Born of Ice

Chapter Eighteen

   The battlefield was set. They had wired trip sensors around the premises and stashing weapons around the property where they could snatch and run during any confrontation they could possibly have. He had taken the extra step to reinforce parts of the house with armor plating to give them more protection if they were in the house when they arrived. His gut was telling him that they were going to strike soon, he just didn't know when. They would be checking the house first with it being the last location that had been confirmed before he had disposed of the 2 men. He held onto Tisha as they sat in wait for the inevitable battle to take place. They sat on the floor of the living room with portable security monitors in front of them with different angles of the outside displayed in a dim grey screen, silently watching for movement to catch their eye. They were supposed to sleep in sections while the other watched but found they could not manage to sleep with such a high tension coursing through them. He had gotten her to take a short nap but so far that was the extent of his success with getting her to sleep thus far.
   He was thinking on a way to get her to sleep some more when one of the trip sensors kicked on near the back of the property. He felt the tension raise as they waited to see if another one tripped closer to the house. It felt like hours before more sensors kicked off in what appeared to be a pattern closing in on the house from the back side. More sensors began to kick off on the side of the property as they silently inched their way towards the back windows. They had the lights off so they could see out and they couldn't see in. With his night vision he could see the men approaching in a standard formation, branching off to cover possible exits from the house. He nodded to Tisha to turn the camouflage on to cloak herself before they breached the house. They sunk into the shadows as the men came up to the house. He could see them eyeing each other speculatively with the fact that there was no signs of life within the house. He watched grimly as they breached his home and began to search. He waited silently for them to break apart before he went out from his corner like a shadow of death towards the closest pair of men.
   He let his rage envelope him as he came up behind his first victim, grabbing their head and snapping the neck to the left. He trusted Tisha to keep herself safe as he dropped the body, moving silently away as the partner spun around at the thud of his partner hitting the floor. He moved around the the man as he bent down to check the dead man. He stood suddenly, realizing that the man was dead and reached for his radio. Before he could say anything into it, he was on him in the blink of an eye and retching his head and lowering the man to the floor. He pried the radio from his grasp and pulling the ear piece out of his ear to listen to the quiet chatter between the men invading his space. Tisha appeared next to him with an ear piece in her ear to listen. He peered at her before nodding towards the stairs in silent inquiry on the men that had gone upstairs. She nodded once as they moved back into the shadows, leaving the men where they fell. From the sounds of the chatter, there was at least 20 more men in addition to the ones they already took down. He could hear the growing tension in the other mens' voices as they continued to radio for updates. They inched their way towards the door, waiting for one of them to decide to come through the front so they could get out and swing around to the back of their group.
   As if their prayers were answered another group entered from the front, slowly inching their way through the foyer with flash lights. He waited as they walked right past him towards the mess he left behind. He went up behind the man in the back as Tisha waited on his signal before moving in behind the one in front. Like avenging angels they took the next 2 down before inching their way out the open door and moving around the side of the house that sensors hadn't been tripped on. Each of the sensors that had been tripped emitted a low frequency of sound that the clearly human assailants could not hear. They followed the sound to the back end of the men, silently watching them as they moved anxiously around after losing contact with 2 more men. He crouched down and inched his way towards a man in the back of the group who was lighting a cigarette. He rose up behind the man, clamping a hand over his mouth as he slid his blade across his exposed throat. He dragged him out of view as he ran his tongue across the blade, the tangy metallic taste of blood hitting his tongue with a burst. He felt adrenaline flood his system as they took a few more out. They were down to 14 men when they realized their ranks were thinning out. They came together in a tight group, looking around with lights to see what was around them. He cursed softly as they stood with their weapons at the ready, scanning for movement no doubt. He dropped back towards where he had dropped the first man outside. He was going to have to rethink his plans slightly. He peered around, thinking on what to do when he noticed something clipped to the dead man. He inched over, peering curiously at the utility belt and realizing that they had grenades clipped to their belts. A sadistic smile broke out across his face as he eyed the grenade. He unclipped it carefully before nodding to Tisha to take cover. He eyed the group of men near his house, gauging how much damage was going to happen when he lobbed the grenade at them. If each man had one grenade clipped to them then the explosion would end up being several as each one went off. With their formation being as close to the house as it was then it would surely take that side of the house off with fire damage being a concern. He knew he was going to throw the grenade regardless knowing his house was replaceable. It was time to end this here and now. He pulled the pin and threw it, spinning away as the first explosion rocked him on his feet. Debris flew by him as the other grenades exploded, knocking him down to the ground. He rolled back to his feet and watched the flaming piles of what was left of the men that tried to take his Tisha from him. The battle was done but he felt like the war wasn't over.