The first hint I got was the crack of gunfire followed by a man’s agonized scream.

Chapter 33

33

Rickard watched the big German, Burkhard Metzger, stand up in the bed of the Jeep and shoot both guards at the front gate. And that was it. The assault of Cesar Calle’s stronghold was on.

One of the guards didn’t die immediately and reached to hit an alarm in a metal box fixed to a post. Metzger hopped down from the Jeep, cleaving the man’s hand from his wrist with a large-bladed knife direct from a Rambo movie, halting the warning. He then backhanded the blade across the man’s face, chopping loose his jaw and the man’s cry of agony, before throwing open the barrier and waving the convoy of Silva’s soldiers through. In the German language, Metzger translates as “butcher.” He was living up to the name.

Scrambling back up on to the leading Jeep, he steadied himself by bracing his legs. He glanced sideways at Rickard.

“Good job, Metzger.”

The German set his jaw at Rickard’s feigned exuberance.

Rickard shrugged his shoulders. He was impressed by Metzger’s cold-blooded manner, but wasn’t about to admit it. To do so meant undermining his own considerable abilities. Better that he just got down to business and showed exactly which of them was the better man killer. He lifted his rifle and fired three quick rounds at a group of men charging out of a hut at the edge of the road. All three went down like tin ducks in a shooting gallery. Beside him, Rickard heard Metzger’s grunt of admiration. Stick around, he wanted to say, and you’ll learn a thing or two. But he left the boast unsaid, choosing instead to allow his actions to prove the point.

Trees encroached on each side of the road, left to thrive by Calle’s people in order to conceal the view of the land beyond, but once the convoy of five vehicles was through the forest, the valley opened up to fields cleared of cover, surrounded on all sides by tall cliffs. Timber barricades like giant caltrops insured that a free approach to the buildings at the far end was impossible. The wide swathe of grass was a typical killing ground where an enemy could be cut down while traversing the open space.