The men were still waiting as the girl left the bathroom and walked bare-footed to the stairway. Several were sniggering and one of them said, "I'll bet he's had his fingers in her cunt."
When she arrived back outside Bidaya's office, she pushed the door open cautiously and saw that he was sitting behind his desk with her shoe in front of him. He was looking smug as he said, "I hope you are refreshed, Miss Henderson. I apologise for my clumsy advances but I sensed that you were enjoying it and I would like the opportunity to show you more respect. Will you visit me again?"
She reached cautiously for her shoe and snatched it from his desk. "I am very upset and you should be ashamed to have treated me so crudely; you behaved like an animal." He raised his hand in an apologetic gesture.
She seemed reluctant to continue but then added, "Shameful though it is for me to admit, I did experience arousal from your touch and I will think about it. But now you must allow me to leave."
"Of course, and I look forward to your next visit."
She stepped into her shoes and picked up the brief case. As he rose from his desk she held up her hand and said, "Please remain where you are, I will see myself out."
The guard closed the gate and watched the car turn right at the intersection before returning to his hut. Three hundred metres down the road, the car pulled into a lay-by and its lights were extinguished.
******************************
Bela threw the sackcloth over the glass shards on the top of the wall and hauled herself over it. The tree was close by and she retrieved the knapsack from its branches. She moved stealthily along the wall towards the main gate.
The guard was reading and looked up in surprise when the black figure entered the hut. A sharp crack echoed within the confines as the tungsten spike was driven down through the top of his skull.
Bela removed the magazine from the AK-47 and pulled back and released the charging handle three times before replacing it. The magazine contained the full thirty rounds. She stamped on his cell phone and then reached up to smash the lamp in the roof before stepping out of the hut.
The telephone landline was strung across three poles before it reached the building and she climbed the furthest from the house. The line dropped to the ground when she snipped through it.
The patrolling guard was lounging outside the front door and she moved swiftly to the rear of the building using the cover of the trees. The power junction box was close to the kitchen door and despite her black body suit she knew she would have to work quickly when exposed in the floodlighting. She sprinted to the junction box.
Holding a slim pencil flashlight in her mouth, she jemmied the door and it pinged quietly open. She pulled on protective gloves and scraped sufficient insulation from the live and neutral wires of the supply cable to expose two areas four centimetres apart. She attached the crocodile clips from the cell phone signal-jammer.
She took cutters from the knapsack and turned her head away. A blue-white flash crackled inside the box when she severed the load cable and the floodlighting went out. She waited for the sparks to subside and then checked that the signal-jammer was working and closed the door.
Back in the trees she slipped a night-vision monocular over her head and tightened the strap. It would give her a major advantage in the darkness.
She took four limpet mines from the sack and synchronised each one with her mental clock. She set all of them for twenty minutes and moved swiftly to opposite sides of the building. At four separate places she peeled the protective backing from a limpet and pressed it to the second course of bricks.
She returned to her knapsack and fitted the suppressor to her Glock and put a second magazine in her pocket. She looked down at the AK-47 and wondered if she needed it. In terms of precision execution it was a blunderbuss so why was she even considering it? Grigor would have slapped her face and told her she had more than enough rounds, so just make sure they all counted. She left the gun where it lay and sprinted to the kitchen door. Two minutes and four seconds had already elapsed.
Because of the heat in the kitchen the door was never closed and she stepped inside. The area was illuminated by gas burners and her Glock coughed politely as she shot the chef in his right temple and the commis chef through the back of the head.
She anticipated that the monocular would not be necessary in the main hall and lifted it from her eye. As she stepped through the service door, flames from several cigarette lighters cast a yellow glow as men milled in confusion. All six were together in a group and in the flickering light it was difficult to recognise which three had the firearms. She was eight metres away but she spotted one armed man immediately and dropped him with a shot to the centre chest. She then moved smartly four steps to the left. In the four seconds it took for the remaining five to realise that a shot had been fired, she spotted another armed man standing side-on and the Glock coughed again as she put a single round through his head. With the powder flash having exposed her position again, she crouched low and moved four steps back to the right.
It was essential that she got the third man before he could discharge his gun, and with the lighters having been hurriedly extinguished she pulled the monocular down to her left eye. In the silvery green image she saw her target drawing his pistol and looking in the direction of the second flash. She shot him through the head before his gun arm was fully raised and the weapon tumbled to the carpet.
Four minutes and twenty-three seconds had now passed and six men had been eliminated without audible gunfire.
The remaining three men were shouting in panic but despite the acrid smell of burnt gases from the Glock, it was unlikely that anyone upstairs or in other parts of the house was aware of the slaughter.
She could hear Bidaya bellowing from his room for someone to start the generator and turned her attention to the three men still remaining. One had made it to the front door and was groping in the dark for the handle. Another was on his hands and knees and crawling in the direction of the pool room. She heard a click from the toilet door as the third man locked himself inside.
The man at the front door was nearly twenty metres away and she dropped to one knee and gripped the Glock two handed with her elbow on the raised knee to steady her aim. He fell forward against the door as she put a round through the back of his head. She finished the crawling man with a similar head shot.
The man in the toilet was a problem. There were three rounds left in the magazine and she needed to see her target to be sure of despatching him efficiently. To blaze away through a closed door in the hope of success left too much to doubt and it was unprofessional. Every man left alive was a threat to the completion of her assignment and had to be eliminated.
Then she heard the front door opening. The guard who had been patrolling outside was trying to enter but the body slumped at the foot of the door was preventing him from doing so. Bella was well aware of the XM8 in his possession and the danger it presented if he started spraying it around; but she also wanted him to come inside rather than run off on the loose.
There was more bad news because he had a flashlight. He had succeeded in squeezing through the available gap and was staring in bewilderment as he shone a cone of light over the bodies.
Apart from the confused shouting, the executions had been carried out in relative silence but now she could not avoid making a noise. She moved swiftly to the toilet door and kicked with the sole of her foot into the lock. The door crashed inwards and she pumped a single round into the chest of the man cowering inside.
As she turned her attention back to the guard, he directed his flashlight in the direction of the wood splintering sound he had just heard. An explosion of brilliance flared in the monocular and the vision in her left eye became a glowing disk as the magnified light burned itself onto her retina. Now she was also in the dark.
The guard's flashlight fell to the floor as he grabbed his firearm and she rolled quickly to the right. There was no time to switch the lens to her right eye and she flattened herself to the carpet.
In the dark she needed him to expose his position, and he did so when the gun erupted with a deafening clatter. The room flickered in the light of fire spurting from the barrel and her target was clearly illuminated. She squeezed off two rounds and more bullets ricocheted from the ceiling as he fell backwards still gripping the trigger.
The only sound that now remained was the ringing in her ears.
Only two men remained alive and one of them was her ultimate target. She had lost the advantage of surprise so there was no longer any need for stealth. It was time to hunt down her quarry and there remained thirteen minutes and six seconds in which to complete her assignment.
She dropped the empty cartridge from the Glock and snapped in the full one. The silencer was now unnecessary and she removed it. The sight in her left eye was slowly returning but it was still obscured by a faint blur. Waiting for it to clear would waste precious time so she switched the monocular to her right eye.
She climbed the stairs carefully but in the eerie silence every creak was like a pistol shot.
Near the top she flattened herself to the last few stairs and peered cautiously along the landing. All of the doors were closed. It was unlikely that Bidaya had left his office to hide somewhere else but there was one certain way to be sure. His door was the first on the right and the handle was on the side furthest from her.
She crawled swiftly past the door and then reached for the handle and twisted it quickly.
When she arrived back outside Bidaya's office, she pushed the door open cautiously and saw that he was sitting behind his desk with her shoe in front of him. He was looking smug as he said, "I hope you are refreshed, Miss Henderson. I apologise for my clumsy advances but I sensed that you were enjoying it and I would like the opportunity to show you more respect. Will you visit me again?"
She reached cautiously for her shoe and snatched it from his desk. "I am very upset and you should be ashamed to have treated me so crudely; you behaved like an animal." He raised his hand in an apologetic gesture.
She seemed reluctant to continue but then added, "Shameful though it is for me to admit, I did experience arousal from your touch and I will think about it. But now you must allow me to leave."
"Of course, and I look forward to your next visit."
She stepped into her shoes and picked up the brief case. As he rose from his desk she held up her hand and said, "Please remain where you are, I will see myself out."
The guard closed the gate and watched the car turn right at the intersection before returning to his hut. Three hundred metres down the road, the car pulled into a lay-by and its lights were extinguished.
******************************
Bela threw the sackcloth over the glass shards on the top of the wall and hauled herself over it. The tree was close by and she retrieved the knapsack from its branches. She moved stealthily along the wall towards the main gate.
The guard was reading and looked up in surprise when the black figure entered the hut. A sharp crack echoed within the confines as the tungsten spike was driven down through the top of his skull.
Bela removed the magazine from the AK-47 and pulled back and released the charging handle three times before replacing it. The magazine contained the full thirty rounds. She stamped on his cell phone and then reached up to smash the lamp in the roof before stepping out of the hut.
The telephone landline was strung across three poles before it reached the building and she climbed the furthest from the house. The line dropped to the ground when she snipped through it.
The patrolling guard was lounging outside the front door and she moved swiftly to the rear of the building using the cover of the trees. The power junction box was close to the kitchen door and despite her black body suit she knew she would have to work quickly when exposed in the floodlighting. She sprinted to the junction box.
Holding a slim pencil flashlight in her mouth, she jemmied the door and it pinged quietly open. She pulled on protective gloves and scraped sufficient insulation from the live and neutral wires of the supply cable to expose two areas four centimetres apart. She attached the crocodile clips from the cell phone signal-jammer.
She took cutters from the knapsack and turned her head away. A blue-white flash crackled inside the box when she severed the load cable and the floodlighting went out. She waited for the sparks to subside and then checked that the signal-jammer was working and closed the door.
Back in the trees she slipped a night-vision monocular over her head and tightened the strap. It would give her a major advantage in the darkness.
She took four limpet mines from the sack and synchronised each one with her mental clock. She set all of them for twenty minutes and moved swiftly to opposite sides of the building. At four separate places she peeled the protective backing from a limpet and pressed it to the second course of bricks.
She returned to her knapsack and fitted the suppressor to her Glock and put a second magazine in her pocket. She looked down at the AK-47 and wondered if she needed it. In terms of precision execution it was a blunderbuss so why was she even considering it? Grigor would have slapped her face and told her she had more than enough rounds, so just make sure they all counted. She left the gun where it lay and sprinted to the kitchen door. Two minutes and four seconds had already elapsed.
Because of the heat in the kitchen the door was never closed and she stepped inside. The area was illuminated by gas burners and her Glock coughed politely as she shot the chef in his right temple and the commis chef through the back of the head.
She anticipated that the monocular would not be necessary in the main hall and lifted it from her eye. As she stepped through the service door, flames from several cigarette lighters cast a yellow glow as men milled in confusion. All six were together in a group and in the flickering light it was difficult to recognise which three had the firearms. She was eight metres away but she spotted one armed man immediately and dropped him with a shot to the centre chest. She then moved smartly four steps to the left. In the four seconds it took for the remaining five to realise that a shot had been fired, she spotted another armed man standing side-on and the Glock coughed again as she put a single round through his head. With the powder flash having exposed her position again, she crouched low and moved four steps back to the right.
It was essential that she got the third man before he could discharge his gun, and with the lighters having been hurriedly extinguished she pulled the monocular down to her left eye. In the silvery green image she saw her target drawing his pistol and looking in the direction of the second flash. She shot him through the head before his gun arm was fully raised and the weapon tumbled to the carpet.
Four minutes and twenty-three seconds had now passed and six men had been eliminated without audible gunfire.
The remaining three men were shouting in panic but despite the acrid smell of burnt gases from the Glock, it was unlikely that anyone upstairs or in other parts of the house was aware of the slaughter.
She could hear Bidaya bellowing from his room for someone to start the generator and turned her attention to the three men still remaining. One had made it to the front door and was groping in the dark for the handle. Another was on his hands and knees and crawling in the direction of the pool room. She heard a click from the toilet door as the third man locked himself inside.
The man at the front door was nearly twenty metres away and she dropped to one knee and gripped the Glock two handed with her elbow on the raised knee to steady her aim. He fell forward against the door as she put a round through the back of his head. She finished the crawling man with a similar head shot.
The man in the toilet was a problem. There were three rounds left in the magazine and she needed to see her target to be sure of despatching him efficiently. To blaze away through a closed door in the hope of success left too much to doubt and it was unprofessional. Every man left alive was a threat to the completion of her assignment and had to be eliminated.
Then she heard the front door opening. The guard who had been patrolling outside was trying to enter but the body slumped at the foot of the door was preventing him from doing so. Bella was well aware of the XM8 in his possession and the danger it presented if he started spraying it around; but she also wanted him to come inside rather than run off on the loose.
There was more bad news because he had a flashlight. He had succeeded in squeezing through the available gap and was staring in bewilderment as he shone a cone of light over the bodies.
Apart from the confused shouting, the executions had been carried out in relative silence but now she could not avoid making a noise. She moved swiftly to the toilet door and kicked with the sole of her foot into the lock. The door crashed inwards and she pumped a single round into the chest of the man cowering inside.
As she turned her attention back to the guard, he directed his flashlight in the direction of the wood splintering sound he had just heard. An explosion of brilliance flared in the monocular and the vision in her left eye became a glowing disk as the magnified light burned itself onto her retina. Now she was also in the dark.
The guard's flashlight fell to the floor as he grabbed his firearm and she rolled quickly to the right. There was no time to switch the lens to her right eye and she flattened herself to the carpet.
In the dark she needed him to expose his position, and he did so when the gun erupted with a deafening clatter. The room flickered in the light of fire spurting from the barrel and her target was clearly illuminated. She squeezed off two rounds and more bullets ricocheted from the ceiling as he fell backwards still gripping the trigger.
The only sound that now remained was the ringing in her ears.
Only two men remained alive and one of them was her ultimate target. She had lost the advantage of surprise so there was no longer any need for stealth. It was time to hunt down her quarry and there remained thirteen minutes and six seconds in which to complete her assignment.
She dropped the empty cartridge from the Glock and snapped in the full one. The silencer was now unnecessary and she removed it. The sight in her left eye was slowly returning but it was still obscured by a faint blur. Waiting for it to clear would waste precious time so she switched the monocular to her right eye.
She climbed the stairs carefully but in the eerie silence every creak was like a pistol shot.
Near the top she flattened herself to the last few stairs and peered cautiously along the landing. All of the doors were closed. It was unlikely that Bidaya had left his office to hide somewhere else but there was one certain way to be sure. His door was the first on the right and the handle was on the side furthest from her.
She crawled swiftly past the door and then reached for the handle and twisted it quickly.