flash your ID. I don’t give a shit. Just keep driving or I’ll shoot you.”

We were almost there. The tall chain-link gate was open on the entrance side. By the exit, the gate was closed. I only saw one figure inside the little gatehouse building. I lowered the gun to keep it beneath the line of the windows.

Manning’s fingers were back to white. Clenching and releasing.

As we neared, the guard stepped outside. Still casual. He expected this car’s arrival.

“Speed up,” I said.

Manning accelerated. The guard started to wave at us, like he was warning us to slow down.

But instead of just driving past, Manning suddenly veered to the right. Floored the accelerator. I realized what he was doing a second before we hit the heavy concrete post bordering that side of the fence.

The airbags exploded. I slammed into the seatbelt and the bag. The car bucked and shuddered and crunched.

Quiet descended briefly. The air smelled singed. My ears rang. I was dazed, especially because my head was still fuzzy from the hit I had taken earlier. But I snapped to awareness when I felt Manning groping for my gun.

I pointed it at him and pulled the trigger twice. The firstwent through his airbag and spiderwebbed the driver’s side window, what little I could see. The second hit Manning in the torso beneath his outstretched arm. He grunted. I fired again, and he slumped forward against the deflating bag and went still.

Dammit. So much for him being smart.

More pops came from outside, muffled by the deafening sounds that had already shocked my eardrums. But I knew automatic gunfire when I heard it. Had to be the guard from the gatehouse.

Bullets smacked into the SUV. More glass shattered.

I had a tactical knife in the pocket of my vest. I grabbed for it to cut the seatbelt and then the remaining airbag, shoving the puffy fabric out of the way. Pushed the door open and dove out onto the blacktop.

Getting low to the ground, I spotted the guard’s boots on the far side of the SUV. He was shooting as he approached. I got into a crouch and rounded the bumper.

Took aim for a head shot. Fired. The guard and his carbine went down.

Another guard in a black tactical uniform ran into view. He ducked behind the cover of the gatehouse. I dashed across the open space. When the guard peeked out again, I fired twice. Blood spattered, but I’d only grazed him. He reached his carbine out and fired in my direction. The bullets smacked into the gatehouse, shattering the tempered glass of the windows. He shouted something too, though I couldn’t begin to make out those sounds. My hearing wasn’t so great at the moment.

I crouched on the other side of the gatehouse. The first guard, the one I had successfully killed, was lying a couple of feet away. I leaned out to yank his M4 carbine away from him, leaning back just as another barrage of automatic fire slammed into the concrete wall.

Distantly, I heard something that could’ve been a siren. Was it close? Far? I had no clue.

No sign of Donovan Ryker. No other guards came running either. It was just me and the guy I’d grazed. He was probably very pissed off about that.

I picked up a pebble from the ground, weighing it in my hand. Then I threw it as hard as I could.

It smacked into the chain-link fence. A barrage of gunfire followed.

I stood and stepped around the back side of the gatehouse. The guard was turned away from me, eyes on my distraction. One of the cheapest tricks in the books, but still a good one. Who needed fancy tech when old school still worked so well?

The next bullet from my handgun caught him in the back of the neck just as he was trying to turn.

I bent over him to take the magazine from his gun, quickly searching him for anything else of use. Keycard. Car keys. Those went in my pockets.

I went into the gatehouse. A screen flashed with the message,Intrusion Alert. I didn’t know what impact that had, exactly, but I had to assume that any and all guards around the facility knew something was up.

I glanced around for cameras. There was one aimed at the facility entrance, but the second guard’s wild gunfire had taken it out. Convenient. Thanks.

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