Redback. Lindy Cameron
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and she's still sparking.
To all intents it looked like Dr Jana Rossi was out for a nice evening stroll with a good friend, except that she was all animated and chatty, and her armed companion wasn't smiling.
Gideon took stock again. The 36 hostages were being held in two adjacent precincts, each with ten cabins semi-circling communal outdoor spaces. The lush vegetation that surrounded and separated the two private gardens also provided good cover from the main resort complex.
Team One had already agreed on a divide and release option. Gideon and Cooper would each secure a hostage area while Wade dealt with the rec-room rebels, before returning to guard the path to the boats beached on the south side of the island.
Gideon tapped the throat mike to use the inter-team comm channel. It was stupid to be sent out only half fitted. Having to rely on two systems during a live-op was asking for trouble. The aurals were good for listening but, for now, hard-mikes were all they had for communication between teams. That and good old face-to-face sign language.
'Deuce Team. How's your sandbox?' Gideon asked.
'Sitting on the dock of the bay.'
'Quit singing Triko, you'll scare the wildlife.'
'We got three rebs fishing off the jetty here and four drinking beer by the scuba shack.'
'Team Three?' Gideon said. 'You still awake, Finch?'
'Barely. There's still five in with Ifran. That's odd. One of them's wearing - oh mate, that's weird.'
'What's weird?'
'Yo, Gideon,' Triko interrupted.
'Triko,' Gideon acknowledged.
'There's a Zodiac coming in slow and quiet. The PRA boys on the dock are obviously not expecting it. All but two are running back in a panic.'
'Shit!' Gideon swore. 'Team Two, take out those rebels on the jetty do not let them return. And we're not expecting either, Triko, so check that raft. Team Three, secure Ifran. All Redbacks: silent; zero body count. Go.'
In two seconds flat the four machine gunners were smacked backward into the Banyan tree, paralysed by a precision spread of max- volt T-darts. A quad-shot crackle of Zeus juice was the only indication that Cooper had fired, but the rebels would be cactus for at least fifteen minutes.
Gideon, whose first task was to get to the lone PRA escort before any hell broke loose, hit the ground running. Cooper was right behind, until he veered away to free the hostages in the other garden, and Wade took off down the path to the rec room.
After dodging garden statues and furniture, Gideon leapt - right arm out, Browning 9mm in hand - onto the cabin's veranda just as the soldier padlocked the cabin from the outside.
Gideon was so suddenly right next to him, unfolding out of the dark like a carved island totem come to life, that the rebel's voice locked in fear in his gulping throat.
'Jesus, you're just a kid,' Gideon said.
The kid blinked, as his shock switched to confusion. An instant later he smiled, challengingly, and fumbled for the weapon draped around his neck.
'Oh, don't make me hurt you,' Gideon groaned, realising the kid was also about to find his voice. A backhanded whack, with the gun- butt, put paid to that foolish idea. 'Beats being shot, kid.'
Dragging the unconscious teenager out of the way to get to the door, Gideon cut the padlock, stepped into the lit interior of the cabin and then swivelled on one foot as one of the hostages made a noisy and stupid move.
Alan Wagner missed his mark entirely and sprawled face first onto the floor.
'Need a hand up, mate?' Gideon asked, scanning the room for any other surprises, and resisting the temptation to say: Dr Rossi, I presume to the woman sitting, cool as anything, in a cane chair.
She, however, said, 'At last! Deliverance from this fuckwit.'
Her rescuer offered a wry smile and beckoned her towards the door.
'Good heavens,' Alan exclaimed, as he rolled over and stared up at Gideon. 'You're a woman!'
'If you say so,' Gideon said. 'Time to go. Now.'
Jana Rossi wasn't wasting a moment. She grabbed hold of Gideon's offered hand and stepped over the stunned mullet on the floor.
'Rec room rebels neutralised,' Wade's voice announced. 'Meet you on the beach.'
'Roger that,' Gideon said.
'Can I get my stuff?' Alan asked, scrambling to his feet.
'What do you think?' Gideon snarled, her senses prickling as something in the air signalled bad about to happen.
'But I need,' Alan began.
Uh-oh. Gideon yanked Jana to her knees and shielded her body, as a huge explosion ripped into the quiet night a second before the shock wave hit the bungalow.
'Righto,' Alan nodded, getting up again. 'I'm outta here.'
'Indeed,' Gideon agreed, letting go of Dr Rossi so she could stand. 'Wait here one sec Dr Rossi,' she ordered, as other voices clamoured for her attention: one inside her head, and the other two in her earpiece. Shit, that's annoying!
Link: 'Team One?'
Triko: 'Oh man!'
Finch: 'Fuckenell!'
Link: 'Gideon!'
'Not now, Link,' Gideon stressed, stepping outside to find out just what had exploded. All she could see however, and only above the palm trees, was a helluva lot of smoke and shooting flames.
She tapped her throat mike. 'Redbacks? What the hell was that?'
'Um,' Triko responded. 'The Americans are here.'
'What? Why?' Gideon motioned to Dr Rossi to stay down and in the doorway as a racket of auto gunfire suddenly hijacked the silence of the post-explosion void.
'Not gonna ask. They just kinda arrived and blew up the bloody dive shack.'
'And forget Ifran,' Finch reported, 'or any kind of containment, Gideon. We didn't get near them. The rebels are firing at anything that moves now.'
'And the Yanks are shooting at or blowing up everything else,' Triko said.
A second explosion ripped the night air, sending debris and water 20 feet above the tree line.
'That was the bar. Oh, and a swimming pool,' Triko said. 'Get the hostages out, Bryn, before these fucken lunatics start carpet-bombing the cabins!'
'Righto. Triko, fall back and get the boats ready,' Gideon ordered.
The island lights went out. There was now no illumination but a starry canopy and a low-slung crescent moon.
'Generator go boom,' Triko reported unnecessarily.
'Finch,' Gideon said, flipping her right eye night-lens into place to scan the garden. 'Give us a hand with the hostages.' There was no movement in the vicinity. She nodded at Dr Rossi to get behind her.
Jana glanced over her shoulder. 'Move it, Alan.'
'Cabin to cabin,' Gideon said, handing her mission's prime objective a small pair of bolt cutters. 'Stay together. Take cover on the next veranda first. Go.'
Gideon watched curiously for a second as the surprising Dr Rossi, all five-foot-four of her, dragged the much taller, sandy-haired and handsome whoever-he-was in her wake as she ran. Gideon shook her head, then scanned for danger as she backed along the path after them. She was particularly relieved they'd taken out the machine gunners - or they'd be in deep shredded shit right about now.
Three minutes later, under Gideon's armed cover, Jana had finished cutting the padlock to the