Patriots & Tyrants

by Brian Cotton

  ***

  “How are we doing?” Sanders demanded through Harvey’s earpiece.

  “Kaspar is on the fifth floor with the Wizard,” Harvey replied. “Another soldier and myself are heading up to the roof to raise the flag.”

  “Make sure you take out those snipers and fast. They are shredding our men on the ground.”

  “Consider it done. Out.”

  Harvey almost felt himself throwing up. Sanders talked all big and bad and he wasn’t even in the battle right now. That was okay, though, Harvey reasoned. They needed someone on the outside looking in. His new partner followed him close behind as they reached the stair case again. Harvey stopped in front of it and the other rebel moved to the other side of the door. The leftover held up his fingers and when he reached “zero” he swung the door open.

  The silent one went in first, Kriss drawn and ready to fire. There was an uncomfortable silence in the staircase. It was the kind of silence that didn’t belong. The calm before the storm. Harvey just hoped that Kaspar could fend for himself if it came down to it. He felt rotten for leaving the two down there by themselves, but it had to be done, the mission still needed to be accomplished. Even if all the men inside the Capitol died it wouldn’t matter as long as that flag was raised.

  They reached the end of the hall where the red door leading to roof stood. Harvey took a deep breath then reached for the silver handle. Once again, he raised his fingers for a countdown. His partner watched with intent. Once all his fingers were exhausted, Harvey pulled down soft on the handle.

  Surprising to him, nobody was watching the door. He aimed his Kriss at a sniper directly in front of him, at the edge of the roof, and fired. The round tore through the back of the enemy and he fell to the ground where he would bleed to death. The loud rumble from the submachine gun startled the other snipers on the roof. They each dropped their sniper rifles and pulled handguns from their thigh holsters and fired at the intruders. Harvey moved to his right while firing his gun at the same time. He took out another sniper before he stopped for cover behind a ventilation box. His partner was behind a second ventilation box, about ten yards from his position.

  “You okay?” Harvey cried as the enemies started to move around the roof.

  “I’m fine!” the partner cried. “You?”

  “I’m great,” Harvey said. It was then that he realized that he had been hit. He looked down at the source of the pain. It was his right shoulder and the blood was leaking through his black shirt.

  “You sure you’re not hit?” the partner asked as rounds from the enemy started to ping off the metal box.

  “I said I’m fine.”

  Harvey ignored the kid, pivoted right, and fired away at an enemy position.

   

  .65

  “How’s the hacking coming?” Kaspar asked with his back turned to Clarke. He had kept his gun shouldered the entire time that the Wizard was at work. It would just be a matter of time, he knew, that the USR would send some Agents into the computer lab for some much needed clean up.

  “I’m working as fast as I can,” Clarke replied. “Some of this stuff is disturbing to say the least.”

  “Is it anything useful?”

  “I’m not quite sure, yet. My main interest is why those men are being abducted all across the nation.”

  “Well, you better get to something juicy fast.”

  “Working on it.” Clarke replied.

  Kaspar resumed his quiet demeanor and refocused his full attention on the doors that came in to the lab. In the background, the sounds of typing and clicking away from Clarke filled his ears. The sounds were starting to get distracting, almost making him nervous, as he continued to watch. He knew that he couldn’t tell Clarke to stop unless he wanted to just leave without any Intel. The feeling within that it was a mistake to bring the leftover in on this mission started to fill his mind. What information could he get on that computer that would make it all worth it? The hope was that this whole thing about men being abducted could turn the citizens of the USR against their leaders, but they had tried that before with the population control drug, and with no apparent luck.

  “You almost done?” Kaspar demanded as he started to grow more nervous.

  “I’m about as close to being finished as when you asked me two seconds ago.” Clarke replied. He reached up and rubbed at the Balaclava on his head. “Got it.”

  “Got what?”

  “I’ve got access to the files about the abductions. This is pretty…”

  Just then a wave of Agents poured through the room.