by Ryan Garner
The pounding blades of multiple helicopters echoed in the air overhead; both of Wilmington’s SABLE units circled this chaotic portion of the city along with several fully armed NGP Black Hawk helicopters. The sound of their rotors was sporadically interrupted by the rolling sound of thunder and the crackle of lightning. Even though the power to this section of the city had been disabled by the rioters, plunging downtown Wilmington into a terrifying darkness, the combination of police vehicle headlights and blue lights and frequent lightning flashes illuminated the area in a very surreal and dreamlike manner.
Todd Sorrells stood in formations beside Eric Morrisey, Roger Faulk, and the rest of his squad along with numerous other officers, National Guard soldiers, and NGP Officers. This was not how a heavy set officer in his fifties expected to spend the last few months of his career at the department before his retirement; he had hoped these would be quiet months, but that dream had long since passed. He had been a police officer with Wilmington for twenty five years and before that had served in the US Army as a Ranger. In all that time he had seen things within the country and in his city grow progressively worse; more recently it seemed to him as if things were spiraling completely out of control.
He had helped disperse many civil disturbances in his time, but this one was drastically different from all the others. These weren’t spoiled, socialist, college kids trying to flex their political clout by demonstrating. This was a malevolent, angry mob moving with the purpose of anarchy and destruction. They had sold their souls to the devil himself and they would bring all of hell with them. Thousands of people within the city had seemingly gone mad, transformed into ravenous animals, turning on their fellow man like a pack of wild dogs. If he had not seen it with his own eyes he might not have believed it.
Todd thought it fortunate that he had given up his position within the Mobile Field Force unit years ago. They would be forced to spearhead the fight against the crowd once the order to go in was given. Even though he had once enjoyed that aspect of his job this was a young man’s game. His aging and overweight body that had carried him through decades of police work could no longer hold up to the demanding physical rigors of the position. It was unfortunate, but he was no longer a young man that could run and fight with the best. It was strange; twenty five years didn’t seem like all that long ago. He let out a subtle sigh of nostalgia.
Todd had been relieved to see the National Guard finally deploy. Even though their numbers were limited thanks in part to being spread out all across the state it was good to see them here. The NGP was even a welcome sight even though he found it strange that they were establishing such a heavy presence within the City of Wilmington. Bigger and more violent riots were breaking out in larger cities across the country on a disturbingly regular basis. Why had the National Governing Police taken such an interest in what he assumed would be viewed as an insignificant city in North Carolina? He concluded that the answer to that question had to be well above his pay grade.
Thunder rolled as the mob marched closer and closer to the awaiting police formations. Todd heard a sergeant still giving orders over the loudspeakers attached to the ADS Humvee’s ordering the crowd to disperse. He knew that by this point however, the wheels of battle had already been set into motion, no amount of reasoning was going to stop what was about to transpire. The heavy thudding sound of helicopter blades slowly crept over his location as two NGP Black Hawks flew over his position and moved towards the awaiting crowd. Lightning flashed as Todd glanced upwards and even though it was difficult to see in the darkness he could tell that both helicopters were heavily armed. From his time in the military he knew that the two pintle-mounts attached to the aft frame of the flight deck of the Black Hawks were fitted with Folding Fin Aerial Rockets. The unguided FFAR’s were perfect for air to ground attacks. The two waist gunners of each helicopter would also be manning either M240H machine guns or M134 7.62mm miniguns. Either one would be devastating if unleashed on a crowd of people, but considering the behavior of this mob using them might become necessary to save lives.
How did the city get to this point? Todd asked himself. The whole scene was not representative of what anyone would think an American city would look like. The Black Hawks, the numerous soldiers, overwhelming crowd, and the violence; the entire situation reminded him of his involvement with the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993 shortly after he had become a Ranger. Those horrific memories were ones he dreaded to recall, but on days like this he could not help, but think of the similarities.
“All units…Standby for ADS deployment…I say again, standby for ADS deployment.” Todd heard Captain Bennie Davis speak over his radio. The conflict was about to come to a head.
….
Lieutenant Fearon moved into the large conference room flanked by both TALOS Officers still carrying their “ray gun looking” SCAR 17’s. Behind him the third NGP Officer who carried his laptop walked in as well. Directly in front of Fearon was a large conference table cluttered with laptops, phones, maps, and handheld police and military radios. Chief Herman Stickel sat at the head of the table and to his right was Major Chasidy Antoine-Dennison, a heavy set woman in her fifties with an angry scowl on her face. Next to her was a man dressed in US military fatigues with silver eagles pinned to his collar, the Commanding Officer of the National Guard units that had been deployed here. Next to him was a second man dressed in fatigues with gold oak leaves pinned to his collar. There were also several other Wilmington command staff members including Captain Bennie Davis taking refuge with their “leader” behind the thick walls of Wilmington’s headquarters. On the far side of the room at opposite corners were two computer stations where sergeants sat. One of them had a desk mounted police radio placed next to him. The chatter on all the police channels was constant and at times very confusing.
Mounted on the upper wall directly behind Chief Stickel was a large flat screen TV. It was tuned to a local news station displaying images of the riots in downtown Wilmington that were quickly approaching City Hall. On opposite sides of the TV were two smaller displays. They rotated between images of what Fearon believed to be camera views from Wilmington’s Dragonfly multicopter drones and SABLE units. Everyone turned to look as Fearon and his two TALOS Officers enter the room, Stickel immediately stood to his feet with a look of shock and anger on his face.
“Lieutenant!” he said in an annoyed voice. “I do not believe it is necessary to bring them in here.” Stickel stated as he pointed towards the two TALOS officers who had already taken up guard positions on opposite sides of the entryway door.
“Your concerns are noted…” Fearon said bluntly as he ignored Stickel’s objection and pulled out a chair at the conference table and sat down. The NGP Officer carrying the laptop sat down next to him and immediately opened the device and began to work away at it.
“As I told you in our earlier meeting I am here simply to observe and report back to my superiors. My officers will only provide support roles should the need arise.”
“Given the overwhelming amount of firepower you have brought it appears as if they are prepared for much more than a support role.” Stickel said in a rigid voice. In truth he had agreed to Fearon’s offer to help, but he had not been prepared for such a drastic display of aggression.
Stickel continued, “I am concerned that such an extreme show of force may only provoke the crowd further or make the situation appear much worse than it really is to the media.”
“Fortunately, your concerns are not my concerns. However, you are more than welcome to take your objections up with Washington if you would like.” Fearon snapped back in a snide tone before adding, “Or would you like me to call my superiors right now so that you can speak with them directly?” His tone was now openly sarcastic.
Stickel’s face turned bright red with embarrassment and anger. He slowly slunk back into his chair looking like a scolded child who had just been reprimanded by an adult in front of all of his friends. Silence momentarily grippe
d the room; the demonstration of who was really in charge had been made.
“So…” Fearon said as he interlaced his fingers and placed them on the table in front of him. “What is the situation?” There was a pause, Stickel did not immediately respond, instead he tried to look busy as he clicked away at his computer.
“Our officers and the National Guard are in place around City Hall fully prepared to meet the threat.” Major Antoine-Dennison stated seeing that Stickel was now far too humiliated to respond. “Due to the sheer size of the crowd we believe it will be best to utilize our ADS units first in order to break up as much of the gathering as possible from a distance before tear gas is deployed. If the crowd still does not disperse after that and it becomes necessary the National Guard may utilize their stun grenades. We will also consider sending in our mounted units and Mobile Field Force officers along with National Guardsmen in order to further terminate the civil disturbance.” Antoine-Dennison spoke in a calm and articulate manner. She had heard from multiple sources that Stickel and Fearon had butted heads on more than one occasion; with Stickel always coming out on the losing end of the argument. She hoped to seize this opportunity to present herself as a shining star standing above the ineptitude of the current chief and take advantage of this promising situation.
“Excellent…” Fearon said. “Proceed...” Antoine-Dennison looked over at Captain Davis and nodded her head.
Davis picked up the police radio in front of him and spoke into it, “All units…Standby for ADS deployment…I say again, standby for ADS deployment.”
….
John and Chris moved in a stack formation as quickly and quietly as they could down the dark, elongated hallway. They could barely see anything, but using flashlights was out of the question; far too risky. For now ambient light would have to be enough to guide their path. Before making their entry they had taken a few minutes to watch the two men that they had initially seen leaving the building making trips back and forth to the vehicles parked along the side of the building. Each man was always carrying some sort of equipment such as ammo cans, Pelican Cases, rucksacks, or other kinds of military gear. This could not be a coincidence or a good sign. Worse yet, upon getting a closer look at the men, John and Chris could see they were both armed with AK-47’s and a sidearm. The situation was rapidly growing worse. John had assumed that Darren could not be acting alone, but everything had been happening so fast he had not had time to dwell on what they might be going up against; until now. He had expected they would be outnumbered, but now he was sure they were outgunned as well. The element of surprise was their only advantage.
A lucky break came upon the realization that there was no one guarding the entrances or exits of the building; possibly because none of the suspects thought anyone had any idea they were here. Why guard a building when no one knows you are inside it? It might be the only break they would get.
On one of their supply trips John and Chris had trailed the two olive skinned men back to one of the upper floors of the abandoned brick and glass building. They had to work fast though; John assumed the two Chechen men would be making their return trip to the vehicles very soon. Coming to a split in the hallway, he carefully glanced around the corner and looked both ways. To his left he saw artificial light coming from an open door towards the end of the hallway and he could hear people talking from the inside of the room. He turned and looked at Chris standing behind him.
“Left hallway…Room down at the end.” he whispered. Chris nodded his head. “Buttonhook pattern, I’ll take left, you take right.”
Chris again gave a confirmatory nod. Cautiously leaning around the corner one more time to check the area John moved ahead with Chris following directly behind him. The building shuddered as another clap of thunder boomed outside while both men edged forward with their rifles aimed down the hallway and towards the open door.
….
“NO JUSTICE!!! NO PEACE!!!”
“NO JUSTICE!!! NO PEACE!!!”
“NO JUSTICE!!! NO PEACE!!!”
The violent and boisterous crowd chanted as it marched further down the street, growing closer and closer to City Hall and the awaiting riot units. Almost immediately after Captain Davis had made the announcement over the radio Todd heard the generators in the back of the ADS Humvees begin to hum as the Active Denial Systems powered up. Small red LED’s on the reverse side of the parabolic dishes began to flash signaling the officers standing behind them that the microwave energy was about to be deployed on the crowd.
The systems themselves did not produce any specific sound when they were “fired.” The hum of their generators was the only prewarning anyone would get in advance of this technological weapon being used against them and this crowd was far too loud for any individual within it to hear anything that subtle. However, there was always an immediate and visible reaction from any mob when the weapon was deployed. It was difficult for anyone to combat the sensation of being burned alive, even though no physical harm was actually being done to them.
Even though Todd was not on the front lines as the ADS dishes began to pan back and forth he could see the nature of the crowd change rapidly. People on the forefront of the riot started to scatter in all directions trying to avoid the blistering sensation while others screamed in pain and attempted to flee deeper into the riotous mass to escape the excruciating perception of heat. Todd knew that with virtually no organization panic would usually ensue when ADS systems were used on large crowds of people such as this and they would quickly disperse in all directions, stampeding over those who could not get out of the way fast enough. It was a cruel fate for some, but far better than the extremely violent and bloody worst case scenario that he initially believed may be unavoidable. Todd had a momentary glimmer of hope that this entire situation could be ended with minimal aggression. However, that hope was short lived.
Suddenly, he heard a loud bang near the top of one of the tall buildings located approximately one hundred yards in front of the Mobile Field Force units, followed almost immediately by a second loud bang. Immediately after the sound two Rocket Propelled Grenades punched through a glass window of the upper floor of the structure, streaked quickly through the air leaving a contrail of white smoke, and smashed into one of the ADS Humvees to his right. There were two concurrent chest pounding thuds and a bright orange flash as the vehicle was rocked to one side and then back to the other after being hit with the destructive shape charges. The molten copper produced by the RPG’s easily tore through the sheet metal, engine, and frame of the police vehicle destroying the electronic weapon’s controls and shredding the bodies of the officers located inside. The shockwave from the explosion knocked several more officers who had been closest to the Humvee backwards and to the ground.
Before anyone had time to react, Todd heard another shot being fired and a third RPG streaked through the air hitting the Humvee to his left. It produced a similar result to that of the first two explosive charges. There was another concussive blast as the police vehicle was violently shaken from one side to the other and officers were tossed in all directions around it. In an oddly coincidental display of nature just after the third RPG hit a bright flash of lightning crackled loudly overhead followed by a deafening clap of thunder. Directly after this rain began to pour down from the sky in torrential amounts.
Acting in concert as if nonverbal commands had been issued to them, the crowd suddenly surged forwards towards the front lines of the riot units after hearing the loud explosions and feeling the cessation of the Active Denial Systems. Sprinting through the downpour and across the open roadway space between the two groups like some sort of barbaric army the mob quickly advanced. Thousands of rioters were about to collide with hundreds of officers.
CHAPTER 26
“RPG!!!”
A screaming declaration from an officer came across all the police radios inside the conference room and instantaneously drew everyone’s attention. Chief Stickel quickly looked over to the
hand held that was sitting on the table in front of him with a shocked look on his face.
“RPG!!!” Another officer shouted over the radio followed almost immediately by the sound of an explosion.
Just moments later another officer chimed in, “Wilmington! ADS Units have been destroyed! I repeat; ADS units have been destroyed! We have officers down and the crowd is advancing on us!”
After a brief delay the news feed on the main television monitor at the front of the room finally caught up to real time and everyone was able to see the sudden attack on the Active Denial Systems by the Rocket Propelled Grenades. A ghastly silence momentarily overtook the command staff in the room.
“Ho-ly shit…” Captain Davis said breaking the quiet. He had a stunned look on his face as he observed the carnage on the monitors. Soon after the RPG’s had been launched everyone watched as the massive crowd of people rushed towards the awaiting crowd control units.
This isn’t supposed to be happening. Things like this aren’t supposed to happen here! What am I supposed to do!? Chief Stickel frantically thought to himself as he sat slack jawed at the front of the conference table. He looked around the room horrified to realize that everyone was waiting for him to respond. He glanced over at Major Antoine-Dennison. He knew she was just seconds away from yet again usurping his authority and making a command decision for him, but he still could not think of anything to do. He could only sit in a silent stupor with a deer caught in the headlights expression on his face.
Realizing that the Chief of Police’s mental capacity had come to a grinding halt Lieutenant Fearon picked up the NGP radio that he had placed in front of him.
“Griffin 165…” He said after keying the mic. There was a momentary pause before a voice came over the radio.