The sound of gunfire from up the staircase drew their attention away. Sarah turned her goggles back onto thermal, and made a quick mental note of everything. “We need to go. Follow me.” The team rushed over to the center pillar, stacked up just outside the staircase door, and soundlessly made their way up to the first floor.
Chapter 9 – Second Guessed
Kazowski was breathing in deeply and slowly, to keep his nerves in order, as the rest of the team exited the staircase and marched into the destroyed second floor. The entire floor was taken up by rows of cubicles and office furniture, now either charred or totally destroyed by the fire and explosives that tore through it. The air was unnaturally chilly up here as well, and had a very acrid chemical smell to it that made his nose hurt. There was also a small amount of condensation built-up on the sprinkler system in the ceiling. It was all just a mess…
Matt spoke in a hushed tone over his shoulder. “If anyone starts feeling dizzy, say something. These firefighting gases and chemicals can make you pass out pretty fast.” Then held up his fist to indicate a halt, quickly scanned for threats, and then quietly briefed the team. “Ok, Shake and Kazowski go search the left side. Hawkins come with me. If you find anything that looks suspicious, call it out. We NEED to find that jammer.” Matt motioned to Hawkins and moved out to the right side of the floor.
Kazowski and Shake began wandering about the cubicles to the left, a few yards apart from each other. Dead bodies of raiders were occasionally thrown about the room, most of which had died from the spray of bullets from the ARV, while the others looked as if they had either suffocated from the firefighting agent, or died in the fire itself. Strange though…there was no sign of the police officers…or even a sign of struggle besides the broken office windows and occasional tossed furniture. Hard to say how that happened at this point. The raiders smelled pretty disgusting though, and Kazowski was pretty sure it wasn’t because they were dead…
He wasn’t use to this gruesome war stuff. What had he gotten himself into? The idea of running around the territories fighting for freedom and being a hero and all that seemed cool when he had signed up…but actually being in the middle of a firefight had changed his mind pretty fast. He should’ve listened to his parents and become a stock broker like they wanted… or joined the Navy. At the very least he would just be sitting in space, safe and warm, with a great view of the planet or moon or something. Ok that’s it, after this is over he is transferring to the Navy.
A small thump sounded from the cubicle directly to Kazowski’s left. He felt his stomach jump into his throat, and his heart began to pound. He turned immediately and aimed his weapon toward the cubicle opening and began to inch forward very carefully. He slowly began to clear around the short office wall and under the desk…and there was…a mouse munching away on a candy bar someone had left out.
He let out a long relieved sigh, after having held his breath. He was afraid of a mouse? Shit if that made him nervous then how the hell would he deal with a raider, or even worse a trained mercenary? This job was either going to kill him or cripple him with stress.
“CONTACT!” Four shots rang out from Hawkins on the opposite side of the room, who then froze behind a support pillar with his rifle aimed toward the staircase they had come up.
Matt rushed over to him, weapon also held at ready and his focus set dead on what Hawkins was aiming towards. He spoke hushed. “What is it?”
“I saw someone looking out the door by that staircase. They took off running.” Hawkins said calmly and coldly, a sure sign of being ‘In the zone’. He slightly lowered his weapon in order to glance over the top of its rough iron sights. “Couldn’t tell who, or what though.”
“Which way did they run?” Matt kept a keen eye on the door.
Hawkins shrugged his shoulders and brought his weapon back up. “Looked like up…”
Shake and Kazowski carefully made their way over to Matt. Shake immediately took up a position covering their blind sides, which Kazowski imitated. “Hey, what’s going on?”
Matt began to move forward toward the stairs. “Fall in. We’re going up.”
Kazowski let out a long drawn-out sigh and shook his head in a way that indicated he was already tired of this whole ordeal. Hawkins smirked and patted him on the back. “It’s ok Skeet, there’s nothing to worry about! It’s all just like the simulator at basic…Well, I mean other than the dyeing part which could really happen this time.”
Hawkins was Kazowski’s bunk mate in basic training, and for some reason he always went out of his way to defend him. Especially when the angry squad leaders beat up Kazowski in the latrine after he’d failed the obstacle course and got the entire platoon a whole month of mess hall duty. Hawkins stepped in and fought them off, just like that. He even got a black eye out of it…didn’t seem to bother him. He hadn’t told Hawkins, but he was probably the only reason he made it through. Hawkins had a big brother-ness to him, not that Kazowski knew what it was like to have a brother. He just had three much older sisters. “Yeah…thanks Hawk…you’re really motivational.” He responded sarcastically.
Hawkins winked slyly at him and fell in behind Shake. “Anytime! Happy to help!”
Shake shushed them just as Matt reached the staircase door, and carefully looked through the window for any sign of a waiting ambush. He slowly opened the door with his left hand, rifle held tight against his shoulder and at the ready in his right. The team filed in one by one behind Matt, rifles aimed up toward the third and final level of the building. The sound of the staircase door opening below them caused the team to freeze in place. Matt made the two fingered ‘look this way’ gesture to Shake and pointed up the stairs. Matt very slowly worked his way back down the staircase, one careful step at a time. Hawkins fell in behind him without orders and followed him down.
The two came to the first set of stairs leading from the second to the first floor…and carefully began to step down… “Jesus, Sarah!” Matt rasped with frustration as he lowered his rifle. “I could have shot you!”
Sarah and the rest of One Bravo walked slowly up the stairs. “Well you wouldn’t, because you would just die if you did.” Sarah spoke so matter of fact, despite the obvious flaw in the theory.
Matt grunted at the comment. “I think you would be the dead one…”
“Nope, you would die.”
The teams smiled for a moment, but a thump on the floor above cut it short. The team all went dead silent and raised their weapons in the direction of the third story door. Matt tapped Hawkins on the shoulder, prompting the two teams to fall in behind each other. Shake took up the lead as he carefully walked up the stairs, slowly reached for the door knob, all the while keeping his weapon as steady as he could in the other hand.
The teams filed in through the door, each scanning a separate area of the very well-furnished third level; must have been for the big shots. Blue silky carpet, lots of real wooden furniture, and large potted plants with actual living flowers… Wow… The town must be rich as can be to afford all that. Two Bravo separated into groups of two and took the left side of the building; the three members One Bravo split up individually and took the right side. The third floor had offices all along the outer edge, with the exception of a balcony overlooking the lobby and building front on the first floor. A rectangle shaped hallway ran the length of the third floor, with several meeting rooms and smaller officers all connected along the center.
Sarah searched through the hallways and offices to the right, all of which looked like the occupants had left in a hurry. Papers and personal belongings were occasionally tossed about, and a full pot of coffee had been brewed and left. The burnt coffee smell was particularly strong so it must have been there a while. She came across a locked glass door to a large corner office with the name ‘Daniel Mitchell, Police Chief’ on a holographic tape in the center. She jiggled the handle and looked inside to ensure it was actually locked, and began to walk away until she heard a small thump from inside
the room.
She turned with her raised weapon and jiggled the handle again with her free hand, more firmly this time. She glanced down the hallways to ensure there was no sign of any other potential threat, then busted the glass with the butt of her rifle. The office furniture inside was solid dark oak with a number of live plants and books shelves off in the corners, typical of a well off Chief of Police…at least that’s what television shows leaned towards. Behind the desk she heard the noise again. Her tone was blunt, and with no room for debate. “Come out from under there, nice and slow!” She held her weapon at the ready and moved gradually toward the open side of the desk. “I won’t tell you again!”
The frightened face of a red headed little girl, no older than maybe 5 or 6, slowly looked up and over the desk, then dove back under in fear. Sarah noticeably relaxed, just as the rest of the team rushed over to investigate where the sound of breaking glass had come from.
Hawkins peeked in through the door. “We heard the glass, what’s going on?”
Sarah motioned him back with a whispered voice. “SHHH! Go away!”
Hawkins looked momentarily confused, but then turned and left. “Uh…ok I guess.”
Sarah shouldered her rifle, moved around to the open side of the desk, and kneeled down. The little red haired girl was huddled in the far corner, and turned away when she saw Sarah. Sarah mustered the gentlest voice she could. “Its ok, I’m not going to hurt you. What’s your name?”
The girl turned her face deeper into the corner. “Go away…”
“It’s ok. Everything is going to be ok now. Telling me your name isn’t going to hurt anything, is it? My name’s Sarah. See, nothing bad happened when I did it.”
The girl spoke softly, almost inaudibly. “I’m Kelley…”
“Kelley? That’s a pretty name. You have a pretty dress too, did your mommy get that for you?” Kelley continued to hide in the corner but began to slowly turn her head more toward Sarah. “…yeah…”
Sarah genuinely smiled. “There’s no reason to be scared anymore, ok? We’re the good people and we’re here to help. But we can’t do that if you are under that desk. I need you to come out from under there, ok?”
“Do you promise you won’t hurt me? Daddy said the bad men were going to hurt me…” Kelley protested in a frightened voice.
Sarah held out her hand and smiled. “Yes, I promise. In fact I double promise! That’s even better than a regular promise!”
Kelley looked over to Sarah, very unsure, but started to crawl out slowly until Matt came barging in loudly over the broken glass. “Hey Sarah, what’s going on with-”
Sarah shot Matt an irritated glare and shooed him away with her hands. Matt put his hands up and backed out of the office, not wanting to deal with whatever that was about. “…ok…I’ll be out here then…”
Sarah turned back toward Kelley and extended her hand. “It’s ok, no one’s going to hurt you.”
Kelley hesitated for another long moment, but finally crawled to Sarah and took her hand. Sarah backed up and helped Kelley stand, then kneeled back down and smiled. “Why were you hiding under there, Kelley?”
Kelley looked down at the floor shyly. “Daddy told me to hide, he said that mean people were coming and that they wanted to hurt me… He told me to hide until they were all gone…”
Sarah nodded and smiled sympathetically. “It’s ok now. There are no more mean people here…” She was going to make sure of that! “Do you know where your mommy and daddy are?”
Kelley shook her head sadly. “I heard them yelling. The mean people said they had to leave and that they couldn’t come back and that they were in trouble because daddy used the radio!” Kelley began to sob quietly, Sarah patted her gently on the head. “Its ok, everything is going to be ok now. We’re going to find your mommy and daddy and everybody, ok?”
Kelley continued to cry. “…I want mommy…”
Sarah gently patted her head; she felt so bad for her. What a horrible situation for a kid to be put in… As soon as the radio was back up, Sarah would convince Bag about getting an evac bird sent in or something… “We’ll find mommy. Don’t worry. Right now though we need to go somewhere safe, ok? It’s still dangerous here.”
She gently squeezed Kelley’s hand and led her outside of the office, where both teams were nonchalantly standing around and waiting. All of them stared at Sarah intently, and then to Kelley who was now clinging to Sarah’s left leg as if for dear life and avoiding the gazing eyes of the soldiers.
Kazowski waved over to her and smiled. “Hello there, what’s your name?” Kelley turned her head away, igniting a small amount of sniggering by the other team members. Three loud explosive booms reverberated through the police station, prompting the team to rush to the balcony to investigate. Sarah picked up Kelley and tried to shield her from both the sound of the explosions and the still very scary soldiers.
A miniature mushroom cloud had exploded off toward the hostage alley, followed by a massive amount of static coming over the radios…and then a friendly and familiar voice came through. “…units, this is Actual. Is anyone out there? If you can hear me, please respond, over.” It was James. Finally!
The team exhaled loudly in relief, as Matt keyed his radio, but was forced to wait as the other units responded. Corporal Conrad came over the channel. “This is Armor Two, we read you. We have Two Alpha with us.”
Followed by Valor in his usual manner. “Haha, this is Armor One! Glad you boys figured out how to use a radio again!”
Baranov said something in Russian and then responded. “This is Armor Three. We have Sergeant Reagan and a prisoner of war with us.”
Matt finally piped in. “This is Two Bravo, we hear you. We have One Bravo with us, as well as a special guest.”
Chapter 10 – Hazard Pay
“Dig dig dig! I aint paying you by the day!” Navus shouted like a slave driver over the dozens of jack hammers, and a large number of other earth moving and salvage equipment working along the ruined 25th and University Street.
They were in the city of New Prim, the former nonaligned garden utopia that had drawn so many wayward refugees to its walls during the Immigration Blitz. It was once the symbol of lasting peace on Mars, but now it just another ruin from a war that never seemed to end. The buildings were all charred and shattered, streets filled with rubble and trash, and a jagged skyline of support beams and twisted metal replaced the once scenic image of the former jewel of Mars.
Even though the city was supposed to be ‘abandoned’ that didn’t mean there wasn’t going to be trouble about; namely from bandit gangs which loved to reside in old cities, or even worse another competing salvage team. Navus had dealt with as much on many occasions before though, and planned for it appropriately. So as long as his employees took the first hits, he could activate the defense drones in time to save most of the equipment… though this time it had been loaned to him from his current employer. They insisted he not use his own equipment, but that’s fine because it would save it from breaking and costing him money out of pocket.
Navus sighed. As much as he didn’t like the mystery behind working with those weirdoes, they had made him an incredible amount of money in a short time. They just always had him traversing the whole damn galaxy digging up old ruins, opening up vaults, and salvaging broken ships, along with all the mysterious cloak and dagger bullshit they liked to play. Most of the things they had dug up or retrieved didn’t seem worth a damn, but as long as they continued to pay triple the rates, it was worth it. This contract was particularly strange though, and had him digging up the entire street looking for a ‘mine shaft’ or something similar to that. There were never any mines here… That and the city’s carcass had already been picked over and looted by everyone and their mother…
A loud pop that sounded like gun fire drew his attention away; Navus fingered his .45 caliber revolver, ensuring it was still holstered safely on his hip. One of the jackhammers had backfired after com
ing into contact with something strong and metallic, and the idiot worker stopped working all together. “Mr. Navus! I found something!”
Navus rolled his eyes with annoyance. It was probably just another old water or sewer pipe, like the last ten times someone had ‘found’ something. The worker continued to shout out in excitement until Navus walked over to look down into the work area. About seven feet down beneath the street, lay a brilliantly bright plate of metal the likes of which he had never seen. The plate spanned the width of the hole, and looked as if it continued under the street in all directions. A group of workers began to gather behind Navus, all making wild guesses as to what the plate was.
Navus carefully dropped himself into the hole, and began to brush dust off the top of the plate with his hand. The metal was not as cold as he would have assumed, in fact it was warm to the touch…interesting. Navus cleared away more rubble and found a seam with the letters UN SAB and the United Nations Seal. Navus crinkled his brow, UN SAB? United Nations something or another, that means this thing has been under here since before the UN was dissolved….that was over fifty years ago!
“UN SAB? I got UN, but what is that SAB part?” A worker asked without reply.
Navus grinned to himself. This wasn’t the normal salvage operation this was something big, and that meant a big pay out. He looked back up to his workers, all of which were just standing around the hole staring down…which meant they were not doing their damn jobs. Lazy fucks. “GET BACK TO WORK! All of you!” He screamed at them
The workers glanced with crossness to each other and walked back to their work areas quietly. The jack hammer operator stood silently waiting for Navus to either move so he could go back to work, or just disappear so he could get away from the terminally angry and irrationalness that the boss brought everywhere he went. Navus turned and growled an order at him expectedly. “Go get some plasma cutters, and be quick about it!”
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