Close Protection

Chapter 37 Milosh

37 MILOSH

We breach strong and hard.

Blinding their security system, scrambling their radios, shutting down their CCTV and cutting off their power so they don’t have any mode of communication. They’re completely dark.

Thanks to the blueprints we have every exit covered, and from monitoring their CCTV we know where all the security is placed throughout the house.

They have ten men in total.

We have sixteen.

They don’t know we’re coming.

We’re prepared.

We know where to find the hostages and have a good idea where Daphne and George are.

Apart from the bathrooms and one bedroom, the only place without CCTV is the study.

With our earpieces in, we have a constant stream of communication. I’m not part of the first extraction team, so me, Cooper and Scott head straight for the study. Guns cocked and flashlights on, we walk cautiously through the hall. I hear gunshots, shouts and screams in the background, but I tune them out.

‘Seven hostages are secure,’ a guy says in my earpiece.

We reach the corner of the hall and turn off our lights. Sticking my head around I see one guy standing in front of the study door. Adjusting my position I signal to Cooper and Scott behind me as we prepare a manoeuvre.

We wait a beat and then all at once cover the hall, turning into the corner, lights back on.

‘Hands up!’ Cooper shouts as we move in. The guy at the door instantly throws his hands up.

‘Slowly drop your weapon.’ He complies, dropping it then whipping his hands back up again. We reach him and I kick his gun away, going to open the study door as Cooper cuffs the Daveeno guy.

I move with caution and open the door, speeding to re-secure my gun.

A guy jumps out at us from the side but I quickly dodge him. He stumbles a little, clearly injured, so I take the opportunity to grab him and knee him in the gut. I strike him again, kneeing the groin this time and watch as he slumps to the floor. Retrieving a pair of handcuffs, I quickly restrain him.

Looking around the room I can see it’s empty, but I can definitely smell Daphne’s mother’s perfume that she put on this morning. There’s a chair in the middle of the room with severed cable ties lying on the floor and another chair in the corner with a pool of what I assume to be blood underneath.

They were definitely in here. But where are they now?

According to the blueprints there’s no way in or out of this room other than the front door, but we would’ve seen or heard them. The windows are locked, so where did they go?

‘Hey.’ I kick the Daveeno guy who I now notice is bleeding from his arm. ‘Where did they go?’

He starts laughing, but doesn’t say anything. I bend down and locate the wound. It looks like he’s been shot, and the bullet’s still inside his arm. As I press my finger down on his wound, he cries out.

‘Where did they go?’ I ask again, pressing harder.

‘Into the woods,’ he cries. ‘They went to the woods.’

‘Why?’ I ask, looking around the room again to figure out how they got out.

‘The – the getaway cars,’ he pants, my finger still pressing into his arm.

‘How did they get out of the house?’

He doesn’t answer so I press even harder. ‘How did they get out?’ I can hear my volume rising as I stare at him. He starts panting through the pain again before answering.

‘The bookcase. There’s a secret door in the bookcase.’

I stand up and stalk over to the bookcase looking for any abnormalities, then I spot a French travel guidebook amongst the fiction classics. I go to pick it up, but it doesn’t budge. Pulling a little harder I hear a click and then a release. I push against the bookcase and the door opens, revealing a dimly lit hallway leading to a set of stairs.

Cooper comes back inside the room, looks from the guy slumped in the corner to me and Scott, and nods.

‘I’ll take care of him. You two go.’

Me and Scott make our way through the hall and down the stairs, where we push open the door and exit into the woods.

‘I need some backup out here,’ I say, pressing my earpiece. ‘Elizabeth Green has escaped with the last two hostages and they’re in the woods.’

‘Copy,’ Lucy Peterson confirms.

‘You keep left, I’ll look right,’ I instruct Scott as we make our way through the woods. We move silently and carefully, remaining vigilant.

I spot something pink against all the green and brown and narrow my eyes. Five figures come into view in the distance, walking away from us.

‘I have eyes on the hostages,’ I say quietly into the mouthpiece. Scott looks to me when he hears what I said and comes over.

‘Where?’

‘Over there.’ I point. ‘Look for the pink.’

‘Got it. What’s the plan?’

‘We need to get close without them noticing. Let’s pick up speed but be careful of any sticks that could crunch under your boots.’

He nods and we keep moving. As we get closer I can see Daphne next to her mother and two men behind them, hauling an unconscious man who I can only presume is George.

‘We need to take out the two guys first,’ I say just as one of them looks around.

Within seconds bullets go flying.

Scott starts firing back, causing the men to duck and start running, carrying George with them, as we catch up behind them. I don’t want to hit George or Daphne, but I’m a pretty good shot and it’s still relatively light outside so I shoot back.

My bullet nicks one of the men holding George and he stumbles. The unconscious George slumps against the other guy, who staggers, slowing down.

Ahead of them, Elizabeth pulls out her gun, firing at me and Scott as we get closer.

She hits Scott and he falls.

‘The vest caught it.’ He coughs when I slow down. ‘Keep going, I’m fine.’

I keep shooting at the one remaining guy as I run to reach him and George. His shots, mixed with Elizabeth’s, make the journey slower as I dodge bullets while firing my own, but I get a partial break when the man holding George runs out of ammo. He goes to reload but I shoot his hand, then his foot, then his thigh. He screams, falling to the floor, dragging George with him.

I reach them and kick his gun out of the way as Scott joins me, bending down and putting cuffs on the Daveeno guy.

With those two down, Elizabeth is the only one left.

‘Milosh?’ George stirs on the ground, coming to. I look down at him, just as Elizabeth fires the bullet.

Right through my leg.