Sean cocked the FAL once again, sliding the rifle into both hands, the keys in his pocket and now ready to go. They'd have the pickup wherever they left it....and one of Malkia's guys had left it in the courtyard, ready to go for when they needed to leave. The situation had seriously detirorated, and going into the evening, he knew that time was going to run out for them.

"Sounds absolutely fucked out there. And so much for food for now. But if the bitch is dead, then we'll be quids in anyway." Sean replied, taking in the situation, aware Hayden was on board, and Yekatarina too. He felt tense, just like anyone, but same time, he'd seen warfare. He reminded himself of the US Marine, the one he took the piss out of, tell him about Fallujah. A hell on earth, a place that man wished upon nobody, fighting in tight, urban quarters, room to room, block to block, never knowing who was on the other side. Urban warfare was often the most brutal and bloody- when hiding spots were everywhere, it made every sector a dangerous one. So Sean had no doubt of what lay on the other side, no doubt Yekatarina knew of Grozny, and Bethan from her experiences in Afghan.

"Sounds like anyone who's anyone is carrying a tool out there. I'm glad we bought enough lead. We can scavenge whatever else we can, but if we don't move fast, we will get cornered. We need to assume anyone out there is hostile, shoot first, ask questions later...fuck." Sean commented, not exactly having a plan, but a comment of his own, as the Welshwoman replied with a confident nod to Hayden's comment, checking her own mag in the FNC, the Belgian-made weapon tight in her hands, mags ready to go in pouches.

"Yekatarina and Sean make a point, we should try and avoid going head on and around the fighting. I made a mental note of it, it's about eight blocks north to Melani's, direct road goes straight on the main highway but there's a series of what looks like slums and roads on the periphery of town. We go through that, we might be able to avoid the heat on the roads. There's no real reason for anyone to fight over turf there, maybe a few gang members but they won't have enough time to make checkpoints or stop us, though we'll need to keep on the gas. We get lucky and keep our weapons out of view, we might be able to pass off as civvies. And if not, return fire. Not like this is place has IEDs....yet. 

"We can take it around to the eastern flank of her place, find a place to hide the vehicle, then get through on foot a couple blocks out. We go in, take down whatever fireteams are guarding the place, any guards in the market outside hers, and if we can scavenge grenades, explosives, IEDs, fuck, anything, see if we can blast our way in. Or climb in and clear the buildings, one by one. Frag Melani, take anything of value, and run. They're not trained in CQC, but we get this wrong, we're getting crucified....in this case, probably literally." Bethan commented, Sean pulling the keys and looking across to the other two, Sean nodding as he looked across to the Hilux, aware that as unstable a platform as it was, it wasn't a slouch. There was a reason it was a terrorist's favourite, a powerful diesel engine, good carrying capacity, four wheel drive, and reliability like nothing. Unlike the most of the Coalition's vehicles, designed for protection and comfort, this did speed and outright versatility far, far better. And right now, a useful thing to have.

"He will want proof we've killed her, too. That machete of hers looked fairly unique....I can't imagine many others have it, y'know." Sean commented, knowing while Bethan didn't want to go into the detail of how this world worked, it was going to be some sort of assurance. Their word wasn't going to be enough, it would be anarchy if they found out she was dead, after all and they other side would want to hide that.
 
"Jesus, I thought you were about to say we're taking her head back with us. After earlier, nothing's off the cards with you." Bethan barbed back, a wry shrug returning favour given the long day they'd had.

"Well, it looks like she might have already to a bunch of people. I don't think there's anyone normal left here." Sean replied, Bethan nodding in agreement, the two ready to go and aware that while a shit plan, it was at least going to get them into position, avoided the fighting and got them in. It was shit or bust, all or nothing now. No running back.

Part of Sean wondered if they should drive off into the distance, get out of this town and escape and risk that, while they had guns and a vehicle to hand. Shit, to hell with this contract, perhaps just flee far enough to join another mercenary team, maybe cross the border. But even then, there was little hope they'd get another lead on The Hyena if they didn't do this. They'd be starting again, and given how things were about to get sectarian, everyone was about to get paranoid without spilling the beans. So to put out an almighty oil fire, perhaps they just needed to start an even bigger one so they could at least get a lead out of town, and use whatever merc company they needed to get themselves further.