Page 120 of Into the Gray Zone

Manjit made it to the top of the ladder, finding Sledge next to the lantern, cowering in the corner of the small space.

Sledge said, “What’s going on?”

Manjit drew his pistol and said, “I don’t know. Sit down and shut up.”

The gunfire grew in volume, sounding like fireworks in the alley outside. Manjit shouted, “Kamal! What is happening?”

“The police are fighting with someone. Remain calm. It might not involve us.”

The gunfire stopped and Manjit inched to the edge of the CONEX container, seeing Kamal in a crouch down below, hiding behind one of the machines, his own pistol out. He waited a beat, then stood up, peering out the door. Manjit saw two cylindrical objects come through the door, then felt a shock of overpressure, like he’d been slapped in the face, the light and noise throwing him back. He sat up, his ears ringing, and saw Kamal on his hands and knees, bear-crawling back to the machine he’d been hiding behind. He screamed, “Manjit! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!” and Manjit saw four figures boil into the room. Kamal raised his pistol, his hand unsteady, and the two on the right both fired multiple times. Manjit saw Kamal’s body jerk from the rounds and then collapse.

He turned to Sledge, finding him pushing open a section of the roof. He raised his pistol and Sledge dropped the tin, holding his hands out and saying, “No, no, no.”

Manjit put his other hand on the pistol and aimed, almost squeezing the trigger. Then stopped. He lowered the weapon and said, “Go.”

Sledge scrambled to the section of roof and threw it open with a burst of energy. In seconds, he was through the hole and gone. Manjit turned back to the men in the room, seeing them clearing all the corners. He took aim at one of them and fired, hearing the figure scream and drop to the ground. The other three oriented on his location and began shooting, the rounds causing him to lay flat on top of the CONEX, the bullets smacking all around him.

He heard one say, “Bang that fucker,” and saw another cylindrical device hit the back wall and bounce next to him. He put his feet toward it and covered his head with his arms. It went off and rocked his world, punching his body with overpressure, the light blinding him and the noise shutting down his hearing.

He rolled around in agony, then saw a man reach the top of the ladder, his face a mask of molten fury.

***

I saw Brett get hit, and the rage flooded through me, wanting to slaughter the man who had done it. I located the shooter on the roof of a CONEX, and said, “Up high, up high.” Jennifer went to Brett while Knuckles and I began suppressing the sniper on the container. He disappeared from view, and I said, “Bang that fucker.”

I kept a steady stream of rounds, keeping his head down, while Knuckles removed a flash-bang from my backpack. He pulled the pin, tossed it up, and said, “Go.”

He started shooting while I ran to a ladder affixed to the container and began climbing. I paused at the top, crouching down below the edge and hugging the wood of the ladder. The flash-bang went off and I clambered up, seeing a scraggly guy with glasses askew, his face dazed. I scrambled to him, kicked his weapon away, then picked him up and threw him over the side.

He hit the ground hard, and I jumped down right next to him, the rage now out of control. I jerked him to his feet, punched him in the skull, and rotated his body until his back was facing me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, but this time I wasn’t trying to subdue him. I was going to snap his spine. I applied pressure, my mind’s eye seeing nothing but Brett getting hit, the wrath all-consuming, and Jennifer yelled, “Pike! No!”

I looked at her, and she said, “Don’t do it,” and the anger broke like I’d entered the eye of a hurricane. One second it was destroying everything in its path, and the next, it was calm. She continued, saying, “Brett’s okay. He’s hit, but he’s not dead. Let him go.”

And I did, pushing the terrorist to the ground. Knuckles exhaled and said, “The point of this thing was to capture one. What is your deal?”

I said, “I was just going to choke him out.” Knuckles pulled out some flex-ties and said, “Yeah, right.”

He cinched his hands and said, “We need to get the hell out of here, and I’m not sure we can use the front door after this mess.”

I went to the terrorist and said, “Where are the hostages?”

He said, “He’s gone. I let him go.”

“He? You mean the American?”

He nodded and said, “Yes. I was supposed to kill him, but I didn’t.”

“Where did he go? Was he in here?”

The terrorist said, “Where you caught me. He left from there.”

Knuckles went up the ladder, then leaned over, saying, “There’s a hole in the roof. He went across the rooftops.”

I looked at Jennifer bandaging up Brett’s right bicep and said, “Brett, can you walk?”

“Yeah. I’m no good for a fight, but I can walk.”

I said, “Jennifer, help Brett up the ladder.” She did, him using his left hand to try to climb. Jennifer got him far enough up until Knuckles could pull him the rest of the way.

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