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When they had renades through the s
Inside the lodge, an agent roughly shoved Hala into a cold fireplace He was in the act of pushing a writing desk over the hearth to shield her when a hail of fire through aricocheted off the stoneinto his neck and shoulder Hala could not see, but she heard his body thump as it made contact with the wood floor
Ibc grenades were taking deadly effect now At close range the shrapnel was far ents'
only defense was a sharp and precise fire, but they had not counted on a heavy assault and theirsmall stockpile of ammunition was down to the last few clips
A call for assistance had been transency plea went to the Secret Service office in Denver and precious time was lost before the local sheriff's departanized
A grenade exploded in a storeroo the tank of a snoent next, and one entire side of the lodge soon craith flames
The gunfire died as the fire spread The Arabs cautiously tightened the net They fore; every automatic rifle was trained on the doors and s They waited patiently for the survivors to be flushed out by the blaze
Only two Secret Service agents were still on their feet The rest were sprawled in bloody heaps a the mutilated pieces of furniture-The full fury of the fire raced into the kitchen and up a rear staircase, spreading to the upstairs bedrooms Already it was far beyond any hope of extinction The heat swiftly became unbearable to the defenders on the lower floor
The sound of sirens echoed up the valley from the direction of town and drew closer
One agent pushed away the desk protecting Hala in the fireplace and led her on hands and knees to a lo
"The local sheriff's deputies are arriving," he said quickly "As soon as they draw off the terrorist fire, we'll make a run for it before we're barbecued to death"
Hala could only nod She could hardly hear hirenades Her eyes were filled with tears, and she pressed a handkerchief tightly against her nose andblanket of smoke
Outside, Is his H & K autoe had swiftly becoh the s Anyone still living had to escape in the next few seconds or die
But Ismail could not wait it out Already he could see red and blue lights flashing through the trees as a sheriff's car sped up the highway
Of his original tea himself