Book 0- Part 4- Jason White
Not a ghost of chance
September 30, 2012
1.
It was a few minutes after midnight. Traffic in Sydney limited only to ambulances, taxis and people returning from second shifts. Along one of the main streets of the city, a black vehicle was speeding. It was a rectangular truck, covered with bulletproof body and glass. Inside, there were twelve people. All of them were wearing dark uniforms, bullet-proof vests, and some of them had black balaclavas on their heads.
“OK guys,” said the man sitting behind the driver seat. “I’ve got some new info.” Everyone looked at him.
“Don’t tell us sarge that they’ve decided to give up cause I wanna shoot somebody,” one of the men laughed.
“You won’t be disappointed, Greg,’ the sergeant replied. “A helicopter with some back-up has just landed on the roof. Too bad, the reinforcement is for the bad guys.”
One of the guys raised his gun.
“Does it mean that our plan has changed?”
“The plan is the same. Philip and I will inform you about everything from here. The only thing that changed are the pairs, so listen carefully,” the sergeant beckoned at the soldiers, “Bob and O.D., you’re the Alpha team, John and Jane, you’re the Bravo team, Henry and Lucas, you’re Charlie, and finally Greg and Robert, Delta.”
The car turned into a dead-end street and stopped.
“Alright, guys, we’re here. Everyone grab their gun, and do what you must do,” the sergeant ordered.
The men got up and took their guns, then, one of them opened the truck door and they all jumped outside. It was a dark, dead-end street with two, mouldy walls on each side. As soon as they got out they spread and each pair followed their own particular plan.
“Philip,” the sergeant raised his voice to the man sitting next to him at several monitors. He was wearing only a uniform and a vest. He also had a tiny earphone stuck at his right ear, which was covered by his slightly longer hair.
“Yes, sir?” the young adult answered.
“Keep an eye on Bob, it’s his first mission.”
“Understood,” came the answer.
“Which one is it?” the sergeant asked beckoning at the monitors. Philip looked at the screens that were showing views from everyone’s cameras installed either in their helmets, or on their shoulders.
“The one in the top left corner, sir,” he answered pointing at the screen that was showing two members opening a sewage hatch.
“OK guys, just follow the plan.”
2.
Three soldiers ran towards the building opposite the nearby skyscraper. As soon as they reached the junction two of them split up, and ran towards both corners of a wide building. The third one, carrying a large suitcase, ran straight ahead towards the door. Another pair had gone down to the sewage. The next one got closer to the main entrance of the tower block. Meanwhile, the ones that had split reached the both corners of the building while the third one got to the main door, opened it and rushed inside. The black man who was on the left side of the building took out a long pointy metal object off his back and pressed a button in the middle of this pipe. The item immediately spread into a tripod with a video camera on the top. The second one did the same. They both left the tripods on the pavement and rushed towards the main entrance of the skyscraper. In the meantime, two other soldiers reached the back of the skyscraper.
The sergeant was focused on what was going on in the screens. His eyes were wandering from different views of each member’s camera. Philip was carefully observing the vivid picture from the two tripods.
“Audio test,” the sergeant murmured. “Alpha check in.”
“This is alpha team,” came the answer from the people in the sewage.
“Bravo,” the man gave another order.
“Bravo team is checking in,” A female at the entrance confirmed.
“Good. What about the Charlie team?”
“Ready to rock,” came the answer from the three man waiting at the back of the skyscraper.
“What about you Delta? Have you joined the Bravos?” the sergeant asked again.
“Yes sir, we are both at the entrance waiting for the orders,” the black man standing near the glass door answered.
Bravo team was standing opposite them rechecking their assault rifles.
“And finally, Eye, check in.”
No one answered.
“Eye, do you copy?” the sergeant asked impatiently.
“This is Eye, sorry sir, but I had problems with opening the roof door.” the black man with a huge suitcase replied.
“OK. All teams, take your positions, and wait for the orders. Eye and Philip will update us with the targets’ positions.”
“Roger that,” came the answer from the soldiers.
The man, who was on the rooftop of the building, opened his wide suitcase revealing a massive, metal object inside. It contained parts of a sniper rifle. He took out each piece one by one, and put them together.
“You’ll see what my baby sees, sir.” The man said with his strong black man’s voice, then pressed a small button on the top of the rifle sight.
“Copy that,” sergeant replied. “Alright, we have the visual, switch into infrared,” he added. “Acknowledged,” Eye replied pushing another button on his sight.
As he did that, one of the screens in the main truck switched its colours into infrared. Thanks to it, no wall was an obstacle.
“OK, Eye, scan the building,” sarge ordered.
Eye slowly moved his rifle to the left, then up, and then to the right.
“Damn it,” he said angrily, “Do ya’ see what I see, sir?” he added with a little shock.
“How many are there, thirty? Forty?” Philip asked looking nervously at the screen showing many red and yellow human blueprints among blue walls.
All the other screens were showing what the soldiers were seeing. Two of them were walking along a narrow, round corridor, with a small, shallow stream in the middle. The next four screens were showing Delta and Bravo team approaching the main entrance. The next two were showing Charlie team crouching at the back door. The last two belonged to the tripods that were directed at the glassy building.
“Bravo and Delta!” sarge shouted. “There are too many of them at the main entrance, you can’t get in this way.”
The four members were waiting on both sides of the main entrance. It was a wide, glass double door with no knobs or hinges. They opened automatically every time someone came closer. But this night they were inactive.
“So what are the orders, sir?” Robert from team Delta asked.
“Join the Alpha team. You’ll all enter from the underground.”
“Roger that, sir,” the man replied and rushed with the others to join the team in the sewage.
“What about us, sir?” Lucas from Charlie team standing at the back of the sky-scraper asked.
“Charlie, you have no choice but to join the others. You will all have to act us one.”
3.
The six soldiers met at the sewage hatch. They slowly climbed one by one down a rusty ladder to join the two members waiting below. The unpleasant smell was floating in the air, and greenish water was pouring along a dirty pavement. Soon, everyone was in the sewage tunnel.
“Which way to take?” the tall man without a mask asked through the headset.
Philip pressed some keys, and momentarily one of the screens changed into a digital map of the sewage.
“Go right, John” he ordered.
Everyone started to go along the pavement. Squeaking of rats filled the empty corridor from time to time, and their mates’ steps echoed in the distance.
“OK, stop,” Philip spoke again, “On your left, there should be a crate.”
“Yeah, I can see it,” John replied.
“Open it. The corridor will take you to the basement of the target.”
O.D., the tall black man, put his assault rifle on the floor and pulled the black crate as hard as he could. The heavy metal object started to move slowly towards him. Robert hanged his gun on his shoulder and rushed to help his teammate. The crate moved faster. They were pulling until it broke, then O.D. threw it into the sewage. He grabbed his M4 from the ground, and they all entered a low, narrow corridor.
“You should see the ladder. The entrance should be near,” Philip’s voice came through the earpiece.
“Acknowledged,” came the answer from Robert.
He climbed down a broken yellow ladder. The rest followed them.
“OK, we see the entrance,” John announced.
Eye was observing the whole area through his rifle sight.
“There are no hostiles in sight, you may proceed,” he said calmly.
“Acknowledged,” one of the soldiers said.
They ran fast through the door to some room with two huge turbines. There were several bodies around, and walls were covered with blood.
“What happen down here?” Henry, asked.
“Jesus, these people ain’t no amateurs, that’s for sure,” O.D added.
“We’d better keep movin’,” Robert ordered.
They rushed farther through the corridor, then left, and up the stairs. The basement walls were grey and dull. The floor was cracked, and was covered with nothing, but the dirt and dust. As they were passing through the next corridor, near the workers’ lockers, the voice of sergeant came through the headset.
“All gates have been closed. You’re now in a lockdown.”
“Good. Nothing comes in. Nothing comes out.”
Everyone stopped and looked around. They saw a half-closed security gate in front of them. The lock was crushed. They could also see a dead body of a white-collar worker lying in the corner next to a red flare.
“Nothing to glare at, proceed,” sarge ordered.
They moved farther. The soldiers got to the main hall with the elevators. The colour of the walls changed into yellow. The floor had a carpet on it, and there was a lot of furniture around. The floor was covered with vast fresh blood stains. The soldiers stopped for a while. Greg followed the blood stains, and found another body of an office worker standing by the wall, surrounded by bullet holes. The huge wound on his back must have glued him to the wall.
“They did spare no one.” Henry whispered.
“The elevators are out of order, you have to find another way,” Philip announced.
“How hot is upstairs, Eye?”
“Three tangos on the second floor, far from the stairs.”
They walked towards the open door near the corner, and entered another room. The desks were overturned. There were lots of papers and cans thrown about randomly on the floor. They opened another door and saw wide stairs leading up.
“Proceed with caution,” came the order from sarge.
The second floor looked even worse. It was a typical office, designed for many people to work in; a main corridor with several cubicles on each side. The teams stepped in, and saw dozen of bodies with red holes in their chests and heads. Some of them hadn’t even had any chance to run away because they were still sitting at their desks. Some of the desks were overturned, others were broken or moved. Everything was in mess. The lamps were still swinging from left to right, flickering from time to time.
“Three targets approaching,” Eye said indifferently.
“Roger that,” Greg replied putting his finger on his shotgun’s trigger.
They entered another room, just round the corner.
“What a melee,” O.D. commented silently, glimpsing at the perforated bodies of employees and security.
The walls were full of bullet holes and stains of blood.
“What’s their status, Eye?” John asked stopping at the next corner.
Eye looked through the sight.
“They’re in the next room, totally unaware of your presence.” he answered.
“And you’d better keep it that way,” sarge added gazing at the monitors.
Robert walked slowly towards the door, reached out his hand as if he wanted to open it. Bob tapped his shoulder, and shook his head. Robert pulled back his hand and kicked the door open. Two of the soldiers rushed into the room aiming at the three figures of terrorist. The villains were wearing black uniforms with headsets at their ears. They were all carrying bulletproof vests, so shooting anywhere, but the chest was the only option. The shots came shortly, penetrated three heads, and the villains fell dead onto the ground.
“Clear!” Henry shouted, while the others ran inside and took their positions.
“They know you’re here,” sarge announced.
“Let’s move!” John shouted to the team.
Robert peeked at the bodies one more time, and headed farther towards the next door. Everyone followed him.
“How many are there?” O.D asked.
“Eleven,” came the answer through the headset.
“Don’t worry, Eye will help you,” sarge said amusingly.
Henry opened the door and went inside. He saw a small but wide room. On the other side of the room, there was a ten-yard long corridor with three thick columns supporting the ceiling. There were also two offices on each side of the corridor, to which one could get directly from the corridor or from the small room connected with it. Henry noticed two figures at the end of the hall. He aimed his M4 at one of them and shot with a three-burst series. The bullets hit the terrorist’s head. At the same time, the rest of the team came inside. The second terrorist turned towards the soldiers, but suddenly his head exploded, spluttering the walls with fresh blood, as a terrible report came from the outside. It was Eye and his Barrett.
“Nine to go,” Philip informed.
Henry noticed an overturned desk on his left and quickly jumped there, O.D. and John followed him. Robert, Greg and Bob jumped to the right side hiding behind two columns. Jane and Lucas wanted to join Greg and Bob, but there was no time, as a voice came from the hall.
“Target sighted,” someone shouted with a British accent.
Then a series of shots came from the office on the right. John wanted to fire towards the direction the shots came from, but the voice of his colleague prevented him.
“Man down!” Greg shouted.
Everyone looked at the door, they had just come from, and saw Lucas lying on the floor with a puddle of blood spreading under him.
“Shit!” sarge shouted. “Hold your position!”
“Sarge, inform them about targets’ positions, I’ll try to take out as many as possible,” Eye’s voice came through the headset.
“Roger that, Eye.”
John quickly peeped to check the entrance to the office, then took out one of the grenades, activated it, and threw it inside.
“Grenade!” someone shouted desperately from the office.
Then the explosion came, followed by the sound of breaking glass. And after it, a sudden report spread, as the thick voice of Eye came through the headset.
“Target eliminated, six to go.”
Sarge and Philip were looking at the screens.
“There are two targets coming through the left office!” sarge announced.
Henry felt a few bullets hitting the desk he was hiding behind. He waited for the perfect moment to stand up, and shoot back, but the shots wouldn’t stop. Bob quickly slid out from behind the column, aiming his gun towards the moving figures, then shot directly at the approaching men. He hid back, and yelled.
“Tango down!”
“Status!” John shouted.
“Only four reaming.” Philip informed as another Barrett report came.
“Three,” Eye corrected.
“They’re about to enter the corridor,” sarge added.
John, O.D. and Henry quickly made a dart towards the right office, and crouched at the window sill, while the rest followed Bob, and entered the second office on the left. The dead bodies of terrorists were lying among the broken chairs and computers. John, O.D. and Henry were slowly moving below the window sill between the office on the right and the corridor. Henry stopped. He looked at the two teammates, and pointed his finger up. The men looked at the window sill and heard footsteps on the pieces of glass in the corridor.
“Eye! Hold your fire!” sarge shouted. “The hostiles are between our guys.”
“Report!” a voice of a British terrorist came from the office.
“Target lost,” another one replied.
Henry wanted to throw a grenade to the corridor, but he wasn’t sure whether he would do more damage to his own people than to the bad guys. While he was turning, he stepped on the broken glass which cracked under his shoe. The terrorists noticed that.
“The office!” one of them shouted turning towards the broken window.
Another one took out a grenade and activated it. But suddenly, Bob and Jane stood up at the window of the second office, and precisely shot the three terrorists in the head.
“Grenade!” Jane shouted, as she and Bob ducked at the sill. The grenade fell between the three bodies and exploded tearing them apart. The pieces of human flesh, as well as the tiny fragments of the columns, walls and windows flew into both offices.
“Clear,” Phillip said checking the monitors.
“The floor is clear,” Eye added.
The team met at the end of the corridor. O.D. looked at the Lucas’s body.
“We’d better keep going,” he said to the rest brushing the dust off his uniform.
“What about Lucas?” Jane asked with sadness in her voice.
“He’s gone, there is nothing we can do about him right now,” Bob replied tapping her shoulder.
“Like O.D. said, keep moving to the next floor. The stairs are in the next room.”
4.
The seven soldiers reached the next floor. As they were approaching the door leading out of the stair case, John asked,
“What’s the status?”
Philip checked the monitors.
“The next room is clear.”
The soldiers went inside. They saw a long narrow corridor, with tall glass windows on one side that lead to some office. There was an office worker’s dead body lying on the floor.
“Shit!” sarge shouted. “Prepare yourselves, they’re coming from the front door!”
“How many of them?” Bob asked.
“Eight.”
“I’m ready in case you ask,” Eye announced.
John broke one of the windows with the butt of his weapon, then everyone hid inside of the office, as the front door broke open. Eight angry-looking guys with assault rifles rushed inside searching for targets. One of them slowed down, as he noticed the broken window. He walked slowly towards it, and then some force threw him at the wall, as the bullet from Eye’s Barrett went through him. The others glanced at him, and ran forward. Bob leaned right trying to spot the enemy. Then a sound of several shots came, and before he managed to pull himself back in, he fell on the ground with a hole in his forehead.
“Bob!” Philip exclaimed.
The rest of the group couldn’t say anything not to blow their position, which the terrorists were probably aware of. They were trying to hide behind the overturned desk and a wardrobe. Greg, O.D. and Henry looked at one another. Henry beckoned with his head. Then they all leaned from behind the furniture and started to shoot, taking the enemies out. Luckily, no one else died in this very action.
“Clear,” Eye announced.
“But Bob...” Greg tried to say something.
“I know, Greg,” Henry tried to cheer him up. “This isn’t an easy mission.”
“Good job men,” sarge said. “I mean... about taking God damn bastards. Now move farther, the conference room is close.”
“Acknowledged,” Henry replied trying to suppress all the bad emotions and focus on the mission.
The team ran back to the corridor and towards the door. Behind it, there were another stairs leading up.
“What’s the situations up there, sarge?” O.D. asked.
“Seems to be clear, but proceed with caution.”
The remaining six soldiers went up. They saw another corridor with offices on both sides. The floor was covered with blood and bodies. Everything was in mess. The desks were overturned, or moved. The lamps were either moving or hanging on one wire.
“Be free to go farther, there’s no one in there,” Eye informed.
Greg opened the door and they went inside. The wide room looked like a warehouse. There were lots of cardboard boxes piled up. On the right and left, they could see stairs leading to the next level of the storage.
“It’s a double-level room,” John said looking around.
Phillip looked at the computer blueprints of the building in confusion.
“Damn it! Take cover!” he shouted.
“What’s wrong?” Jane asked, while she and the others rushed towards the wall.
“They’re up there!” he yelled, as several terrorist showed up on the second level. Almost momentarily a hail of bullets flew towards the team.
“Taking fire!” John shouted.
The soldiers had nowhere to run, there were only boxes around and they were under heavy attack from above. They all had no choice but to shoot back. Eye was watching the second floor through his Barrett sight trying to take out the terrorists, but they were running from side to side. He pressed the trigger, but the bullet missed the target. It took him a few seconds to reload before taking another one. In the meantime, O.D. and Greg successfully took out two men above them.
“Tango down!” O.D. exclaimed.
Meanwhile, John was shooting at the two men running down along the stairs. The bullets hit the first men, but the shots from the second one hit John on the leg. He fell onto the ground releasing his assault rifle. He rapidly grabbed his leg to check the depth of the wound. Henry was running backwards shooting at the man next to the second stairs. Suddenly, the terrorist flew a few feet to the back.
“Eye,” he murmured to himself, and then he noticed John falling onto the ground.
He looked towards the direction where the shots came, and send a burst there. The terrorist screamed and fell on his knees, as two streams of blood trickled from his chest and arm.
“Got’im!” he said.
Having reloaded, he quickly scanned the area. He saw Jane lying on the floor, O.D. and Greg scanning the upper level and Robert crouching under the stairs.
“Clear!” he shouted running towards John.
“Clear!” Greg shouted back.
“Clear!” Eye added.
“What’s the status?” Sergeant asked. “We lost vision from Jane”
“Jane is gone!” O.D. yelled checking Jane’s pulse.
“And John is hurt,” Henry informed.
“Just a scratch, I’ll be OK.”
“Are you sure?” Greg asked.
“Yeah, just help me stand up, and we can move on.”
“Go upstairs and through the door,” Sarge ordered.
Sarge started to think whether the whole mission had any sense. Maybe they should wait for some backup? He has already lost three good men there, and none of the hostages has been rescued yet.
“I know that losing three members is hard for you. But, we’re here for a greater good. We must save those hostages before those bustards do something stupid.”
5.
The remaining five soldiers reached the next floor, Greg opened it, and they found themselves in another hallway.
“If you go straight, turn right and go upstairs, you’ll be near the conference room,” Philip suggested.
“What about the terrorists?” John asked.
“There is only one just near the stairs,” sarge said.
“Not anymore,” Eye added after a low gun report spread.
Seconds later the team were upstairs. They saw a terrorist’s body lying near the stairs.
“The conference room is at the end of the corridor,” Phillip informed.
“I don’t suggest you should go there, too many hostiles,” sarge added.
“What is the plan, sir?” John asked.
“We may use the ventilation system,” sarge replied.
“Wait, sir! something’s wrong,” Phillip interrupted.
Eye, Philip and the sergeant were gazing at the infrared screens with about twenty yellow-red human-shape stains. Suddenly, a few similar stains appeared,