Seconds later we rocketed over Cage’s infinity pool, and I dropped both M-18s as close as I could to the back door of the home before flying over the roof.

I didn’t look to see where they landed because I was already reaching back into the helo, as were all four men on the skids, and we quickly pulled out one more grenade each, yanked pins, and dropped them at the very front of the house as we passed above it.

No more than a second or two after releasing, Carl spun the helicopter violently on its axis 180 degrees, then lowered us down closer to the driveway.

We looked towards the front door and saw men there; both A.J. and I were on the side of the helo with a sightline towards our enemy, so both of us fired a few rounds at targets. A.J. dropped an armed man in a polo standing next to three black Mercedes G-Wagens, and I think I hit a man pointing a weapon at me in the doorway before the targets disappeared.

Carl was pulling off a tricky maneuver getting us so close to the Earth due to the steep downgrade of the driveway. We knew from the first glance on Google Maps that he wouldn’t be able to land without striking a rotor against the cement, but he hovered about four feet aboveground, his eyes locked on to his outboard rearview mirror, his spinning rotor within a foot of striking, which would cause it to disintegrate and, no doubt, kill all of us.

The other three men unfastened their carabiners and dropped the last few feet, blunting their impacts by collapsing on their legs when they landed. I know their ankles and knees and hips and backs will have something to say about their decision soon enough, but I was relieved to see all three men adjust their packs and their rifles and begin moving, albeit slowly and uncomfortably, forward towards the Mercedes SUVs.

Now the Eurocopter launches higher into the air as it spins to the right, then begins shooting back towards the house. I’m still outboard on the skid, but I reach for my carabiner and hold it with my left hand while my right keeps my Kalashnikov on my shoulder.

Opening the fastener, I unhook myself from my lifeline but grab hold of the strap so I don’t slip and fall.

A few seconds later Carl dips down lower on the far side of the house, flying through the thick red smoke. Once we break through, I step off the skid while the aircraft streaks along twenty-five feet aboveground at forty miles an hour.

Falling through the air, I hold my rifle close to my body and tuck in my legs, saying a prayer that this next stage of my plan works as well as the last one.

* * *

• • •

Sean Hall ran over to Ken Cage, lying on the floor near the open front door, and helped him back to his feet. As the two men began running for the rear of the property, Hall shouted into his walkie-talkie. “Scott and Randy, on me! The rest of you, buy us some time till the cops get here! I’m going to get the principal into Citadel Two. Collapse on that location as you fall back.”

“Citadel Two” was Hall’s code name for the second floor of the pool house, a fallback position he’d set up in case of an attack on the principal or his family at home.

Hall knew Charlotte was in the pool house, so it wasn’t an optimal destination, but he also knew it was the last place the men attacking from the front of the property would be able to check.

It was all about delaying now, delaying Gentry and his crew from getting to the boss.

Hall had been in the LAPD, and he knew they’d be surrounding this place in moments, and he assumed Gentry didn’t want to get rolled up by local cops, so his helicopter would have to come back to pick him up in a matter of moments.

This was going to be a waiting game, and Hall thought getting Cage as far from Gentry as possible was his best course of action.

“Take Maja!” Verdoorn shouted from behind him. “Maja stays with Cage!”

Roxana Vaduva was grabbed roughly by one of Hall’s men and dragged through the house. She dropped the cord she’d cut earlier from around her wrists, then began pulling and swinging at the man forcing her back through the house. She slowed him, and this slowed the entire entourage, but within twenty seconds they were at the back door.

Sean Hall was surprised to see a dense cloud of red smoke on the patio, partially obscuring his view. He took this to mean that attackers were coming from that direction, too, but he kept advancing, knowing that turning around and running back towards the stairs, towards the source of incoming gunfire, would be a bad idea, and hunkering down here on the ground floor would only help Gentry locate Cage sooner. No, he would try to use the smoke to stay hidden from anyone out here, and he’d shoot anything that moved.

Cage, on the other hand, stopped his forward advance in the kitchen when he saw the red cloud at the sliding glass door. Hall screamed at him, pulled on him, just like his men did to Maja ten feet behind. Soon they were all in the smoke, running across the patio, turning right so they didn’t stumble into the pool, finally bursting out into clear air by the two rectangular koi ponds.

They ran on. Hall was first to the door to the pool house; he pushed Cage into his living room and kept his gun up high as they raced upstairs.

* * *

• • •

I kneel in the shallow end of the pool now, my eyes and the top of my head the only parts of me visible while I watch Cage, Roxana, and three other men enter the pool house, fifty feet away. They’re facing away from me, they have no idea I’ve just dropped from the sky into the swimming pool, and they also have no idea that they’ve been spotted.

The pool jump seemed like a good idea when we drew it up, but when I crashed into the water, the weight of my gear sent me to the bottom of the deep end. I was aiming for the shallow end, naturally, but mistimed my jump because of the smoke, so I shot right to the bottom and remained there. Movement of any kind was nearly impossible, but I had been prepared to dump equipment if necessary, so I quickly removed my AK and my chest rig, leaving on my utility belt and my small canvas hip pack.

Now I’m armed only with my Glock 19 pistol and the suppressed .22 caliber Walther pistol. I have a spare mag for the Glock, and a fixed-blade knife.

I wipe water from my eyes and speak into my mic, which, thankfully, is fully waterproof. “You guys breached yet?”

“Negative,” Rodney says. “We’re at the front door now, about to flash-bang our way in.”

“Roger that,” I say. “Primary target has retreated into the pool house with three hostiles and one friendly.”

“Understood; we’ll link up with you when able.”

I hear the flash bangs go off in the house, and then I hear an unreal amount of gunfire. I don’t know how long it will take my crew to make their way back here, so I decide I’ll have to hit the pool house alone.

I stand up fully in the pool, pull a smoke grenade from my belt, yank the pin, and hurl it closer to the pool house, hoping to cover my approach in more of the red obscurant.