State of Siege - Tom Clancy [81]
The distraction enabled the terrorists beside Georgiev along the south wall to fire at Ty and Hang. The Cam bodians were crouched near the wall at the foot of the gallery and went down. Hang took a bullet in the shoul-der, Ty in the thigh. Ty twisted and fell silently onto her back; Hang went to his hands and knees and screamed, though his cry was cut short by a head shot. The bullet came in at an angle from the front and dropped him flat on the floor.
Ty had lost her handgun when she fell and was reaching for it when a second shot caught her in the upper arm and a third struck her in the belly. She reached for her abdomen, stopping suddenly when a fourth shot cracked through the top of her skull. It took slightly more than a second for the Cambodians to fall and die. But their presence had confused the UN police, who weren't sure whether to fire at them or not. The delay enabled the terrorists on the north side of the chamber to turn, aim, and fire straight down the stairs, at the door. One security officer went down, shot through the leg, and had to be pulled out. The other three who had entered squatted and returned fire to cover the withdrawal. Noticing the wounded girl, one of the men grabbed her under the arms and dragged her back.
One of the terrorists on the southern side of the chamber went down. He rolled down several steps before his head struck one of the chairs. One of the UN officers was shot in the face and simply fell over. The room was an echo chamber of thundercrack shots and screams as the terrorists battled the UN police and the hostages cried out. Many of those who were screaming were trying to duck and at the same time attempting to keep other panicked hostages from running madly into the line of fire. The firefight ended when the UN forces withdrew and the door to the Trusteeship Council chamber crashed shut. The gunshots stopped but not the screaming. Nor the sense of madness that, for a few deadly seconds, seemed to infect everyone in the chamber.
New York, New York Saturday, 11:50 P.m.
Reynold Downer lay Georgiev's bloody body down while Etienne Vandal knelt over him.
"You better go back to the door," Vandal said. "They may try to come in again."
"I will," Downer said. He pulled his bloodred gloves from under Georgiev and looked across the room. The smaller of the two terrorists was running down the stairs. That meant Sazanka had taken the hit. Downer watched as Barone bent over him. The Uruguyan stood and dragged a finger across his throat. Their pilot was dead. Downer swore. So did Vandal. Downer looked down. Vandal had removed Georgiev's mask. Only it wasn't Georgiev who was lying on the landing.
"Then they've got him," Downer said. "I thought I heard noise out there. The bastards have got him." He spit on the American-looking face that lay lifeless on the carpet.
Vandal pulled back the man's glove and felt for a pulse. He dropped the man's wrist. "He's dead." Vandal looked down at the bodies lying near the gallery. "Those were UN security police who came in, and I'll bet this man was with them. But who were those other two?"
"Probably undercover police," Downer said. "Working security for the party."
"Then why didn't they move sooner?" Vandal wondered aloud. "Try and save the delegates?"
"Maybe they sent some kind of silent signal for reinforcements," Downer said. "They were just waiting." "I don't think so," Vandal said. "They almost seemed surprised when they saw the United Nations team come in."
Downer went back up the stairs, and Vandal turned and hurried down the steps. He was worried about the doors, though he didn't really think there would be another attack now. The UN forces had gotten hurt. They took away the wounded girl, but he didn't think that was their objective. They came in looking like they wanted to establish a beachhead. Four in with reinforcements waiting to move through the center. Why didn't the reinforcements pull the girl out? The