She fired another series of shots toward a different muzzle blast, pulling back from the corner as a long string of bullets stitched through the gap and slapped into the thick wood cabins around her. Devin remained exposed on the other side of the gap, firing several two-shot bursts until his magazine ran dry—seemingly oblivious to the string of bullets that splintered the wood right below his rifle barrel.
He glanced in her direction and shook his head before reloading. She peeked around the corner with the rifle and rapidly pressed her trigger, emptying the few rounds left in her magazine. Emily lay behind the wooden stoop several feet in front of Marnie, her body pressed against the bottom of the cabin, only her rifle and part of her head exposed. Emily fired relentlessly, seemingly changing magazines every third time Marnie leaned out to shoot.
“Do you need ammo?” asked Marnie.
Emily had turned to reply when a bullet ricocheted off her helmet, driving her head down. She rolled tight against the cabin and checked her night vision, which looked to be intact. Emily looked up at her.
“I’m down to three mags!”
Marnie patted the magazine pouches attached to her plate carrier, finding that she’d expended only two of her eight spares. She removed two and tossed them next to Emily, who snatched one and reloaded her rifle before stuffing the other in an empty pouch on her vest. She gave Marnie a quick thumbs-up and went back to firing. Marnie reloaded and got ready to stick her head and rifle out again.
“This isn’t going anywhere!” yelled Devin.
“I know!”
“Rich is assessing the situation,” yelled Emily.
How long did it take to assess the fact that the mission was scrubbed? If they didn’t start making their way to the eastern shoreline very soon, they ran the risk of getting squeezed by the mercenary team dropped off by the helicopters. Devin leaned out to fire and was driven back by a torrent of gunfire. Enough was enough. She triggered her radio.
“Rich. This is Marnie. We need to start moving east before we get pinched. We’re not breaking through to the camp.”
“Jared and Melendez are starting to make a difference. If we can hold on here for another minute, I think we’ll have a shot at breaking through and mopping up this rabble,” said Rich.
“I’m more concerned with the hostile team dropped off by the helicopters,” said Marnie.
“If we break through to the center,” said Rich, “the hostile team will be forced to respond. We can run a counter-ambush.”
“We got pictures of the camp. Video evidence of a heavily armed force. The whole enchilada isn’t an option anymore,” she said. “We need to get out of here now.”
“We’ll still have to deal with the mercenary team,” said Rich. “If they figure out that we’ve slipped away, they’ll hunt us down with the helicopters. Our extremely overcrowded boat won’t last very long on the lake. And the Suburban will stick out like a sore thumb from the air on thermal imaging.”
“Maybe we just cross the lake and melt into the forest on the other side,” said Marnie.
“We’d just be delaying the inevitable,” said Rich. “Maybe we could evade the helicopters on foot. It all depends on the helicopters’ surveillance capability.”
“Marnie?” said Devin over the net. “Can you fly one of those helicopters?”
Holy shit. With everything going on, they had overlooked the obvious. She could fly them out of here.
“Yes. I can definitely fly one of those helicopters. No doubt about it.”
Rich cut into the conversation immediately.
“OVERWATCH, this is RIFFRAFF. Do we have a clear path to the helicopters?”
“This is OVERWATCH. The path is clear. The nearest hostiles are at the center of camp roughly five hundred feet away. If you head directly to the nearest helicopter, you’ll continue to open that distance. With the thick tree cover, you’ll get there fine. The mercenary team is set up about a hundred feet in front of the boats, close to a thousand yards away. Even if they hauled ass, they couldn’t beat you there. You’re about three hundred and fifty yards from the easternmost clearing. I’ll send you a waypoint. Designating the helicopter team RIFFRAFF ONE. Cover team is RIFFRAFF TWO.”
“Copy. No security on the helicopters?” asked Rich.
“No security. I’m seeing a single pilot in each cockpit, buckled up and waiting to take off. Could be someone hiding in back. The helicopters are shut down, so keep that in mind.”