Daniel Suarez - Kill Decision

Several shots rang out in the distance-a crackling that echoed in the hills. It gave Odin pause. However, his video image kept running uninterrupted, and in a moment Smokey and Tin Man ran down with a deflated human decoy.

“Trigger-happy little bastards. We barely got near the wall with the decoy when they opened up on us-straight through the planks.”

Mooch nodded to a bank of monitors on a nearby table. “There’s your vector map, Odin.”

Odin stooped to examine the video monitor. It showed a series of dots and glowing lines projected on the hillside, illustrating the path of incoming bullets. “Okay, two high on the ridge, eight hundred and nine hundred meters, one closer on this rise-about seven-eighty. Foxy, what do you think-Lapua Magnums?”

“That’s what I’d use.”

“All right.” Odin clicked around the computer screen. “That gives the bullets a flight time of about a second, give or take.” He stood up. “Even if they bracket us, that’s too far for them to hit an evasive target. Foxy!”

“Yeah?”

“Take the mirror blind and mark targets with near-red. Smokey, Tin Man, assemble the M224 in defilade-behind the SUVs might be good. On Foxy’s direction drop some seven-twenties on those two sniper stations. Clear us a path to the airstrip.” He looked around. “Objections?”

Everyone nodded and murmured assent.

“All right, then. Do it.”

They immediately launched into action, grabbing yet another equipment case and dragging it toward the front door.

McKinney gave Odin a quizzical look. “Then you’ve faced these things before?”

He nodded. “Our team has unique expertise, Professor. We illuminate them with a near-red laser for targeting-heatless light. It’s based on insect bioluminescence, actually. Helps conceal our presence. These machines can see infrared light like we can see visible light, so we don’t use it.”

Foxy and the others, now in their cool suits, swiftly opened the front door, Foxy holding the mirrored, curving shield in front of him. Smokey and Tin Man followed him through the door, and although everyone tensed visibly as they ran out into the open, their cool suits and other equipment apparently made them invisible to the autosnipers in the hills.

McKinney moved over to the security monitors and watched over Mooch’s shoulder. The screen showed Foxy moving to kneel behind the mirror shield in the driveway. Behind the SUV Smokey and Tin Man quickly opened the Pelican case and set up what looked to be a light mortar. In less than a minute Tin Man radioed in.

“All right, Foxy, burn Target One.”

“Burning.”

Smokey was monitoring some sort of electronic device that he then held against a mortar round Tin Man offered to him.

“Round programmed. Firing.”

Tin Man dropped the mortar round into the tube, and they both ducked down with their mouths open.

The mortar blasted with a CHOOM sound that was audible inside the house.

Mooch tapped another monitor focused on the distant sniper station. It looked like an evergreen bush with a black pipe sticking out of it. But in a few seconds the bush exploded, revealing a shattered optical lens and a tripod mount as it tipped onto its side.

Mooch radioed. “Target One down.”

“Copy that, Mooch.”

They quickly acquired the second target and repeated the process, requiring two rounds this time until they were satisfied it was knocked out. The entire team in the foyer breathed in relief as Foxy radioed in.

“Targets eliminated.”

Odin nodded. “All right, everyone. Let’s move everything to the SUVs.”

But suddenly a deep humming sound started to emanate from somewhere outside-somewhere away in the hills. They all looked at each other.

McKinney spoke first. “What is that?”

It sounded like a thousand weed whackers heard from a mile away.

Mooch examined the bank of camera monitors. “I don’t see anything. And we’re jamming common drone radio frequencies. And GPS signals.”

Foxy’s voice came in on the radio. “Odin, we’re hearing a strange sound out here. You got anything on the sensors?”

The sound was getting louder. Odin studied the rover screen. “Foxy, get your team back inside. Now!”

On the video monitor they grabbed their gear and dragged it back toward the front door of the house.

To McKinney the humming started to take on the sound of bees. Very large bees.

Ripper was aiming her rifle from doorway to doorway on the balconies above them. “What the hell is that?”

Odin was studying the Rover screen. “We’re gonna need a new plan.” He turned the screen to face them. It was a raven’s-eye view, flying over the forested hills-following what looked like a massive flock of black birds, thousands strong. Except that they didn’t move like birds; they swarmed low through and around the trees, hugging the land. Following something. The raven perspective showed that the cloud was moving, in surges and leaps, straight toward the house.

Foxy frowned. “What the hell…?”

McKinney studied the image. “Oh, my God…”

Foxy, Tin Man, and Smokey came back in through the double doors. Foxy lowered the mirror shield. “What is it?”

Odin stowed the Rover. “Batten down the hatches, people. We’re about to get hit, and if it’s what I think it is, it means we shoot everything that moves.”

The team started grabbing extra ammunition from the Pelican cases.

Ripper pulled her smaller, lighter ammo clip out and slapped a heavy, translucent, twin-drum magazine into her weapon. “Smokey, you got any spare drums for a HK416?”

“No, I wasn’t packing for an assault.”

“Mooch! Bag Hoov’s body. We’re taking him with us.”

“Right.” Mooch got busy, removing a body bag from his rucksack.

“Foxy!”

“Yeah?”

“What’s the most defensible room in this house from a swarm?”

“Probably the garage. Stone walls, covered by hillside on two sides. There’s a jeep there-no top, though. And I don’t have the keys.”

The humming sound was wrapping around the house now-forcing them to shout. The sound of shattering glass came from upstairs-front, back, sides. Everyone aimed weapons upward.

Smokey eyed the balconies warily. “Fuck me…”

“We move to the garage. Now!” Odin grabbed McKinney and started moving across the foyer. “Any expert advice, Professor?”

McKinney stared upward with dread like the others. “Yes. Don’t let them find us.”

Smokey brought up the rear. “Thanks for the tip.”

Just then a series of gunshots boomed outside the tall front doors, the wood splintering in around the door hardware and hinges. Bullets whined past in the foyer, shattering a vase and breaking the glass of a cabinet.

“Move! Move! Move!”

The doors started to disintegrate as dozens more bullets ripped through the wood.

As they reached the entrance to a hallway, Ripper pointed, aiming her weapon up. “There!”

They looked up to see dozens of black buzzing objects pouring over the upstairs balconies from several directions. They looked like toys, two-foot-diameter quadracopters with wiry frames and a central hub-not unlike a winged insect.

They seemed to respond to Ripper’s movement or her shout, because they immediately surged downward in a gathering cloud.

Ripper opened up with her HK, a blade of fire stabbing out as she panned the ceiling, shell cases clattering across the floor around her. McKinney was surprised that her earphones seemed to cancel the loudness of the weapon, while still allowing her to hear her teammates on the intrateam radio.

Odin was shouting, “Ripper, move!”

Pieces of shattered plastic and entire quadracopters were raining down now, smashing into the floor around her as she ran toward them-firing upward the entire way in an uninterrupted burst. Smokey and Tin Man were also ripping the ceiling with short bursts from their HKs.