Task Force Mars - Kevin Dockery [110]
There was something familiar about the Eluoi officer who was directing the columns of reinforcements forward, though he stayed well behind the front rank. Still, when the soldiers charged ahead, Ruiz got a good look.
“It’s that fucking Zaro!” he shouted to his Teammates. “Right there!”
“Let me take this one, Chief—please?” LaRue asked. He had his grenade launcher cradled in his hands.
“Fire away!” Ruiz replied.
There was a thump as LaRue fired his 30-millimeter underbarrel grenade launcher. The high-explosive grenade passed up and over the railing, exploding against the ceiling above the enemy troops who were firing down. The blast rained fragmentation down among the Eluoi, slashing through them like a steel rain. Zaro, his body pierced by shrapnel, staggered against the railing, then toppled over to take his last fall.
More of the reinforcing soldiers went down, some killed on the catwalk and others falling, like Zaro, all the way to the floor. Liberated Assarn quickly snatched up the weapons of the fallen Eluoi, and a spirited firefight erupted between the escapees on the floor and the rest of the company up on the high, shakily swaying catwalk.
The rest of the SEALS continued firing with their weapons set on full automatic, spraying both exposed columns of guards as they backed toward the still-open doors to the loading dock. As a magazine was emptied, they reloaded without conscious thought and continued mowing down the enemy. Enough of the Assarn were armed now that the pursuing Eluoi were fully engaged in a fight for survival. They no doubt were calling for more reinforcements, but Ruiz intended for the Teammates and their rescued comrades to be out of there before they could arrive.
They reached the loading dock at a full sprint to find the Assarn spilling down the two broad ramps that led to the street below. Other freed prisoners went right off the edge of the dock, skidding down the sloping side of the pyramid, sometimes losing their balance to tumble among their comrades, knocking them down until an avalanche of liberated Assarn rolled and bounced down the sloping side. Fortunately, the ground was only a hundred meters down from there. Ruiz could only hope that most of them would make it alive, with limbs intact.
“Do we go down there?” Sanders asked dubiously, watching the throngs of Assarn that now jammed each of the wide ramps.
Ruiz shook his head and pointed toward the sky. “We’re going up,” he announced.
Sanchez and Marannis already had collected the three lines, which still were attached from when the SEALS had rappelled down.
“Do we have to climb straight up there?” Dr. Sulati asked hesitantly, looking at the lip of the landing deck some thirty meters overhead, with the rope freely hanging like a trailing jungle vine.
“Only if you want to,” Ruiz said genially as his men pulled the lines, a pair at each, to either side of the deck. They easily reached the sloping side of the pyramid. “I think it’ll be easier to walk up the side of the building, though.”
“You and me both,” the doctor agreed.
Teal, Sanchez, and Marannis started up first, their guns slung across their backs as each man held his line in both hands. The pyramid was steep, but with the aid of the rope it wasn’t difficult to walk upward, using a hand-over-hand grip. The two civilians and then the rest of the SEALS followed, quickly skirting the alcove of the landing deck, making their way higher and higher on the long, sloping side of the pyramid.
They saw the trails of Eluoi aircraft swarming closer, and Ruiz was grateful for the concealment of the full darkness. The escaped Assarn prisoners would put up a fight, he knew, but for the most part they were unarmed and disorganized. He didn’t much care for their chances as the stunned Eluoi recovered from the twin shocks of the nuclear attack and the mass escape. Their vengeance, he expected, would be terrible, but from what he had seen of the Assarn, they wouldn’t exactly go meekly back into captivity.