Shadow Tyrants (Oregon Files 13)

FIFTY-ONE

The cockpit door was tantalizingly close, only a dozen feet from the lowest step of the front staircase, but there was no way Linc was getting down there unless he took a chance. The steep incline meant that the shooters below would be able to see his legs and take them out before he made it halfway to the bottom.

So he took one of the wide sofa cushions from the nearest suede couch. He perched it near the top of the stairs and said to Tiny, “Get ready.”

Then he pushed the cushion over the lip of the top step and dove onto it. It provided the perfect sled for him as he went down the staircase headfirst with gun in hand.

The first guard was so surprised by the tactic that he fired behind Linc, who took him down with two shots.

The second guard was faster, and a bullet grazed Linc’s thigh. He fired back and hit the guard in the shoulder. The man retreated into a room behind the stairs.

Linc waved Tiny down. “Hurry!”

As Tiny passed Linc, he said, “You’re bleeding.”

“I’ve had worse,” Linc said. “But not getting shot at all is better.”

While Linc kept his eye on the room the guard went in, Tiny started placing thermite on the cockpit door.

* * *

—

It took twelve shots from Juan and Eddie before they were able to hit the guard blocking the galley. When he went down in a heap, they approached cautiously in staggered formation.

They arrived to find the galley empty.

“They went down to the cargo bay,” Juan said.

“Why?” Eddie asked.

Juan pointed at the medical cabinet. “The portable oxygen tank is missing.”

“I don’t like that.”

“I agree. We need to get down there. Linc, status?”

“About to access the cockpit.”

“Good. Let me know when you’re in. We’re heading down to the cargo hold to find Taylor.”

“Roger that.”

Instead of pressing the button to call the elevator, Juan pried open the door and saw the cab below them. They’d have to go through the emergency access panel in the roof.

* * *

—

Tiny had finished putting the thermite around the border of the cockpit door when Linc saw the injured guard come back out of his hiding place.

The idiot was holding an assault rifle with his good arm.

Linc shoved Tiny down as the guard fired on full auto. High-velocity rounds chewed into the cockpit door right where they’d been standing an instant before.

Linc rolled over and unloaded his pistol at the guard, who staggered back under the withering fire and fell to the floor.

Tiny gaped at the bullet holes in the door while the Chairman called on the comms, “You still with us, Linc?”