Page 88 of The Session

“Are they there to steal fuel?” Mark asked.

“Anything they can get their hands on,” Norm replied.

“Going dark,” Burton commanded.

Muskrat turned all the lights off and made a right turn into the lot Mark had seen on the satellite image. He slowed the vehicle as he drove up the hill, then brought it into position, looking down on the power plant from a slight elevation.

Both Kade and Norm were using night vision to scan the area. Mark could see with his naked eye that the gate wasn’t fully closed.

“I spot a body northeast of the entrance,” Norm observed. “Looks like a security guard.”

“Beta in position,” came the voice of a team member named Rolex.

Mark spotted their SUV at the gate near the back of the facility. It was too dark to see anything else, but he assumed they’d used wire cutters to make their way through the fence.

“I spot two pickup trucks on the north side. No thermal. They appear empty,” Kade reported.

“I guess we found their transportation. The question is, What’s going on inside?” Norm asked.

Mark realized his hand was clutching the grip of the 9mm pistol strapped to his waist. It wasn’t that long ago that his reflexive instinct had been to grab his medical kit.

Norm’s voice came over the radio: “Gamma in position.”

Mark was watching through the window so intently he didn’t notice Norm and Kade had slipped out of the vehicle and were already resting on the ground with their rifles aimed down at the power plant.

“Beta team holding position. Rear door already open.”

“Going in,” Burton called out.

Mark stared at the entrance of the power plant as Burton and his team quickly closed the distance from the gate to the front doors. One of them used a small metal battering ram to knock the door inward.

Then there was silence, punctuated by short reports from Burton and the others.

“Lobby clear.”

“Loading bay clear.”

“Moving into control center.”

“Entering,” Burton whispered, then he was cut off by a loud snap.

Mark heard the faint sound of gunfire.

A long quiet followed, then Burton called out, “One hostile headed for lobby.”

Mark saw a figure dressed in a white T-shirt and shorts run out of the building, holding a rifle in one hand and limping as the other hand clutched his leg.

“He’s heading for you, Chester,” Norm called into the radio.

Mark heard one of his team members shout, “Drop the weapon!”

A moment later, there was a triple burst of gunfire.

“Hostile down,” Norm confirmed.

“All right, get Bookmark here as quickly as possible. We’ve got wounded,” said Burton.

Before Mark even had his fingers on the door handle, Norm and Kade had piled into the SUV.