“Ten men in all.” Claudia’s voice over his earpiece again. “Two are down; one is still active but with a wounded left arm. Both dogs are down.”
Anna’s voice rose up, but again she was cut off by her mother. “I told you to stay down and shut your mouth!” This time Anna’s sobs rose to the level of outright bawling.
“The three men from the east vehicle are going around that side of the house,” Claudia said, her tone returning to one of confidence-inspiring serenity. “The injured one is bleeding badly but not doing anything about it. Armed with a pistol. The other two have assault rifles. All the men from the other vehicle look like they’re going to come through the front door. Two more assault rifles, the other three have handguns. No body armor is obvious, but they could have light vests under their clothes. One is wearing a tactical belt with pouches that look like they might contain grenades. It’s possible that the men going around back are equipped with explosives, too, but I don’t have the angle to confirm it.”
“What’s the status of the interior doors?”
“Most are open, but I’ve locked all of them. If you close them, they’ll stay that way.”
Fortunately, the old house was cut up into a lot of individual rooms—compartmentalized in a way that favored a single man against a larger force. Rapp started through the ground floor, pulling doors shut as he went. With Claudia’s help, he’d be able to enter any room he wanted, but his attackers would find themselves relegated largely to tight hallways, landings, and the main living area.
Another advantage he had was understanding the materials that made up the house’s interior. Some doors were just wood, but others had bullet-resistant cores. Similarly, some walls were made up of studs and insulation, others original stone, and still others were reinforced with ballistic fiberglass. All were subtly color coded so he didn’t have to remember which was which in the heat of battle. Add a few Kevlar-reinforced pieces of furniture, and that’s what he had to work with. Nowhere near the standard of his house in the US, but not the end of the world, either.
“Two men out front have broken off and are going around the west side of the house. That will make five in the back, one injured. The three in the front are spreading out. One toward the door, one toward the first dining room window, and the remaining one with an assault rifle toward the first living room window. The man at the front door is talking, probably into a throat mike. They’re coordinating and he looks like he’s in charge.”
All the windows were barred—nothing fancy but not trivial to get through. Even with explosives it would be low percentage. Bars tended not to have enough surface area to absorb much force and the exterior walls they were set into were stone. The front and rear doors were the best bet for access, though also not trivial. Both were steel core with multiple dead bolts and reinforced hinges. An insufficiently powerful explosive would be more apt to jam them than open them.
“Unlock the front door,” Rapp said.
“Understood. Unlocking the front door. Okay, they look like they’re going to break the front windows. I think you can count on some fireworks, but you should be fine where you’re standing. The men in back are placing something that looks like a charge on the door.”
Rapp moved to a position behind the entryway staircase, giving him a view into the living room in one direction and the dining room in the other. He put his back against the wall, staying in the middle to give him maximum protection from any potential explosions.
“Get ready for the windows. The man at the door is reaching for the handle.”
The sound of shattering glass was followed by the creak of the front door opening. A moment later a blast from the back shook the house.
“The back door is gone and so is part of the wall. The front door is open and the front windows are broken. No one’s coming in the back yet. There’s a lot of smoke and some fire. Do you want me to turn on the sprinklers?”
“Not unless it gets out of control. Let’s limit their vision and ability to breathe as much as we can.”
“Understood. The men out back seem to be arguing about who’s going in first.”
That suggested they weren’t complete idiots. Once they got past the mudroom, they were going to find a smoke-filled hallway lined with locked doors and sealed off from the main house by another.
“The man I suspect is in charge is preparing to come through the front door, Mitch. Handgun only. His back is against the exterior wall to your left and he’s looking around the jamb. Okay. He’s in. Looking toward you and up the stairs. Turning right… He’s focused on the living room. Now!”