Banshee Hunt Read Free Page A

to the basement. James was a little blinded from having stared at the light for a couple of seconds. But whoever was below was completely blind. His eyes hadn't had time to adjust to the darkness and they were no doubt now filled with tears.
     
    The man at the bottom of the stairwell responded exactly as James would have expected, firing straight up the stairwell, spraying bullets everywhere. But none of them could hit him as they smashed into the concrete undersides of the stairs. A few ricochets came close, but soon the man had emptied his weapon and James knew he had him.
     
    That was his signal to advance down the stairs, and when he reached the bottom to blast another round into the man's groin.
     
    Those inside the basement immediately responded, firing scores of rounds into the door leading to the stairs. But the door was a heavy wooden affair, and James wasn't standing in front of it. He wasn't that stupid. So as the bullets streaked through the door and bounced off the concrete block walls, he headed back up the stairs a little way and waited. This time he got hit. One bullet ricocheted off the wall to smash into his vest and another grazed his leg. But they weren't serious problems, the bullets having lost most of their power from blasting through the thick wood and then bouncing off the concrete walls. They hurt but he ignored them.
     
    Twenty seconds or so later the gunfire stopped, and James could almost hear what the men inside were asking themselves. Was he dead? Or was he coming through shortly? They were scared and panicking; and frantically reloading. But they weren't prepared. He could also hear the sounds of children screaming in terror as the bullets sprayed. And one of them he knew was Matti. But James' only question had to be how many were there?
     
    James walked carefully down the stairs once more, reached into his bag for all his remaining tear gas canisters, and tossed them through what had been the door's window and waited. It wasn't long before he heard the men opening fire again as they realised he was still alive, and he had to retreat back up the stairs once more. But it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that the men were being overcome by the tear gas.
     
    Eventually the weapons fire stopped and he could hear the sounds of men choking and calling out to one another in fear. He also heard the sounds of frightened children screaming. And he knew that was his doing. The gas would have reached them too and the sounds of gunfire must have terrified them. That had always been inevitable.
     
    With a rush James burst through the remains of the door and ran for cover, turning to shoot the man nearest to him as he did so. The man was a perfect target. He was standing there desperately trying to reload his weapon with eyes streaming tears. He went down in a heap, screaming in pain and terror and dropping his weapon in the process. It went sliding away and James knew he was no longer a threat. He'd shot low, so the chances were the man wouldn't die, but he was incapacitated.
     
    Seven down. How many more did that leave he wondered? One? Two? He didn't know. But he did know as he started pushing more shells into the slide that he had to take them down.
     
    Then things took an unexpected turn for the worse when suddenly he caught sight of children not just screaming but also running. Blind, terrified children were running in all directions. The remaining men must have released them, no doubt hoping to use them to add confusion and perhaps cover his escape. It was a clever strategy. It meant that James had no clear shot. He couldn't shoot with children in the line of fire.
     
    That left him with the unenviable task of having to hunt down the man without being able to shoot. But that was simply as it had to be, and he still had the advantage that he could see.
     
    The basement was fairly typical of underground car parks. There were a number of concrete pillars, and the walls, floor and