Task Force Mars - Kevin Dockery [106]
Char-Kane nodded. Those red eyes studied Ruiz seriously, and he wondered if he actually detected a trace of concern there. She surprised him by reaching out and giving his hand a squeeze. “Please be careful,” she said.
“We will,” he said gruffly. “You’ll probably want to move back to the outside so that you can see the LT and the others when they come back.”
After a final check on Robinson, she followed him through the narrow tunnel, carefully avoiding the jagged ends of the metal bars as the chief emerged to find his Teammates ready to go. Sanchez and Marannis, dusty with the chalky debris, emerged to join them.
“Was there any reaction from anyone inside the building when the bomb went off?” Ruiz asked.
“There were some alarms: a siren and a horn sounding. I heard some soldiers running past, but they didn’t come in this direction,” Sanchez replied.
“Okay. We’ll have to hope that keeps ’em busy for a while. Let’s move, SEALS,” Ruiz said. He and Teal checked the actions of their assault rifles while LaRue gave his rail gun a careful inspection and Rodale readied his rocket launcher. The two gunners arranged their remaining ammunition until each one could move easily even though he was loaded with nearly a hundred pounds of gear. LaRue had abandoned one of his power packs for the rail gun, its charge fully exhausted. All the men had consolidated their remaining ammunition for the G15 rifles, grenade launchers, and hand grenades and divided them evenly. Ruiz had studied the blueprints until he had the entire approach and escape routes, as well as several alternatives, fully memorized.
The prison pens were near the bottom of the massive structure. After studying the plans Char-Kane had printed out, Ruiz had decided that the SEALS would descend the outside of the building to the dock where captives were brought in and shipped out. The master chief had conducted a recon a few hours earlier, and found that the Eluoi had only a few guards on duty. And although the heavy-duty autoguns in place over the vehicle entrance were a couple of very nasty pieces of work, they were designed for use against ground and air transport, not someone slipping down the building slope directly behind them. As with so much of their security and military apparatus, they relied on machinery and technology to take the place of eyes on the ground.
Ruiz had resolved to make them pay for that mistake.
They slid down the steeply sloping side of the pyramid, the six SEALS rappelling on three long lines that were secured to exposed beams near their hiding place. The exterior surface of the pyramid was smooth, and without the support of the ropes, the men would have tumbled and skidded uncontrollably downward. As it was, they were able to make an easy controlled descent.
They avoided the few windows and skirted a large ventilation grid that was expelling a steady gush of warm, moist air. Darkness masked them, and there was no moon in sight; Ruiz didn’t know if this planet even had one. In their camouflage paint and dark uniforms, they were as hard to see as shadows and made just about as much noise. There was a little bit of starlight, but that only enabled them to keep track of one another and their progress along the sloping side of the massive building.
The Team came to a prearranged halt about fifty meters above the lip of the wall poised directly over the landing deck for incoming and departing prisoner transports. Ruiz and Teal carefully eased up under the autoguns and went to work. Within a few moments, both were rendered inoperative. The Team moved to the edge of the lip. Ruiz, Teal, and Rodale dropped simultaneously, gliding down their dangling lines to plunge the thirty meters from their ledge to the flat, open circle of the deck. As soon as they had their boots on the floor, the other three followed.
There were two guards at the heavy steel door, standing exactly where Ruiz had spotted them during his recon. They