by Mike Ryan
14
It took Recker and Haley about twenty-five minutes to get to the parking lot next to Washington Hospital. Once they arrived, there was a big empty lot without a single car in it. They picked a spot and parked to wait.
“You sure this is it?” Haley asked.
“That’s what they said.”
“Hopefully, he gets here soon.”
A few seconds later their attention was drawn to a dark SUV pulling into the lot. It sped up until it reached Recker’s car, then parked two spots next to him. Once Malloy got out of his vehicle, Recker and Haley did the same.
“How’s it going boys?” Malloy asked.
“You know the situation?” Recker replied.
“Sure do. C’mon to the back.”
Malloy went to the back of his truck and opened the trunk. He had several bags worth of stuff in there.
“You guys need guns?”
“We’re good,” Recker said. “You should know we’re always packed.”
Malloy laughed. “Yeah. Here, take these and put them on.” Malloy handed them plain black, military style outfits, complete with armor and bullet proof vests. He also gave them matching black ski masks with a hole cut out for their eyes.
“What’s this for?” Haley asked.
“Gotta make a grand entrance. This has to be a rogue outfit in there doing this. I tried to get swat uniforms, but that was shot down. They need deniability for whatever goes on in there. So, the official story is nobody knows how you guys got in there or who you are. That’s what the masks are for too. So, nobody can identify you. That’s as much for The Scorpions as anyone else. If they don’t know who hit them, they won’t know who to target if any of them make it out.”
“So how we getting in?” Recker asked.
“I know the cops who are guarding the entrance to the garage. They’ll let me pass through. You guys will be in the back. Then it’ll be go-time.”
It all sounded good to Recker and Haley. They started getting dressed, then noticed Malloy doing the same.
“What are you doing?” Recker asked.
“What do you mean?” Malloy answered.
“Why are you changing too?”
“‘Cause I’m going in with you.”
“What?”
Malloy grinned. “You didn’t think I’d let you go in and have all the fun yourself, did you?”
“You don’t have to do this. It’s not your fight.”
“Hey, I don’t want these guys in this city any more than you do. As far as I’m concerned, any opportunity we have to take these guys out, it’s a shot worth taking.”
“I don’t know for sure how many are in there. There’s no guarantee we’re coming back out.”
“I made my peace with that a long time ago,” Malloy said. “You don’t do what we do without expecting that to happen at some point. It’s gonna happen eventually. I’m good with it.”
“You know why I’m going in?”
Malloy nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get her and take a lot of them out in the process.”
“Well, I’m not gonna try and stop you so, I guess you’re in if that’s what you want.”
“That’s what friends are for, right?”
“I suppose.”
After the three men were finished putting on their black outfits, and their vests were on, they put on belts to hold their excess ammunition, figuring they were going to need a lot of it. They each strapped a pistol to a holster on each side of their leg, plus a backup weapon in the back of their belts. And they each had a rifle in hand. They looked like they were ready for a war. Recker reached into his bag and pulled out a suppressor and handed it to Malloy.
“What’s this for?” Malloy asked.
“I wanna try and get in as quietly as possible,” Recker replied. “If we go in bombs away, gunfire all over the place, they’re gonna know we’re there in two seconds. If we can try to go in quietly, we might have a better chance. At least we wouldn’t have to fend off twenty guys at one time. Hopefully.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Recker looked at his two partners after he was done attaching his magazines to his belt. “Everyone ready?”
Haley nodded. “Ready to go,” Malloy answered.
“OK, before we go in, I think we need to set a few things straight. If at any point I go down before we reach Mia, whether I’m badly injured, can’t move, whatever, you guys leave me behind in order to get to her. Agreed?”
Haley and Malloy looked at each other, not thrilled with the idea, but both nodded and agreed, knowing that’s what he really wanted. “I guess the same should go for us, huh?” Malloy said.
“Yeah,” Haley said. “One other thing before we go.”
“Yeah?” Recker said.
“What are we doing with any hostages we run into on the way? We can’t just send them running into the hospital. They might run right into a bullet.”
“And it’s a cinch we can’t take them with us,” Malloy said.
Recker thought about it for a few seconds. “We tell them to sit tight until we have everything under control. We tell them to lock themselves in and don’t come out until we’ve given them the word.”
“That should work.
“Anything else?”
The other two were silent. “Let’s do it,” Recker said.
The three men got into Malloy’s vehicle, with him behind the wheel. Recker and Haley hopped in the back seat, putting their masks on right away so nobody saw their faces going in. Malloy peeled out of the lot and turned to go to the hospital next door. He turned onto the hospital property and started driving the long winding road that led to the underground parking, the entrance of which was in back of the hospital. Malloy eventually stopped the car when he got to the booth that automatically dispensed the parking stubs since there was an officer stationed there to prevent anyone from going in. Being on Vincent’s payroll, the officer immediately recognized Malloy. The officer looked at Malloy, then at the two masked men in the back seat, already being told of the plan.
“You guys really gonna do this?”
“Sure am,” Malloy answered.
“Well, it’s your funeral.”
The officer raised the parking garage gate arm so the car could go through. Malloy drove through, finding an empty spot to park. They parked on the top floor since it was closest to the stairs that they’d have to breach in order to get into the hospital. The three men got out of the car, made sure all their gear was intact and ready to go, then walked over to three police officers that were guarding the steps. One of the officers shook hands with Malloy.
“Wish we were going in with you.”
Malloy nodded. He wouldn’t have minded the extra help. “Yeah. We all have our orders though.”
“Yeah,” the officer said, sounding a bit ticked off that he wasn’t getting in on the action. “Tell you what, send a few of them down this way and we’ll take them out for you.”
“Sounds like a plan. What about the door that leads in there? They got men on it?”
The officer shrugged. “Don’t know for sure. It’s a brown door, you know the ones, with the metal handle in the middle that you press down on to open. Can’t see inside.”
“You try to open it?” Recker said through his mask.
“Yeah, when we first got here. It was locked. No way to open it from our side. Locked on the inside.”
Malloy looked at Recker. “We’ll either have to break it down or blow it open.”
“If we try and break it down, and it takes a little while, they’ll know we’re coming,” Recker said.
“Yeah.”
“If we just blow it open, we can still catch them by surprise.”
“What if they have hostages by the door?” the officer asked.
“They wouldn’t have hostages so close to an exit and risk them slipping away,” Recker replied.
“Blow it open it is,” Malloy said.
“You guys have any?” the offi
cer asked.
Recker looked at the man, like he was crazy for even asking such a thing. He was never ill-prepared for any situation. “I got some in my bag.”
Recker went back to Malloy’s vehicle and removed a small pack of explosives, just enough to blow the door open.
“So, who are these guys?” the officer asked, curious about the team going inside.
“Don’t ask so many questions,” Malloy replied. “The less you know the better.”
Recker came back a minute later and went up the steps to inspect the door. He came back not long after that, with a sour expression on his face, not that anyone could see it.
“It’s not gonna work,” Recker said.
“Why?” Haley asked.
“There’s no place for us to take cover from it. We’d have to stand all the way down the steps. That’ll delay our entry for too long. The surprise element would be long gone by the time we get there.”
“What about a battering ram?” Malloy asked.
“You got one?” Recker replied.
“In the trunk of my car.”
“You always carry one with you?”
Malloy smiled. “Nah. Brought it along just for here. Never know what you might need.”
Recker and Malloy walked back to his car so Recker could put his explosives away as Malloy grabbed the battering ram. They walked back to the main group, ready to go.
“This’ll take me out of the fight for a minute,” Malloy said. “Won’t have my gun ready.”
“Let the officer do it,” Recker replied.
“Yeah, let me do it,” the officer happily said.
Malloy handed the ram over to the officer. Recker made sure the officer knew exactly what he was doing.
“Listen, you ram that door, then you step aside so we can go through.”
“Roger that,” the officer said.
“After you ram it, make sure you get back quick in case the bullets come in hot and heavy.”
“You got it.”
Recker looked at each man. “You all ready.”
“Let’s go,” Haley said.
The four men went over to the stairwell and walked up a couple steps until they got to the locked door. Before doing anything, the officer looked at the men to make sure they were ready. The team brought their rifles up, ready to aim and fire. Recker looked at the man and nodded.
“Before we go in,” Malloy said. “Just to be clear, we’re not taking prisoners, right?”
“Hell no,” Recker answered.
“Just wanted to make sure.”
“We take out whoever gets in our way. Seek and destroy.”
15
The officer slammed the door with the battering ram, breaking the door wide open. He immediately jumped back so the team could go in, Recker first, then Haley and Malloy. As soon as Recker rushed through the door, he saw a man to his right, only a few feet away. The man was surprised by the door and brought his gun up, but Recker quickly mowed him down. As he dealt with him, there was another Scorpion to the left, somewhat disguised by the door opening. Just as the man pointed his gun at Recker’s head, Haley jumped in, shooting him dead before he had the chance to pull the trigger. As Malloy came in, the other two stood there, looking down different hallways, aiming their rifles in case someone else appeared. Malloy looked down at the two dead bodies, a little disappointed there wasn’t another one.
“Hey, you didn’t leave one for me!”
“Don’t worry,” Recker said. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of chances for you.”
“Which way?” Haley asked.
“It’s a cinch we can’t use the elevator. Gotta take the stairs.”
“Which way’s that?” Malloy asked.
“Over here.”
Recker started running down the hallway, the others quickly following him, though they also kept looking over their shoulder to make sure they didn’t get jumped from behind. Recker crouched down, then looked through the small piece of glass in the door to see if there were any men inside. Haley and Malloy watched his back, continuously looking for signs of trouble.
“We’re good,” Recker said, throwing open the door, as the three men went inside.
Almost immediately, they heard voices coming from somewhere above them. Recker put two fingers in the air, believing it to be two men talking from the sound of their voices. The three men slowly and quietly started walking up the steps, rifles aimed and ready to fire. As they rounded a corner, ready to go up the next flight of steps, Recker quickly stopped, the two men coming into range. Recker put his arm up to stop the others. Recker leaned his head forward to make sure he was assessing the situation properly. There were two men there, though their weapons were being held very loosely. They wouldn’t have been much trouble. Recker put two fingers in the air again. Recker gave his friends a hand signal, letting them know he was about to go. Recker jumped out onto the platform and fired at the first man, easily dropping him. Just as the other man brought his rifle up, Haley and Malloy jumped out as well. They both fired simultaneously, killing the man before he was able to fire.
“Mine hit him first,” Malloy said.
“No, it didn’t,” Haley said. “You’re still trailing.”
“Would you just let me have one to myself? Jeez.”
Recker led the group up the steps and stood just outside of the second-floor hallway. He peered through the piece of glass in the door, observing a few more Scorpions.
“What do we do?” Haley asked. “Take them out on each floor?”
“That might mean it takes a while to get to Mia,” Recker answered.
“If we go straight to the fifth floor though, it’s a good chance they’ll know we’re here, which means the rest could come up and try to overpower us.”
“I know. But each second we delay in getting Mia means she’s not getting the care that she needs. I’d hate to think that something happens because we didn’t get there soon enough.”
“Understood.”
“If you guys wanna start here, go floor by floor and take them out, I’ll go right up to the fifth floor myself.”
Haley shook his head. “Not how it works, brother. We either all go up and get her or we all wait here. There ain’t no splitting up.”
“I just don’t want you guys to get into something you can’t get out of.”
“I knew what I signed up for coming in here. If we go up there and get surrounded because of it… it’s just part of the deal. The idea was to come in and get Mia, not stay safe in my bed. If I was concerned about that, I would’ve stayed home. Whatever happens, I’m good with it.”
Recker then looked to Malloy. “Don’t bother looking at me,” Malloy said “Everything he said goes for me too. Let’s get her and do this.”
“I just don’t wanna get on Vincent’s hit list if something happens to you.”
Malloy laughed. “Hey, if none of us make it out, it’s all good. You can’t be killed twice, right?”
“All right, let’s keep going.”
“It’s not gonna take them long to find these bodies and figure out we’re here. Maybe we should hide them or something.”
Recker took a quick look around, but there was no place they could take them that was within easy reach. “Doesn’t matter. Even if we did that, they’ll find out soon enough anyway if they see they’re not at their stations or they’re not responding on the radio. Best thing we can do is just get to the fifth floor as soon as possible.”
The team continued going up the steps, though not as quickly as they would have liked. They had to assume there might have been guards at each floor of the stairs and didn’t want to give themselves away by making the noises that running up the steps would make. Once they made their way up to the third floor, they saw the same situation. Two guards standing there, talking to each other, looking relaxed, and not expecting a confrontation. Malloy tapped Recker on the shoulder, wanting to take the lead on this one. Recker nodded, letting Malloy go past him. Mal
loy poked his head around the corner, seeing the two men standing there, one of them with their leg resting against the wall. Malloy jumped out, shooting the man to his left first. Recker and Haley then jumped out behind Malloy, ready to take out the second man. Malloy beat them to it though. The man with his leg resting wasn’t able to get himself ready in time, and Malloy drilled him with a hole right through his chest.
Malloy seemed thrilled with his work. “Ha, beat the both of you!”
“Nice,” Recker said, going past him, and continuing their march up the stairs.
They slowly ascended the stairs until they reached the fourth floor. Recker poked his head out to observe the situation, just like he’d done on the previous few floors. He noticed two men standing there again. This time was different though. This time, the two guards actually seemed to be paying attention to their job and noticed a man in a black mask poking his head out.
“Cops!” one of the Scorpions shouted.
Both men brought their assault weapons up and started firing down the staircase. Recker and his friends immediately took a few steps back, trying to take cover amidst the hail of bullets that came flying at them. They all dropped to the ground, hoping nothing would hit them, as some of the bullets started to ricochet.
“Damn,” Recker sighed, knowing their quiet assault was now over. Everyone in the hospital would now know they were there.
As the three men continued to wait for an opportunity to strike, the two Scorpions weren’t letting up. They just kept firing, not even caring that they didn’t have an obvious target.
“They gotta stop sometime, don’t they?” Malloy asked.
“One of us is gonna have to take the plunge,” Haley replied.
“Wait ‘till they slow up or change mag’s,” Recker said.
After what seemed like forever, the firing finally stopped. Recker rolled over on the ground, as his two friends jumped out, still on their feet. All three of them fired at nearly the same time, none of them quite knowing who shot who. All that really matter though was the two Scorpions were now out of the way.