The four of them darted from rock to rock, keeping to the lengthening shadows as the last light of Crete's sun faded away behind the horizon. Ahead of them, the estate quieted down as the last few speeders took off towards the village, loaded with heavily armed, angry Cretans. Olivia hoped that the assault team would be able to keep them busy long enough for their part of the operation to be completed.
Keeping an eye on the compound's walls, Olivia, Blue, Beige, and Maroon approached. With merely fifty meters to go, a figure suddenly appeared atop the rampart, a black silhouette against the flood lights that illuminated the interior grounds. The mercenaries froze, hoping to blend into the darkness around them. The guard moved left to right, seemingly unaware of the infiltrators. Olivia could make out the flash of a lighter and the faint orange glimmer of a cigarette. The man came to a stop, in- and exhaling the light grey smoke.
There was a quiet snap, like the distant cracking of a whip, and the dark figure of the guardsman collapsed out of sight behind the wall, the still glowing butt of his cigarette falling to the ground outside the estate. Amber wasn't taking any chances.
"Good shot," Olivia whispered. Then she nodded her head towards the wall and the team resumed their silent approach.
Scaling the walls, the four mercenaries glanced around the inside of the compound. At its center stood the luxurious mansion that Pedro called his home. Around it were a number of squat buildings, serving as barracks for his company of guards and garages for their speeders. Flood lights stood in each corner of the roughly square fortification, illuminating the grounds within as though it were brightest day, the small structures casting hard four-way shadows. Here and there, a few left-behind guards wandered the estate, clearly bored and disappointed not to be participating in the firefight off in the distance.
"Maroon," Olivia tapped the mercenary on the shoulder. "You make sure none of these guys enter the mansion before we do." Wordlessly, the red-haired man nodded, before dropping from the wall onto the ground below, disappearing into the shadows.
"You two stick with me," Olivia whispered to Blue and Beige.
"Yes, ma'am," Beige replied with a quiet chuckle.
Together, they dropped down. The terrain inside the compound was the complete opposite of the landscape outside. Lush grass covered the entire estate, brightly colored bushes and small trees dotting the open areas between buildings. With the grass muffling their footfalls and the flora providing shade and cover, the three of them quickly made their way towards the villa, staying out of sight of the occasional security patrol. Nearing the main entrance, Olivia could make out the bodies of slain guards, haphazardly tucked away into bushes and behind garages. Maroon was at work.
Two particularly bulky Cretans stood on an elevated terrace, flanking the large double doors that led into the manor. Sticking to what shadows they could find, Olivia, Blue, and Beige split up, she approaching from the left, the two men taking the right. Posting up at the bottom of the short flight of stairs that led up to the entrance, just out of sight, Olivia glanced up at the guards and carefully drew her sidearm from its holster.
"Amber, do you have eyes on the main entrance?" She whispered into her earpiece.
"Stand by," came the instant response.
A minute passed. Olivia looked over at her two comrades, huddled up against the mansion's exterior on the other side of the stairs. Their eyes flitted around anxiously, looking out for any patrols that might happen upon them.
"Any time now," Olivia muttered.
"Stop whining," Amber replied coldly.
Suddenly, the doorman on the left dropped to his knees, clutching at a gaping hole that had appeared out of nowhere in his chest. Then his head whipped back as blood and brain matter spattered across the wooden doors behind him. His lifeless body collapsed to the marble floor. The other guard jumped, his face contorting in surprise and shock at the sight of his partner's sudden death. It then exploded as a third sniper round pierced his skull, effectively decapitating him.
Not wasting a second, Olivia, Blue, and Beige leapt out from the shadows and up the stairs. Blue produced a shotgun from within his heavy coat, braced it against his hip, and fired several shells at the door. The wood splintered, cascading like confetti into the villa's lobby. The deafening blasts seemed to rattle the entire compound, shouts erupting across the estate. With a final pull of the trigger, the doors exploded inwards, falling from their hinges onto the marble parquet with a cacophonous clatter.
Beige laughed, drawing his trusty handcannon from its holster.
"This is where the fun begins!" He guffawed and ran into the villa, casually sinking two bullets into the chest of a surprised guard running down the large stairs that dominated the center of the lobby.
Olivia and Blue exchanged annoyed glances and hurried after him.