Chapter 14.4

The strategy was to take out each perpetrator, one by one. Gonzales, who had been the Chicago inside man, shifted from his position behind a small shrub, near the garage door, to the kitchen door. He silently pulled open the storm door, propping it open with the slide catch on the closer mechanism before picking the lock of the main door, eliciting a subdued ‘snick’. He slipped inside the dimly lit room and pushed the door closed, stopping a moment for a count of several heartbeats to check if anyone had heard the slight noise.

Moving through the kitchen to the dark dining room and on towards the first of the bedrooms, the infrared goggles helped Gonzales to avoid bumping into the scattered furnishings. Once inside the bedroom, he quickly located the man sprawled on the bed, one arm flung over his eyes and the other stretched out to the side, near the nightstand. As Gonzales came within reach of the bedside, a squeaky floorboard spoiled the surprise. The suspect started up and went for the handgun on the nightstand, bellowing out a warning. A well-placed kick from Gonzales broke the suspects arm, while a karate chop to the throat silenced his shouting, albeit too late. A second chop fractured his neck, eliminating this threat.

Through his open throat-mic, Gonzales alerted the rest of the team to the conflict inside. Two other team-members followed Gonzalez’s lead, racing toward the kitchen door, kicked it open, then rushed through the house. Hearing the commotion from the bedroom and resounding crash in the kitchen, the pacing fellow guarding his captive in the living room, darted behind Mike. He jerked a large knife from its belt sheath, placing the blade tight against Mike’s throat. He faced the front door, anticipating a frontal attack from that direction.

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