Free Stryker: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale by Bobby Andrews Page B

had removed the interior light bulb so the vehicle remained
invisible. They each had an M-4 and sidearm.
    Stryker gestured to
Sarge to put his ear bud in and they left the truck with the PRCs hooked on
their tactical vests. Erin followed and they did squelch tests as they moved
toward the building. Faint light seeped out the windows, and one of the guards
gave away his presence by smoking outside the main door that was propped open
by the chair he sat in. The ember flared up and died several times. He went
back inside and the door closed. “How long before he comes out again?” Stryker
whispered to Erin.
    “Probably fifteen
to twenty minutes.” He motioned to Sarge, who joined their huddle.
    “I’m going to move
up there and stay on the left side of the door. When he comes out again, I take
him out. Then, I get the guard on the inside, and clear the building. You and
Erin move in, get the girls, and bug out of here. I’m going to stay with two
LAWs and move to the top of the hill. Sarge, you and Erin come back after you
drop the girls at the vehicle. Then we do clean up. You two will engage
whatever is left from the LAW strike from the rear, and I’ll take them from the
front. We finish here and we all leave together.” Sarge and Erin looked at each
other and nodded their agreement.
    Stryker walked 200
meters in a perpendicular course to the entrance, turned, and approached the
building on cat’s feet. He lowered to the ground and crawled under the window,
then stood on the left side of the door. He screwed his sound suppressor into
the XD and waited.
    Stryker was used to
waiting and used the time to review his plan. When the door opened, he would
shoot the first guard through the head, take a long step inside, and shoot the
second guard who faced into the room through the back of his head. He ran the
scenario through his head repeatedly. When the door opened, that is exactly
what happened. The first guard hit the ground and the second sat dead in his
chair, slumped over with a bolt-action .308 on the floor next to him. Stryker
opened the door fully so he was backlit and motioned the other two to the
building. When they arrived, he whispered, “I’m clearing the upper floors. Get
them ready to move.” He handed Sarge the keys to the cells that he had taken
from the second guard and moved away.
    He pounded by the
cells and heard the girls gasp in surprise, then charged up the stairs at the
back of the building. He tried the door, but it was locked, so he reared back
and kicked it down. He entered the room with the XD up but saw no movement. He
turned on the light switch. Still no movement.
    Stryker glanced
around the room and saw a large desk at the far end with a reading lamp perched
on top. He looked around the room and noted no other doors. It was the upstairs
office of the facility and pictures of horses dotted the walls. He walked over
to the desk and started looking through the drawers. He found a spiral binder
and opened it to a photo of a young woman tied to a bed, face down and naked.
He flipped to the next photo. It was the same woman, still face down but with
her face twisted toward the camera. A large man loomed over her, screwing her
from behind. Her face was etched in pain.
    He flipped through
the pages and saw the same sort of scenario in each photo. He got to the last
page and it was a picture of a girl who looked to be 10 years old. Tears streamed
down her face as the man above her grinned at the camera. He fought back the
bile that formed in his throat and took a deep breath as the nausea passed. He
ripped the page out of the binder, stuffed it into his pocket, and walked
downstairs. He found the girls in different states of nakedness and turned
away.
    “You can turn
around,” Erin said, after a minute. “They’re dressed.”
    “Sarge has the
front door?”
    “Yes.”
    “Okay, we have a change
in plan. I need to talk to Sarge, so get them moving to the truck.” He walked
by her without