After a few minutes, the commandos were geared up in full combat armor, and packing a variety of submachine guns and shotguns. They moved into position next to the two doors, four men to a door, and Thorn counted down. "Three, two one, go! Breach, bang and clear!"
With thunderous detonations, the two doors blew open from the breaching charges attached them, with flashbangs tossed in an instant afterwords. The commandos piled into the room, shouting at the stunned bodyguards, and shooting at them when they refused to comply.
Four of the bodyguards went down instantly, one of the rooms getting cleared out, but two problems quickly errupted. Two of the bodyguards in the first room were holding off the commandos by blockading the bedroom door and firing through it, forcing the INTERCEPT commandos to take cover, and shoot back. Conrad Black was the other problem. In the seconds following the breach, he had been clearly seen climbing over the edge of the balcony with some of his men, and dropping out of sight. Looking over the balcony, it was possible to glimpse him and his men swinging themselves into a room from a balcony two stories down. He was certainly fast on his feet.
The elevators had been shut down at the start of the raid, so he had to be going for the stairs. "Go get him!" Thorn shouted. "We'll take care of the rest of these buggers!"
