by Jaz Primo
“Which buildings?” Sanders asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe if I get closer,” I replied.
Sanders paused. “Bringer needs to advance to determine which buildings are active. Mackie, take out the smoker if he moves.”
“Copy that,” Mackie replied.
Then Holt and Irons acknowledged.
I exited the drainage ditch, crouching as low to the ground as possible while slowly advancing forward.
I made it about thirty feet and tried sensing thoughts ahead of me.
…think there’s someone out there, came a strong thought.
Through the night vision goggles, I saw the silhouette of a man ahead standing erect.
“Crap, I think the smoker’s detected me,” I whispered.
“Copy that,” Mackie said.
I watched as the smoker fell to the ground.
“Target neutralized,” Mackie said.
“That starts the clock, people,” Holt warned.
“Moving forward,” I said.
“Hurry, Bringer,” Sanders urged.
Damn, everything suddenly felt rushed.
I stood up a bit more and methodically walked toward the buildings while reaching out with my thoughts.
It was an imprecise effort, to say the least.
“Multiple targets in the center building closest to me. Estimate more than three, but less than eight,” I said. “No targets in the building to the west, and only one in the east building. I can’t tell who’s who, though.”
“Mackie, choose your position for best coverage of the back and side doors to the center building,” Sanders ordered. “Irons, breach the east building. Holt, take a position between the center and east buildings to cover exits and support Irons. Rain and Hunter, breach the center building with me. Go.”
I admired how impressive Sanders was in the field.
She came up on my left as Rain and Hunter quickly passed us on their way toward the front door of the building before us.
After removing her night vision goggles, Sanders readied her pistol while Hunter placed plastic explosives around the lock and door handle of the windowless metal door facing us. Rain readied his assault rifle.
Sanders nodded and a loud bang sounded amidst a momentary flash.
I formed a shield before me and thrust it ahead of me, knocking the door inward.
We charged forward into the building.
Chapter 24
“FBI!” Sanders yelled.
“Drop your weapons!” Rain yelled.
Chaos and gunfire erupted around us as I moved through a front office area, forming my shield before me to provide us some cover.
“One suspect down,” Hunter said.
In the hallway before me, a person bearing a rifle stepped out from behind a tall filing cabinet and fired at us.
Multiple rounds hammered my shield, sending short jolts through my head. I imagined a sphere and punched forward at the assailant.
He flew violently into the air and backward down the hall, impacting the wall at the end and collapsing onto the floor. He didn’t move after that.
“One down,” I said.
“East building breached,” Irons said. “Sole suspect down.”
“Holt, in position,” the Lieutenant said.
Following behind me, Sanders fired to my right multiple times, hitting a suspect using a desk for cover. He crumpled to the floor.
“One down,” Sanders said. “Take the doors, Bringer.”
I used my shield to bust open a door to my right, which Rain entered. I did the same with the door to my left, which Hunter entered.
“Clear,” Rain said.
“Clear,” Hunter said.
Continuing forward, I tried to reach out in all directions with my thoughts to sense others nearby, but detected nobody else.
“This part of the building’s empty,” I said.
“Hunter and Rain, clear the remaining rooms,” Sanders ordered.
I turned and headed back into the main office and reached out with my thoughts to where I sensed more people.
“At least three beyond that door,” I said, pointing to a door at the back of the office.
“Breaching another room,” Sanders said. “Cover exterior exits.”
Holt and Irons each acknowledged.
I pushed my palm outward away from me and the door flew off its hinges and into the room before us.
I rushed forward, generating a shield before me with Sanders close at my heels.
“FBI!” Sanders yelled. “Nobody move!”
“Hunter and Rain on your six, Sanders,” Rain said over the comm.
It was a large storage bay and there were crates and boxes stacked everywhere. Large shelves created rows and lined nearby walls.
I hurried down the nearest aisle in the direction of the individuals whose presence I sensed.
Three distinct, yet simultaneous, voices sounded off in my head.
…hurry already.
…happening so fast.
…right on schedule.
“Three people,” I said, quickening my pace forward while churning a small fireball in the palm of my right hand.
As I barreled forward, I heard footsteps peel off in opposite directions behind me, presumably Hunter and Rain.
I sensed Sanders’ presence at my back and to my left.
Hurry, Bringer, came her voice in my head.
Sanders and I came to a large, open area in the middle of the bay where three people stood next to a big cylindrical-looking object positioned on a metal stand.
The EMP!
My eyes went to the men before us. Sam Welder shouldered an assault rifle and fired.
Sanders stood well off to my left and her weapon went off at the same time Welder’s did. His rounds hammered at my shield while Sanders’ rounds caught him squarely in the chest, staggering him backward slightly.
“Cease fire!” I yelled, unsure what one stray bullet might do, given the bomb before us.
A man standing beside Welder grasped Welder’s shoulder.
It was the terrorist who had disappeared before us in Cardiff; the man on the video who’d stolen an EMP weapon.
The two men promptly disappeared.
“Dammit!” Sanders yelled.
My eyes fell upon the third person, handcuffed to the bomb platform.
Senator Benjamin Conway.
He appeared only shaken, which surprised me given the circumstances that had just unfolded before him.
An unwavering politician.
Hunter and Rain each appeared out of opposite corners of my peripheral vision.
“Oh, hell,” Rain said.
“Sanders? Rain?” Holt demanded. “Status.”
“No team casualties and Senator Conway is safe. We’re in a bay of the central building,” Sanders said. “However, two suspects escaped.”
“Negative, Sanders,” Mackie said. “Holt, Irons, and I have every exit covered. No sign of hostiles.”
“Guys,” I said. “The two suspects just teleported outta here.”
Radio silence.
“Oh, and Holt, you might want to get in here. I think we found your lost EMP weapon,” I added.
“Copy that,” Holt replied.
“Hunter, Rain, clear the building,” Sanders ordered.
Conway appeared relieved, if not amused. “Great timing, Mr. Bringer. I’m glad to see you.”
I offered a cordial smile in return while opening my mind and concentrating on him. “Our pleasure, Senator.”
…have planned this better myself.
I immediately wondered what he meant by that?
“You okay, Bringer?” Sanders asked while she removed the senator’s handcuffs.
“Huh?” I asked. “Yeah, just relieved to see the senator alive.”
There was something just a little too unnerving about Conway, much more than just his radical politics. However, I couldn’t formulate things fully yet.
For now,
it merely reinforced why I didn’t like the guy.
“Are you unharmed, Senator?” Sanders asked.
“Me? Fine,” he replied. “I think they intended to set this off with me attached to it.”
“Why? Were they making a statement or something?” I asked. “Hey, do you have a pacemaker?”
Sanders gave me a hard look before turning her attention to Conway. “Senator, I have to ask, did they make any demands of you?”
“Strangely, no,” he replied. “Though it’s hard to fully understand the twisted agendas of terrorists.”
He paused. “However, there’s something I think you should know. I’m sure I overheard one of my captors mention activating this device, though I have no way of knowing for certain whether that’s true or not.”
“Activating the device?” Sanders asked, half-stunned.
Lieutenant Holt entered the bay and quickly inspected the device.
“Good. This is our missing EMP, and it appears intact,” she said, patting the device’s metal surface. “Good work, everyone.”
“Holt, can you tell if this thing’s live?” I asked.
“Live?” she asked with surprise. “As in, armed? Unlikely. You can’t easily prime these manually and there are other built-in safeguards. For one, you’d need the proper codes.”
She quickly went around to the opposite side of the device while removing a Swiss Army knife from her pocket, which she used to carefully open a small, square side panel.
“Oh, Christ,” she said. “This isn’t possible. It’s on a countdown to detonate!”
“What?!” Sanders demanded.
“According to this, we’ve got just over twenty-four minutes before it goes off,” Holt said. “I don’t understand. Nobody’s supposed to be able to do something like this.”
Holt rapidly pressed various buttons over and over again.
“Don’t you have shutdown codes or something?” Sanders asked. “There must be fail-safes and overrides.”
“Yes, I’m using the shutdown codes,” she said. “But it’s not accepting them or any other prescribed overrides. The interface is disabled and it’s still counting down. It’s not supposed to do that!”
Holt hastily removed what looked like an oversized smartphone from a pouch on her web gear.
“This is Lieutenant Kris Holt,” she said. “We have a condition Red Hot on the missing EMP. Countdown twenty-two. Advise.”
“I think it’s time to leave,” Conway said.
“Don’t worry, Senator, we’re going to get you out of here,” Sanders said, dialing her smartphone. “Sanders here. Priority One. Send in Bravo Team to extract the senator ASAP. The EMP device is onsite with an active twenty-minute countdown. Override codes ineffective. Recommend evacuation of immediate area.”
God, I admired how Sanders had nerves of steel at a time when most people might have crapped themselves.
Hell, I still might.
I stared at the long, smooth-surfaced oval-shaped object before me. Stenciled on the side of the object were the words “Property of United States Air Force” in large black block letters.
It was ominous-looking, even in its simplicity.
Well, isn’t this just a giant sack of shit for a gift?
“Senator, I’ll escort you outside for the extraction,” Sanders said.
“No, let Bringer,” he countered. “No disrespect intended, you understand.”
“Certainly, Senator,” she replied, appearing somewhat taken aback.
“Holt?” I asked. “You need me here?”
The Lieutenant looked back at me with a determined expression. “There’s not much any of us can do at the moment.”
I nodded. That wasn’t a hopeful response on her part. Not that I had any brighter ideas.
I cast a worried glance at Sanders before escorting Conway to the front of the building and then outdoors. The night seemed oddly calm compared with what was actively unfolding back inside.
“I shouldn’t just be standing here,” I said.
“I needed to talk to you,” he said. “And I’d like your complete attention.”
I stared at him while pulling my earpiece out and pocketing it. “This isn’t really a good time.”
“Convenience is rarely an option,” he countered. “These are admittedly trying circumstances, Mr. Bringer. However, very soon now, gridlock will give way to progress, political impasse to continuity. There have been occasions in this nation’s history during periods of conflict when the politics of obstructionism yielded to a united and common vision: the Mexican War, Pearl Harbor, the Twin Towers on nine-eleven.”
I couldn’t help wondering if one of his captors hadn’t actually hit him on the head a little too hard.
“Senator, this is no time for reflection,” I said. “We’re in deep shit here, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“You’ve dealt with explosives during your time in the military, haven’t you, Bringer?” he asked.
Improvised explosive devices were one thing; this was something altogether different.
“Nothing like this,” I said. “I was in the army where we only dealt with tactical weapons. This is strategic, super-sized.”
“This isn’t beyond you, though, is it?” he asked. “Or rather, perhaps I should say, beyond your unique set of abilities.”
I gave him a hard look. “Listen, I’m not freaking Superman.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps not. But for now you’re the closest thing we have, and I have confidence in you, son.”
If that was true, then the planet was in a helluva lot of trouble.
I opened my thoughts and focused on him.
The time is nearly at hand. A new tomorrow is coming.
“Mr. Bringer, I’ll make certain that nobody will blame you personally if you fail to stop that device from going off,” he said. “Just give it a try. I wish I could be here to watch you.”
…see what you can do, Bringer, came another stray thought.
…eventually make more just like you.
His last thought sent a cold shiver down my spine.
“But you have your PEP rally,” I said dryly.
…just in time for stage two, he thought.
His eyes practically glistened as he stared back at me.
…dark sense of humor…knew I liked him.
“In less than twenty-four hours, the world’s going to change, no matter how things turn out here,” he said. “You’ll see.”
Okay, now the guy was really creeping me out. He must have made one too many stops at the proverbial punch bowl.
“What’s changing in twenty-four hours?” I asked.
“Everything,” he replied. “The fate of our nation is in the balance and everyone needs to carefully choose the correct side.”
…soon there’ll be no other sides to choose from.
“I don’t understand, Senator,” I said.
“Don’t you see? Surely, a man with your experience will. This is an important, pivotal moment. Our next move in this global chess game is critical,” he said. “There are too many pieces floating about, but I see that matter being simplified very soon. There’s a light and dark side, and I’m what you might call a bishop of the light side. I’m at the side of the king, helping to inspire and direct the other pieces.”
“And I suppose that I’m just another pawn,” I said.
His eyes widened in a slightly unnerving fashion. “Oh, no, Bringer. Far from it, in fact. You’re a rook, a very important battle piece. Understand? The question is, are you playing for the light side or the dark side?”
“I’ll consider that,” I said.
“Good man,” he said. “I know you will.”
The sounds of rotor blades grew louder until a helicopter touched down in the middle of the empty parking lot nearby.
Two tactical team members exited the chopper and rushed toward us.
“Mr. Bringer, Captain Evans, Bravo Leader,” said one of the men, shaking my hand. “We’l
l convey the senator to Robins Air Force Base ASAP, sir. Good luck here!”
I nodded and watched the senator as he hurried with the two men and boarded the chopper, which began lifting up before the side door was even closed.
I removed my earpiece from my pocket and reinserted it.
“Senator’s on the chopper and away,” I said. “Another chopper inbound for us?”
All I heard in response was silence.
“Team? Sorry, I pocketed my earpiece,” I said. “Everyone okay?”
“Bringer, you might have had your earpiece out, but you were still hot mic’d,” said Sanders. “Now, get your ass back in here!”
I bolted back inside the building.
Chapter 25
When I arrived back at the bay, everyone was standing around the EMP weapon, except for Mackie.
They all looked at me with wide-eyed stares.
“What’s the sitrep here?” I asked, hurrying over to rejoin the group.
“Have a nice chat with the senator?” Sanders asked, her eyebrows arched.
“Oh, charming,” I replied. “So, I’m guessing you all probably heard that, too?”
“Guy’s a fuckin’ lunatic,” Mackie said over the comm.
“Where are you, Mackie?” I asked.
“Retrieving one of our vehicles and then hustling back to you,” he replied. “And I’m waiting to see your play Superman. Got any miracles up your sleeve?”
I looked Sanders, who shook her head.
“Any luck on an override?” I asked.
Holt’s face appeared ashen. “No,” she replied. “It’s up to us. A couple of the techs at base are suggesting we try to remove the front cone so I can disconnect the primary control mechanism.”
“And why aren’t you doing that?” I asked.
“We’ve got six minutes left,” she said. “It takes ten to open the cone, and that’s if I had the proper tools, which I don’t.”
I swallowed hard. “What are we looking at?”
“Best case with this size of unit?” Holt asked. “It knocks out all electronics and power grids within a hundred miles of this place.”
That was the best case?
“And…people?” I asked.
“There’ll be large numbers of electrocutions and shock-related injuries, including killing anybody using pacemakers or other medical devices,” she replied. “Even worse, nearby aircraft are going to crash and vehicles will stop, causing numerous accidents and impacts. A lot of people will die.”