Patriot games - Tom Clancy [249]
"I want two more people at the house," Longley said.
"Agreed, but let's brief the people first." He slid the door open and both men went back up the driveway.
The agents on perimeter duty came together where the driveway met the road. They were alert, but it was hard to see with the wind- driven rain in their faces and the stinging dust blowing from the field on the other side of the road. Several were trying to finish sandwiches. One agent did a head count and came up one short. He sent a fellow agent to fetch the man whose radio was evidently out. Ernie tagged along with him; this agent had given him half a sandwich.
"You want to retire to the living room?" Cathy waved at the seats a few feet away. "I'd like to clear these dishes away."
"I'll do it, Cath," Sissy Jackson said. "You go sit down." She went into the kitchen and got the apron. Ryan knew for certain that Cathy had warned the Jacksons -Sissy at least, since she was wearing what on further inspection seemed an expensive dress. Everyone stood, and Robby walked off to the bathroom for a head call.
"Here we go," Alex said. He was at the wheel now. "All ready?"
"Go!" O'Donnell said. Like Alex, he wanted to be out in front with his troops. "Thank God for the weather!"
"Right," Alex agreed. He flipped the van's headlights to high beam. He saw two groups of agents, standing a few yards apart.
The security force saw the approaching lights, and, being trained men, they kept a close eye on it despite knowing who it was and what it had been doing. Thirty yards from them there was a flash and a bang. Some men reached instinctively for their guns, then stopped when they saw that the vehicle's left-front tire had blown and was fluttering on the road as the driver struggled to get the truck back under control. It stopped right in front of the driveway. No one had commented on the ladders before. No one noticed their absence now. The driver got out and looked at the wheel.
"Aw, shit!"
Two hundred yards away, Avery saw the truck sitting on the road, and his instincts set off an alarm. He started running.
The van's door slid back, revealing four men with automatic weapons.
The agents a few feet away reacted in a moment, but too late. Barely had the door moved when the first weapon fired. A cylindrical silencer hung on the muzzle, which muffled the noise, but not the tongue of white flame that hovered in the darkness, and five men were down in the first second. The other gunmen had already joined in, and the first group of agents was wiped out without having fired a single return shot. The terrorists leaped out of the side and back doors of the van and engaged the second group. One Secret Service agent got his Uzi up and fired a short burst that killed the first man out of the back of the van, but the man behind him killed the agent with his weapon. Two more of the guards were now dead, and the other four of the group dropped to the ground and tried to return fire.
"What the hell is that?" Ryan said. The sound was hard to distinguish through the noise of the rain and the recurring thunder. Heads throughout the room turned. There was a British security officer in the kitchen and two Secret Service agents on the deck outside the room. Their heads had already turned, and one man was reaching for his radio.
Avery's service revolver was out. As team leader he didn't bother carrying anything but his Smith & Wesson.357 Magnum. His other hand was in any case busy with his radio.
"Call Washington, we are under attack! We need backup right the hell now! Unknown gunmen on the west perimeter. Officers down, officers need help!"
Alex reached back into the truck and pulled out an RPG-7 rocket launcher. He could just make out the two State Police cars two hundred yards down the road. He couldn't see the cops, but they had to be there. He elevated the weapon to the proper mark on the steel sight and squeezed the trigger, adding yet another thundering noise to the flashing sky. The round