The explosions went off simultaneously and tore large gaping holes in the wall. Bricks and mortar flew in every direction at fantastic speeds, and the flying shrapnel tore some of the thralls to pieces. Still others fell from the ramparts and were crushed by chunks of torn masonry. Before any of those who had survived the initial attack could react, smaller cracks of gunfire broke out and added to the cacophony. All along the wall the thralls who had escaped the initial violence of the blast were dropped with well-placed sniper fire before the assassins turned their deadly attention to the floodlights.

When the last of the lights went out, the three groups invaded the city.

Harris ran, climbing over the rubble, and sent a sustained burst of fire at two thralls who came running from a nearby guardhouse. Their bodies staggered as the bullets ripped into them, and Harris was already past them before they fell to the ground. The rest of Group Nero followed close behind and fired at anything that moved. Four thralls ran from a building in various stages of dress. Harris pulled a grenade from his belt and threw it at the group. The explosion flung their bodies into the air and the bloodied remains crumpled to the ground. Harris ran up the steps of the building and crashed through the door.

Three more thralls appeared. They were still groggy from sleep and Harris sent a hail of bullets into their midst. He heard a sound, whirled to his left and froze. In the corner he saw four women huddled together, their eyes petrified. He saw their naked bodies and kicked one of the corpses in disgust as realisation of their plight sunk in.

"Bastards!" he spat at the body nearest him and approached the cowering figures. He pulled a blanket from a nearby bed and gently laid it around the drugged women. "Henshaw!" he shouted as the worthy came through the door, "get these women dressed and take them out to the rendezvous point."

"But, sir, we don't have the time."

"I think they've earned a little compassion, don't you?" Harris stared hard at Henshaw and the man dropped his eyes as he nodded. "Get them out. Leave them with one of the snipers and follow us to the target."

With that Harris stormed out of the house and vented his anger as he slammed another magazine into his weapon.

Group Bravo was pinned down just inside the city wall. Dan Reiss and his team had stormed through the breach in the wall only to be met by a hail of gunfire. Reiss dove to the ground and bullets passed only inches above him. He hit the ground hard and rolled, coming up in a crouch behind a large piece of the destroyed wall. Four of his team had not been quite as quick and bullets had shredded them before he could shout a warning. Five others had thrown themselves to the ground and had managed to crawl it into the city but now lay behind whatever cover they could find, curled up and helpless as bullets hammered into their cover and the ground around them.

The rest of Reiss" force was still on the wrong side of the wall.

He sneaked a glance around his cover. Six thralls with a heavy machine gun were dug in behind sandbags about thirty meters away.

"Shit!" he shouted and dodged back behind cover an instant before bullets hammered into the stone. "Just our luck. We would have to blow a fucking hole in the wall right beside an entrenchment, wouldn't we?"

The sound of the machine gun fire stopped and Reiss risked another quick look. The thrall controlling the heavy machine gun lay slumped over his weapon and two of the others were frantically trying to pull him away. Suddenly he heard a high-pitched crack and a second thrall fell facedown, the back of his head completely destroyed.

"Warkowski, you big, beautiful bastard!" he shouted when he realised what had happened. He signalled the other five members of his team and then broke cover and sent deadly suppressing fire into the remaining thralls. Caught completely unawares by the sudden turn of events, the thralls died without firing another shot.

"Come on quick!" he shouted to the rest of his force and they climbed over the rubble to advance on the main barracks. Reiss looked back to the building where he knew Warkowski was set up and, even though he couldn't see the sniper, waved his thanks.

Warkowski saw the figure wave through his scope. "You're welcome," he muttered.

He scanned the area surrounding the breach. Confidant that he had cleaned out all the thralls in his designated area, he laid down the rifle and prepared to enter the city.

Scott Anderson led his small group over the rubble of the destroyed wall. The section they had chosen to enter was dark and deserted. They had purposely come in through the docks because no one had used the waterfront area for two years now since the vampires had taken over. The hospital was situated about one mile to the West and Anderson could hear the gunfire and screams of the other two groups to the East.

"Poor bastards," he sighed and then slipped through the darkness.