Matthew Dunn - Spycatcher

They were approaching their destination from the south, and though he could not yet see it, Will knew that the lake would be to his left. They walked slowly and in single file with five meters of space between men. Laith led the way, and occasionally he would signal silently for them to stop while he crouched and examined the route ahead of him through his rifle’s telescopic sight. They continued like this for thirty minutes before Laith stopped again, turned to face them all, pointed at his own chest and then at another direction. He left them, and Will knew that the man was heading to the lake to brave the freezing swim across to his sniper position on the island. They stayed still for nearly forty minutes before they heard Laith’s voice in their earpieces.

“I’m in position.”

They moved with Julian now leading the way. The area around them was quite flat but dense with trees. They walked carefully and silently. Within ten minutes Julian stopped and pointed at Ben. Julian walked in a crouch position back toward Will and stayed beside him. The two men watched Ben and Roger move onward and out of their sight. They waited for fifteen minutes before Will heard Roger speak.

“We’re in position.”

Will looked at Julian. The man nodded at him and moved off toward their left. Will followed, staying low. Within minutes they were at the lake’s edge.

Julian moved up close to Will and cupped a hand around Will’s ear. He whispered, “The house should be two hundred meters along the shore.”

They followed the shoreline for approximately eighty meters, and then Julian stopped, turned a little, and walked slowly into the water until he was standing waist-deep in the lake. He unstrapped his Colt assault rifle and lowered himself so that only his head was visible. Will moved into the water as well and immediately felt how cold it was. He focused his mind, controlled his breathing, and followed Julian.

He saw the lodge. He saw one man standing by the southeast corner of the building and two men standing on the pier over the lake. He watched Julian’s head submerge and knew that the man was now going to swim underwater to his position. Will looked ahead and estimated that he would need to swim a hundred meters underwater to get beneath the pier without being seen. He inhaled several times, relaxed his body, and sank down. He swam out to deeper water before turning back to face the direction of the pier. Swimming onward, he ignored the cold and the ever-increasing pain from lack of oxygen. He counted his strokes in order to gauge the distance traveled, and within three minutes he knew that he must be close to the pier. He gradually moved up in the water and saw the dark shape of the jetty before him. He swam until he was underneath it and then slowly allowed himself to rise until his head was out of the water. He sucked in air silently and moved toward one side of the pier, turning to look away from the lodge and out to the lake. Ahead of him and more than half a kilometer away was the largest of the many lake islands. Laith was on that island, and Will waited to hear him speak.

“I see you, Will.” Laith’s voice was very quiet. “Move back and along that side of the pier until I tell you to stop.”

Will moved several meters back.

“Stop.”

He stopped.

Julian spoke. “I’m in position.”

And Roger spoke. “Everything is set. Laith, you control the green light.”

Will waited for nearly thirty seconds before he heard Laith speak again.

“Okay, there’s movement behind some of the windows on my side of the lodge, so we’re going to have to time this right. Will, you’re two meters below one of the men on the pier. I’ll take the other man, but everyone wait for my command.”

Will pulled out his combat knife and carefully placed his free hand on one of the pier struts and one of his feet on a lower strut. He stayed in that position for nearly two minutes. A light snowfall began to descend over him.

“On my command. .” Laith paused. “Go!”

Will pulled and thrust upward until he was fully out of the water and jumping vertically through the air. Within a split second, he saw a man standing with his back to him and had grabbed that man’s head, placed his knife against his throat, and cut deep into him as they both fell toward the lake. Before hitting the water and submerging, Will heard the crack of Laith’s rifle, and he knew that the other guard on the pier was dead. Will held his captive firmly in his grip and ignored the man’s thrashing legs as they both sank down toward the lake bed and as Will continued to saw through his throat.

Will let the dead man drift away from him and hauled himself back onto the pier. He sprinted toward the lodge, unstrapping his assault rifle. He spotted a man emerging from the lake-facing lodge door and saw that he was carrying a shotgun. One of Laith’s fifty-caliber bullets removed the man’s head from his body. Gunfire could now be heard in every direction, and as he reached the house, he heard Roger speak in a loud but controlled tone.

“We’re in.”

Will paused to one side of the door, glanced in, and entered the lodge. The noise within the place was deafening, and his ears instantly began to ring. He saw a woman run into the corridor he was in, turn, and then point a handgun at him. Will shot her across her chest and face. A man looked out of a room on the right-hand side of the corridor and, after seeing Will, just as quickly disappeared back into the room. He pointed a gun from inside the room and fired it blindly toward Will’s position. Will saw the man’s body fall into the corridor. Julian emerged from the room, glanced at Will, and kept walking.

Will moved along the corridor, ignoring the sounds of rapid machine-gun fire from the rooms around him. He saw stairs and climbed them slowly. A man appeared at the top of the stairwell and threw something before jumping backward. Will sprinted up the stairs shouting, “Grenade!”

As he reached the grenade thrower, he kicked the man in the stomach and pumped a burst of bullets into him, sending him falling backward. Will glanced over his shoulder, saw Julian at the bottom of the stairs, saw him quickly look first at Will and then at the grenade, and then saw him hurl his body over the explosive. His body blew apart into tiny pieces of flesh. Will knew that the man had sacrificed himself to protect him. He raised his M4A1 high and walked forward, scanning doorways to his left and right. He heard gunfire from one of the rooms and saw a man emerge from it in a crouch. Will swung his weapon toward the man but then realized that the man was Ben. He took a deep breath and moved on.

Laith spoke. “I can see two men in top-floor room three east.”

Will and Ben moved together until they reached the door to that room. They stood on either side of the door, and then Ben turned, kicked it in, and stepped inside. Will followed him, heard the sound of Ben’s gun, and then saw a man to his right. Will shot the man, spun around, and walked out of the room.

Ben came alongside him and pointed at the last room along the corridor. “Every room up here’s been checked apart from that one.”

Will heard Laith’s sniper rifle crack before the CIA man said, “No more hostiles in my vision.”

He heard Roger shout over thunderous noise, “There are plenty of damned hostiles where I am!”

He looked at Ben.

Ben nodded, smiled, and kicked in the final door.

It happened in a fraction of a second. The door swung two or three inches before Will saw the wire. Before he shouted, “Trap!” Before he and Ben were lifted off their feet by the force of the explosion. Before Will landed on his back several meters away from the entrance. Before pieces of Ben’s destroyed torso fell around and over him. Before his vision and hearing ceased working.