The Project 04 - Black Harvest

behind the buildings on either side of the road. They heard the whine of differentials as the vehicle powered nearer. Once it emerged from between the buildings and passed the corner, someone would get killed.
    "Cover me," Korov said.
    Nick didn't argue. He leaned around the corner and began firing at the gunner. "'Selena, Ronnie, cover," he yelled.
    The MP-5s put out a lot of firepower. Rounds bounced from the armored vehicle, starred the windshield. The gunner ducked down, firing blind at them. Korov sprinted down the side of the building. The Humvee passed him. He leapt up onto the side as it went by and shot the gunner. He dropped a grenade through the open hatch and jumped off. The explosion blew the doors open. It slowed and stopped. Flames rose from the wreckage.
    The Barrett boomed in the night. The compound went dark. It boomed again. A propane tank exploded, painting everything with yellow orange light. They ran to the end of the building. The fence was fifty yards away over open ground.
    Headlights bounced toward them.
    "Lamont, what do you see?"
    "Looks like six, no, seven trucks. The trucks are splitting up. They're going to flank you. One Humvee headed right for you. They had some kind of trouble with the other. About four hundred yards."
    "Get the RPG. Take out that bastard."
    "Roger that."
    "We can't outrun those trucks." Ronnie watched the headlights drawing closer.
    "We have cover here," Korov said. "More or less."
    "Right. Korov, you and Selena take that end. Selena, do what Korov says. Ronnie and me here. Let Lamont worry about the Humvee. We focus on the trucks. We stop them, they have to come after us on foot. Go."
    Korov and Selena ran for the other side of the building. They reached the end.
    "I will go high. You stay low."
    Do what he says.
    She crouched and peered around the corner. Above her, Korov took his stance. Three trucks were barreling toward them. They'd left the road and fanned out across the flat dirt.
    "Now."
    They began firing.
    Selena targeted the truck to the far right. A steady stream of empty casings spewed from her gun. She watched the headlights shatter. The front tires blew out. The truck swerved and stopped. She could hear doors open, men cursing. She turned her attention to the second truck. Korov had hit the third. Flames shot up as she watched.
    Somewhere in her mind Selena heard Nick and Ronnie firing at the other end of the building. She ejected an empty magazine, slammed in another, charged the weapon, began shooting. The MP5 felt like it was part of her, a live thing in her hands. Above her, Korov kept up a steady stream of fire. The air smelled of gunpowder and brass.
    The lights went out on the remaining truck. It stopped.
    The charges in Building Four ignited in a white hot flare of heat and light. It felt like someone had sucked all the sound away, then thrown a match into a giant pool of gasoline. There was a loud wumpf that shook the ground. She felt a rush of heated air. An enormous fireball of red and orange bloomed in the night. It rose and lit the compound with a hellish glare. In the sudden light she saw men running toward her. Her MP-5 was hot in her hands. She inserted another magazine. Men died in front of her.
    She saw the second Humvee coming. Bullets hammered the side of the building over her head.
    Korov touched her shoulder. "We fall back. To the others."
    They ran toward the others. The Humvee turned the corner. Selena saw the machine gun turning toward her, bright muzzle flashes, each a messenger of death. Something dark moved through the air and the vehicle exploded. Lamont had come through with the RPG. A man wrapped in flames stumbled out of the wreck and fell screaming onto the road. Korov shot him.
    "Men coming." Korov gestured over his shoulder. The light from the blazing building cast a bright red glow. Ronnie fired at shapes in the darkness. Muzzle flashes answered, winking at them in the night. They heard Lamont's M4. Steady, three round bursts.
    Nick's voice on their headsets. "If they get between us and the fence, we're screwed. We run for it. Lamont, we're coming in."
    "Roger."
    "Now."
    They sprinted for the opening in the fence. M-16s chattered behind them. Dirt flew around their feet.
    Ten yards from the fence Ronnie went down. He cried out, once.
    No one spoke. Korov and Nick lifted him, each on one side. They started again for the fence. Something hit Nick in his back like a hammer and he went to the ground, taking Korov and