Free Troubleshooters (Jackson Chase Novella Book 2) by Connor Black

Chen was able to get her hands up to deflect the blow. But Naseeb’s speed belied his pudgy build. His hand immediately drew back and delivered a blow to her stomach that doubled her over.
    Seeing this sudden display of violence, one of our own team being assaulted, triggered an instant reaction in both of us. The adrenalin pumps kicked in, our muscles tensed, and we were instantly on our feet. I had drawn my weapon and I knew Sterba had his 1911A1 at the ready.
    While our position had been good for observation, it was tactically terrible. We were forty yards from Naseeb’s vehicle, and the dirt road separating us had absolutely no cover. With only side arms the distance was too great for a precision shot on Naseeb given how close he was to Chen. We would need to break cover and take our chances of being seen. Both of us immediately knew this. But to both of us, it didn’t matter. Our singular focus was a teammate in trouble.
    “Going straight in,” I said. “Take right.”
    Just as we broke through the foliage, a lorry passed from left to right. As I hit the shoulder of the road to take advantage of the passing truck’s dust cloud, I saw the driver look at me. The whites of his eyes rounded like saucers at the sight of two men with weapons drawn suddenly popping out of the bush. The rattle of the engine increased, and it belched black smoke as the driver did his best to get away from the mad wazungu .
    Halfway across the road, I heard the distinctive low boom of Sterba’s .45. A guard that had come around the right side of the building fell immediately.
    At the sound of Sterba’s shot, Naseeb spun and saw us crossing the road. He immediately grabbed Chen and ran for the shop door. He held her close, and I still did not have a shot. I was sending a round into the door to slow them when I noticed movement at the top of the building. The roof guard’s AK peppered the ground around me with fire until I reached the cover of the portico, allowing Naseeb to drag Chen inside.
    Another barrage of rounds came from the roof, peppering the dirt patch to the right of the station. The guard, no longer having a line of sight on me, had switched his aim. Sterba dove for the meager cover of a small pile of rocks.
    I shifted right, coming out from the cover of the portico with my weapon trained up. The guard, in a tactically inadvisable position, was leaning over the edge, completely focused on Sterba. I set the front sight on his head, brought the rear sight up slightly to get a perfect line, and squeezed off a single round. The guard’s head snapped left, and he instantly collapsed. I stepped back, putting one of the portico’s columns between myself and the building, and nodded to Sterba. Ideally, we’d breach the building together.
    Just as Sterba got to his feet to get to the side of the building, the window next to the door shattered. The muzzle of an AK poked through and sent a long burst at my position. The column took a fair portion of the fire, though I could feel the disturbed air as rounds bracketed me to either side.
    I took a quick look to see that Sterba had made it to the side of the building, using the corner as cover. I pointed to the window and received a nod in exchange. He took three steps to the front and sent several rounds into the window. At that angle, he wasn’t likely to hit them, but I only needed their heads down for a second. I broke cover and ran for the door, hitting it at full speed with my shoulder.
    Since it had a window, I knew it wouldn’t be too strong and a shoulder would do it, as opposed to a thicker door that would require a boot just below the knob. But I didn’t expect it to be so sun damaged and flimsy. The goddam thing broke like a thin piece of balsa wood and I careened across the room into an old metal desk.
    And it so happened that Sterba’s cover fire had sent the guard into such a state of fear that he had run to the desk as well. We ended up less than two meters apart,