Operation Orion - Kevin Dockery [120]
Quickly Teal and Baxter shucked off their maintenance coveralls and donned the two Eluoi uniforms they had acquired earlier. Jackson made sure that the two pressure suits, together with a pair of G15s equipped with noise suppressors, were stowed safely in the laundry hamper underneath the stacks of white coveralls. He and Ruiz still carried the two cloth devices webbed with wiring that Baxter had made to the LT’s specifications.
Jackson wasn’t going to carry a firearm openly in the orderly civilian station, but he made sure that his sheath knife was readily accessible, attached to his forearm where he could wear it under the maintenance coverall. Ruiz, he noted, did the same with his knife.
“All right, men. Good luck. Let’s move out,” he said tersely.
Once again Baxter opened the door. Ruiz drove the tractor with Jackson sitting in the passenger seat. The two enlisted SEALS in their Eluoi uniforms trailed along a few steps behind. The little procession made its way up to the door to the prisoners’ compartments, where the usual two guards stood at ease, watching the stream of people moving past on the bustling avenue.
Jackson eased himself out of the seat and approached the first guard while Ruiz swiveled to ease his legs out of the driving compartment. He was only about two meters away from the second guard.
“What’s that?” the guard demanded, pointing to the single trailer. “We’re not due for new linens yet.”
The officer took a quick step closer, dropping the knife into his palm and pressing the tip against the guard’s solar plexus. “You’re coming with me or you’re dying right here, right now,” Jackson said grimly. “Make up your mind—quickly!”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Ruiz was confronting the second guard. The two Eluoi exchanged frightened looks as the SEALS put their hands on the weapons slung from each man’s shoulder. The outcome was predictable: Each guard gave up his gun and backed up to the wall right behind him.
“Open the door,” Jackson ordered as Teal and Baxter smoothly stepped up to take the weapons. The frightened guard punched in the code numbers, and the door to the prisoners’ compartment slid open. The SEALS officer prodded both Eluoi through the door while his two men, now armed and uniformed like the guards, took up position in the corridor outside. Ruiz drove the tractor in right behind them.
Once the door was closed, Jackson reached into the laundry cart and pulled out their two G15s with the suppressors attached. He handed one to Ruiz, who waved it menacingly toward the two guards. Jackson quickly bound the prisoners together, and the SEALS started jogging down the corridor he had explored cautiously several hours before. Now, however, he knew where he was going.
They halted at the first corner, the master chief and the LT silently making eye contact, remembering the guard station with the four soldiers that had been right around this bend. Both SEALS went around the corner together, their suppressed G15s set for fully automatic fire. The Eluoi sentries looked up in shock and died before they could reach for their weapons, much less raise an alarm.
Jackson took off at a run, and in less than a minute he came to halt outside Admiral Ballard’s room. He knocked sharply on the door.
“Come!” came the immediate reply. A push of the button slid the panel smoothly to the side, and Jackson found himself once again staring into the fearsome visage of Ball-Breaker Ballard.
“Jackson!” the admiral declared. “What