by Laura Acton
She glimpsed the face of a man as he was led away. His eyes were the most intriguing deep, sapphire blue eyes—they captivated her. She tore her eyes from his and noted other aspects of him. A few days growth of a beard—a ruggedly handsome type who could pull off the scruffy look and manage to appear sexy, not grungy. His short golden blond hair similar to a military cut, but a bit longer. His carriage as he walked was both rigid and graceful—a strange mix to see both at once. She tracked the hostage until he left her sight then returned to scanning the interior searching for subjects.
Lexa listened as Boss engaged in negotiations with the male subject who answered the phone. The man refused to give a name and demanded a helicopter. Boss told him he needed to kick the request upstairs to his bosses. She recognized Boss struggled to establish a connection. This whole scenario felt off to her for some reason, but she couldn’t pinpoint why.
As she continued to survey, Lexa tracked a subject as he moved to the area near the front door. He stood holding his gun in an awkward position. She zeroed in on the weapon. What the heck? “Boss, something weird is going on. I have visual on one of the subjects. His hands are secured to the assault rifle with tape. One hand is close to the trigger and one on the barrel.”
From the command truck, Loki called out as he zoomed the only working camera onto another subject, “I see a second one with hands taped to a rifle, but there are also two without taped hands.”
Inside Central Bank – Main Area
When Franco hung up, he strode over and stared at the final substitute. “Why the hell isn’t he wearing a mask?”
“Apparently, Le… he didn’t pack enough,” Steve told his brother, catching himself before he said Leon’s name.
“I’m surrounded by idiots.” Franco frowned at Leon as he grasped the edge of the tape, ripping it from the hostage’s face. “Can’t have them seeing him with this on. Make him stare into the camera, let the cops concentrate on his face—easier to throw them off track with a red herring.”
Dan’s face stung like hell and eyes watered in reaction as his beard hairs were ripped out when the adhesive strip was torn off. Not the best way to shave. He wiped his eyes clear of the pooling liquid with the back of his hand as he was told to rise and where to stand at gunpoint. He complied.
Staring at the security camera, Dan realized it might be a long shot for facial recognition. Since his previous records from the Fourteenth Division had been sealed, he hoped his paperwork and badge photo had been entered into the database so they would rapidly determine he was a constable, not a felon. If not, with any luck, Commander Gambrill would be here, identify him as a friendly, and surmise what the criminals planned.
Outside Central Bank – Command Truck
Ray conveyed, “No sewer access near enough to be used as an exit point.” He glanced at the display Loki viewed. “What do you think they’re doing?”
Loki shook his head. “No clue. There’s no way in without killing the hostages, and they have no way out unless Boss can work his magic.”
Simultaneously they spotted an unmasked subject. Neither registered a weapon as Loki took a screen capture and began the search as he said, “Boss, we’ve got one subject not wearing a mask. Running his likeness through databases now.”
Maintaining eyes on the monitor, Ray said, “Loki, this is strange. He appears to be staring straight at the camera.”
Loki nodded. “It’s almost like he wants us to notice him.”
Nick and Jon entered the truck to view the only identifiable subject.
Jon pinched the bridge of his nose as they lost sight of the blond subject as he moved away. “What was that all about?”
Nick removed his cap and raked his fingers down his face. Did the subject mess up? Is this deliberate? The man he spoke with on the phone seemed put together. The notion he was being played started to grow as he realized their demands were a ploy to stall for time. For what purpose? “Lexa, do you have eyes on the unmasked man?”
Bakery Rooftop
Lexa scanned swiftly. “Yes, but he’s mostly obscured by a wall. I see the back of his head. He is standing near one who has their hands taped to a gun. Wait … he’s turning. His hands are empty. No weapon.”
She stared at the man. No, it can’t be. The handsome hostage with intriguing eyes. “Boss, definitely something hinky going on. This subject was a hostage a few minutes ago. He was wearing a button-down shirt and jeans before.”
Inside Central Bank – Main Area
Trigger-happy target directed him to stand next to expensive suit man who was now dressed like the hostiles. Empty weapons had been secured to four hostage’s hands to make it appear they were armed. Dan was relieved his remained free of the encumbrance—would’ve made fighting difficult.
He turned to face the window when ordered. As he peered outside, Dan promptly searched for the most likely sniper perch. Where would I be, if I were out there? In short order, his eagle eyes located the small tip of a sniper rifle, precisely where he would’ve set up.
Bakery Rooftop
Lexa sucked in a breath when it appeared the blond man zeroed in on her position and stared straight at her. His intense blue eyes bored into her scope—as if he knew exactly where she was even though she was concealed except for the bit of her Remi which poked out over the edge of the rooftop.
His concentrated stare unnerved her. “Boss, I think he knows where I am. He is staring directly at me.”
Inside Central Bank – Main Area
Time stretched out as Dan stared. He loathed being useless and submissive. He needed to take action. An idea hit him. He could pass on information which might help TRF resolve the situation. Dan began communicating to the TRF sniper by closing and opening his eyes in both short and long bursts.
Bakery Rooftop
As Lexa maintained focus, she noted another peculiarity. “Okay, this is growing weirder. He’s blinking oddly at me.”
Nick inquired, “Odd, in what way?”
“Alternating fast and slow.” Lexa’s gaze remained riveted to the blue one.
“Lexa, on my way to you,” Jon said as he left the command truck and trotted across the street.
Inside Central Bank – Main Area
Dan continued to blink, hoping his grasp of the code was not too rusty and the sniper in overwatch caught on to his messaging. Another long shot … police officers didn’t learn Morse code. He only learned it as part of his Special Forces training and never used it in the field.
Bakery Rooftop
Jon crouched next to Lexa, brought the binoculars to his eyes, and zeroed in on the subject.
“He hasn’t stopped blinking.” Lexa kept her eyes trained on the man.
As Jon studied the eye movements, a pattern emerged. “It has to be Morse. He’s trying to communicate. Loki, did you obtain any info on him yet?”
“No, not yet. Expanded search parameters to include military personnel.”
“Can you translate if I tell you what I am seeing?” Jon asked.
Ray said, “Go ahead, I’ll jot it down, and Loki can decode.”
Jon decided a fast blink must be a dot and slow blink a dash. He began calling out dots and dashes until another subject appeared behind the blond. The blinking stopped, and the blue-eyed hostage-subject turned away from the window.
Lexa glanced at the tactical lead. “What do you think he said? What’s going on in that bank?”
Jon stood. “No idea, but if he starts again, relay it to Ray. I’m heading down. We might need to go in tactical.”
Peering up at Jon, Lexa wasn’t happy about his statement. “You can’t do that with all the explosives.”
“Going to have another peek at the blueprints. We may be able to enter from the roof without detection.” Jon jogged to the stairwell door.
Bram said, “Jon, one ventilation shaft might work for us. It’ll be tight—I’m not sure I’ll fit, but you, Loki, and Ray should squeeze through with no problem. The duct opens
up in the back office of the second floor, but we’ll need the torch to cut through the security grating to gain access.”
“Copy, I’ll meet you up there,” Jon directed, bounding down the stairs.
Inside Central Bank – Main Area
Dan blinked until duct tape target noticed and told him to turn around. He pivoted in place and stared at the business end of a rifle pointed at his head.
“What the hell are you doing?” Steve demanded.
“Standing where I was told,” Dan said calmly.
“I mean with your eyes. You having a stroke or something?”
Dan lied without compunction. “No, a little bright outside. Hurts my eyes.”
“Come here.”
Dan complied, albeit unhurriedly, noting all six targets and the manager congregated in the reception area. Four hostiles set down their weapons and began to strip off their black clothes. Underneath they wore regular street clothes. As two of them stuffed the extra clothes in a bag, the man in charge and the others put several small pouches into their pockets.
Still wearing his black outerwear, Leon picked up two bags filled with cash and placed them near two of the hostages now dressed in black. He chuckled then sarcastically said, “Too bad you won’t escape with your money … me on the other hand … well, I’ll be walking away richer than I ever dreamed possible.” Leon snickered again.
Silas Bowfin grinned as he stuffed two pouches in his pocket. “Franco, this is working beautifully. These uncut diamonds will be hard to trace and are worth a fortune.”
“I said no names, idiot.” Franco scowled at Silas, a necessary up until now accomplice, but he would be just as happy for him die since he no longer served a purpose.
“Sorry, forgot.” Bowing his head, Silas became aware Franco might kill him now—he was expendable. He played his part and identified the safe deposit boxes the mob used to store their diamonds, but now … he raised his head when Franco didn’t shoot him and instead spoke to one of the other men.
Turning to Leon, Franco commanded, “Time to change and move away from the blast area. We’ll be out of here in ten minutes.”
Dan frowned as he silently observed. He now had an answer for what they came for … diamonds. His gaze shifted to the bank manager who didn’t appear frightened now. Instead, he wore a broad smile. Dan realized he must make a move soon or everyone would be blown up in a few minutes.
Outside Central Bank – Command Truck
Loki worked as fast as possible on the translation. He recognized he needed to brush up on antiquated communication methods. His attempt at manually deciphering didn’t jibe. Either his conversion, Jon’s reciting, the man’s use, or a combination of those was off. Though, he taught himself the telegrapher’s language as a teenager, after he built his first amateur radio from miscellaneous parts, the last time he communicated in Morse code he was fourteen.
To eliminate one factor, Loki found a translator online and started entering dots and dashes. He almost laughed as he used new technology to interpret ancient code.
Ray reported, “Three possible hits on the subject. Can’t access two files … blocked by some form of encryption. Perhaps Loki can do something.
“The one I can open is an ancient driver’s license photo which identifies him as Daniel Broderick. The license is twelve years old and hasn’t been renewed. The picture is of a long-haired, sixteen-year-old, but there is a resemblance—mostly the eyes.”
Nick studied the photo of a fresh-faced kid with striking blue eyes. Secured files? Why? How is Broderick involved? Is he a hostage or a subject? His gaze turned to Loki. “What did his message say?”
Loki breathed out a frustrated breath as he keyed in the last of the dashes. The program returned a result. “Not sure how much use this will be. It appears to be a partial message and doesn’t make much sense.”
“What does it say?” Jon queried from the bank rooftop where he covered Bram who used the torch to cut through the reinforced steel bars protecting the ventilation unit.
Loki said, “As targets. Plan blow. Kill. Walk. Plan to.”
His mind working quickly, Nick read over Loki’s shoulder. Nick repeated it to himself several times. A lightbulb came on as things clicked. “Team, I believe I know what is going on. Based on the fact guns are taped to some hands, and Lexa said Broderick was with the hostages before and dressed differently. I think he tried to communicate to us their strategy … use hostages as decoys. They’re planning to kill all of the real hostages and escape in their stead using the confusion caused by the blast. The man I spoke to on the phone played me, stalling for time.”
Jon said, “Loki, Ray, need you up here now. If Boss is right, we need to gain access before they take action!”
“Wait. If they plan to blow them up, they can’t be close. They gotta have a remote. You go in there, and any one of them could trigger the explosion,” Loki said as he stared at innocent men, women, and boy on his screen.
“Or it could be on a timer. Hustle up here now, Loki,” Jon stated.
Loki didn’t want to leave the command post after Ray’s remark about the protected files, but grabbed his bomb pack, MP5, and raced out of the truck behind Ray. They headed for the rear of the building to climb to the roof.
Nick sat down and viewed the monitor as he prepared to re-engage in negotiations to buy his team time to move into position. He needed to distract the subjects and keep them busy. Wanting all available information before placing the call, Nick said, “Lexa, describe the scene to me.”
Scanning the area, Lexa took note of positions and relayed, “Three subjects close together. One with a taped gun, the blond, and another one I can’t see clearly since he is further inside. Three other subjects are near the hostages, and they all have large bags next to them. Boss, if they’re hostages dressed as subjects, that means the real ones are somewhere else.”
“Copy. We’re heading in,” Jon responded as he slipped into the shaft.
Nick called out, “I’m going to call the bank and provide you some distraction as you enter.”
“Copy,” Jon whispered.
After dialing the number, Nick pressed call. When the phone answered, he said, “We are still working on the helicopter. My goal is to get everyone out safely though. Can you tell me if everyone is still doing okay?”
Inside Central Bank – Main Area
Dan decided the ringing phone was the distraction he needed. Detonator man had placed the device on the table when he changed clothes and had yet to pick it up again. The weapons of other targets who changed into regular clothes still lay on chairs. Now or never. He moved fast grabbing the gun from the target near him, smashing the butt of the rifle into the target’s face.
Leon dropped like a rock, blood gushing from the laceration on his head before he even knew what hit him, knocked out cold.
As the only currently armed target fired at him, Dan spun to avoid the shot. In mid-turn, the heat of the bullet seared across his bicep. Finishing his pivot, he ignored the pain as he dispatched the shooter with a perfectly placed shot between the eyes.
Ralph dropping dead stunned Franco, Steve, Jonas, Noah, and Silas long enough for the now armed hostage to aim at them and yell, “Don’t move a muscle. I never miss. You’ll be dead before you can reach your weapons.”
Dan moved forward with the intention of obtaining the remote as he held them at gunpoint. He spoke to the innocents, “Go behind me now. Get to the back. Move. Now!” The citizens all scrambled behind him and raced to the back of the bank to a safer area behind the teller counter.
Bakery Rooftop
Lexa called out, “The blond took a weapon from a subject and cold-cocked him. He neutralized another subject. No joy on the others. Hostages are running away from the front door. Broderick is pointing a rifle towards the reception area.”
What does this man think he is doing? He’s screwing things up. The idiot is going to get all of the hostages killed. She hoped her team arrived be
fore this turned into a bloodbath.
Outside Central Bank – Command Truck
The subject answered right before two shots rang out. Nick listened to what was happening in the bank via the phone. Viewing the scene on the screen things disintegrated in a matter of seconds before his eyes.
Nick ordered, “Go, go, go. Active shooter.” He granted permission to fire as he said, “PapaGolf.”
Whoever Dan Broderick is, he is a cowboy and reckless. He took a stable situation and blew it to hell. People do the damnedest things when they are hostages. Now I have four team members inside that bank, with a massive amount of explosives, and an armed civilian trying to be a hero. Not good, not good at all! Nick rubbed a hand over his face as he continued to observe.
Inside Central Bank – Second Floor
Jon, Loki, Ray, and Bram dropped out of the second-floor ventilation shaft soundlessly. It was an incredibly tight fit for Bram’s impressive six-foot-four body and broad shoulders. He was built like a tank, which came in handy for entry unless it was via a tight duct. Using hand signals, they began to move forward clearing as they went. Without delay, they headed for the first floor.
Inside Central Bank – First Floor
The guys spread out when they reached the ground floor. Bram and Ray went to the rear to clear and check for more explosives. Loki and Jon moved forward doing the same making their way to the main and reception areas.
As they approached the front area, they stopped behind a partition near the backside of the teller counter. Jon discovered hostages hiding behind the counter. He took note of five men dressed all in black, who wore no masks. Hostages were actively pulling duct tape off the men’s mouths and hands which held weapons to them. He and Loki pointed their MP5s at the group as they assessed the scene.
Howard’s eyes rounded with fear noticing the police officer’s weapons trained on them. The security guard murmured, “We’re all hostages. Everyone.”
Jon pointed to the men with them wearing black.