Death Run by Don Pendleton Page A

there in a dead run before the guards in front of the building shot him. When he looked at the door he saw a head covered with a black nylon do-rag peeking around the door frame. The Executioner put the illuminated yellow dot of his optical sight on the black nylon and squeezed off a single round. The head exploded and another of the BNG gang members fell dead in the doorway. From the commotion outside the door, Bolan could tell that there were others waiting outside.
    Bolan weighed his options. He had men coming after him from the front and from behind. He'd reached a detente-like situation with the gunmen in front of him, but the gunmen to his rear would soon realize that they had an advantage over him — if they were careful, they could get aimed shots off at the soldier a lot more easily than he could return fire. He'd have to move to a position that provided a better firing lane to the back door.
    To his right stood a small office area that had been built from steel-framed Sheetrock. The area Bolan would have to cross between his current hide and the office offered a clear lane of fire for both guards at the front door. The area to his left didn't offer much more cover — the warehouse was relatively empty — but there were two SUVs parked there. The forklift somewhat shielded the area he'd have to cross from the sight of the gunmen by the front door. If he ran fast enough, Bolan might be able to reach the Cadillac Escalade before the men in front were able to draw a bead on him. He kicked off and sprinted toward the big Cadillac as fast as he could run, a stream of 5.56 mm autofire nipping at his heels the entire way.
    From his new position Bolan lobbed an M-67 grenade just outside the rear door, again waiting three seconds before throwing the grenade. The grenade exploded, lacerating everything within its two-meter kill zone. The M-67 didn't kill everyone outside the building, judging by the shrieks of pain that emanated through the door, but it seemed to take the fire out of whoever remained. No one made a further attempt to enter the warehouse from that direction.
    Bolan crawled on his belly to the front of the Chevrolet Tahoe. Hiding behind the front driver's side wheel, he leaned over to his right so he could see under the car. From that vantage point he could see one of the guards, or at least he could see the guard's lower body. He couldn't see the man's torso or head.
    The Executioner triggered a burst into the man's kneecaps, knocking him to the floor. Bolan held the trigger down, stitching the man's torso as he fell. As soon as the man's head came into Bolan's field of vision, he unleashed another burst from the gun. This time, the bullets exiting the head took a good chunk of the man's skull and gray matter with them.
    After taking another glance at the door behind him to make sure that men weren't attacking his six o'clock position, Bolan rushed the final man in the front. Taken by surprise, the man took a moment to respond to the charging wraith in black, and that moment cost him his life. Bolan emptied the P90 into the man's face and replaced the stick magazine as he ran past the man's lifeless corpse and out the front door.
    Bolan knew that there still might be men outside, so he went to the front edge of the building and glanced around the corner. Sure enough, he could see an armed man creeping along the wall, moving toward the front of the warehouse. Both men raised their rifles, but Bolan was quicker on the draw and fired off a short burst of rounds, hitting the man in the throat and stitching bullets up across his face.
    Bolan didn't see any more men coming so he ran back toward the street, rounded the corner, and didn't stop until he reached his motorcycle. When he approached the bike he looked back and saw two men coming around the corner, heading his way. Bolan raised his gun and looked through the Leupold scope, which he'd turned up to three-power magnification, and saw two of the BNG members