Free Pandora 2: Death is not an Option by Richard McCrohan

The initial rounds caught Del Nolan in the hip and then stitched their way up his body. As the last rounds to hit him took the top of his head off, he fell backward onto the muddy ground. The “good guys” had suffered their first casualty.
    Three more of the pirate gang came bounding out of the door. Two were trying to get their weapons ready while the third was still pulling up his pants, his beer belly getting in the way. Just then, Sgt. Ortega came around the corner with Jamal and Travis. They caught the other three with their backs toward them, and, with practiced precision, each put two three-round bursts into the unsuspecting buccaneers.
    Rich, Regina, Frank, Paul, and Malik, caught in the open, fired back at Tank. Rich Foley had just begun to mount the stairs to the middle house when Tank opened fire. As he turned to fire back, the door he was heading toward opened. Quickly spinning back, he saw two men standing there. One was young, with sleepy eyes, and the other stocky, with a moustache and long scar that ran all the way down the left side of his face. Seeing Cpl. Foley standing there, they both gave him hateful looks and brought their handguns up to fire. As Rich pulled the trigger of his AR16, they both fired.
    Bouchard, meanwhile, had run back into the house and out the other door. While Tommy’s unit poured concentrated fire throughthe doorway, he threw a grenade through the window. Seconds after the grenade blew, they poured through the doorway, firing at all corners.
    Carlos was sorting his tools, getting ready to start on a man they found hiding in the VA Clinic. The man was totally harmless and pleading for his life, but Bouchard felt that Carlos needed something to occupy his time. He didn’t want him getting bored. When all the shooting started, he ran to the door and looked out. He was in a small building set off to the side of the others that was almost completely surrounded by foliage. Unlike most of the structures in south Florida that were bathed in bright pastel colors, this building was painted in a dark tone. The others called it the Death House in honor of its sole inhabitant, Dr. Death himself.
    The foliage hid most of the action from Carlos, but he could see the flashes of light and chatter of automatic weapons that told him a firefight was in progress. Slamming the door and running back inside, he oscillated back and forth, completely at odds as to what to do.
Oh my God
, he thought,
where am I going to go?
Looking down at the small, frightened man tied to the chair, he panicked and said, “Oh, this isn’t good at all.”
    Rich Foley sprayed the two men with a sweeping motion. Both shooters were blown back through the doorway. Rapidly grabbing a grenade from his webbing, he pulled the pin, threw it inside, and then twisted back out the open door. Dodging to the side of the doorframe, he flattened himself to the wall as the grenade exploded, blowing wreckage and body parts out the door.
    Manny, Jamal, and Travis moved to cover as automatic weapons fire sprayed from the two front windows of the third house. Mike and Luis, meanwhile, went around the back and kicked in the door. They caught several men racing for the back door, either to escape or totry to flank the raiding party. Either way, Mike and Luis cut down the surprised criminals in midstride from the kitchen they were now standing in. Luis threw a grenade into the living room, and they both ducked down behind the counter. The front door flew open, and two of the gang came running out. Manny shot them before they even got off the porch, and the windows and front door blew out as the grenade erupted.
    The two drunken guards whom Tank had spoken to earlier had Sean, Mario, and Jack pinned down. They had run in from their position and caught the group exiting Bouchard’s house. Tommy and Carol had separated from the group, and they ran along the waterfront, heading in the direction they saw Bouchard go.
    Tank, standing in the middle of