by Mike Ryan
“They gotta know this is some type of trap,” Malloy said.
“They’re desperate,” Recker replied. “They need Billings and they’re gonna do whatever it takes to make that happen. They’re not in a position where they can just sit and wait for more of their men to get knocked off. With every man they lose, they lose the advantage they initially had coming in here. They need us to stop. They should be willing to do just about anything to do that.”
“Hope you’re right.”
“Me too.”
“But you said we’ll come in through that other stairwell,” Haley said. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it over there. Like you said, they might have people in there already.”
“I just said that to give them somewhere else to look,” Recker said. “If I tell them you’re coming in from another spot, even if that changes their eyes for a second or two, that might give us all the time we need for you guys to come in and knock a few of them off before they realize what’s going on.”
The others nodded, feeling like it was as good a plan as any. They weren’t sure if it would work, or go down as Recker hoped it would, but they really had no other alternatives. The only other alternative was to play games for another hour and try to sneak their way in, maybe through a ceiling or a vent or something, but that would just be taking too much time. Time they didn’t have.
“What if they just stall?” Malloy said. “What if they have no plans to answer you either way? They just wanna buy time for their guys to get into a better position and smoke us out.”
Recker pointed to the radio that he swiped from one of the dead Scorpions. “I think we’d have heard something if they were planning a setup.”
Another minute went by. Then Recker’s phone started ringing. It was Cummins.
“OK. I agree to your terms. I’ll let these hostages go as soon as you and your men step in.”
“That’s not the deal,” Recker said. “I step in, you let the hostages go. Once they’re gone, the rest of my men will show up too.”
“Fine. Do it.”
“OK. I’ll be in in a minute. Don’t be shooting.” They hung up, and Recker looked at his partners. “It’s go time.”
“How we working this?” Haley asked.
“I’ll go in, then when all the hostages are off, I’ll say “They should be coming through that door.” That’ll be your cue to come in.”
“OK.”
“Come in hot and heavy. Don’t worry about where I am. Just start shooting.”
“Will do.”
“You’re not really going in empty-handed, are you?” Malloy asked. “What if they shoot you before we get in there?”
“I always have a backup.”
Recker then walked up the steps to the fifth-floor platform, Haley and Malloy right behind him, though they made sure they remained out of sight. Recker peeked his head through the glass and saw several men standing there, waiting for his arrival, though they were off in the distance. They weren’t standing too close in case he came in shooting. Recker pulled open the door, immediately seeing dozens of hospital staff sitting there on the floor. They all looked up at him, hopeful that he was the one who was going to get them out of their situation. Recker then looked at the Scorpions, easily identifiable with the guns in their hands. He counted four right off the bat. Two in the middle of the hall, and one to his right, one to his left.
“Who’s the guy I talked to?” Recker asked.
“I am,” Cummins replied, standing in the middle of the hallway.
“You wanna release them?”
“Drop your gun first.”
Recker tossed his rifle on the ground.
“Take off your mask.”
“After they leave,” Recker said.
“Turn around so I can see you don’t have anything else on you.”
Recker turned completely around, hoping they wouldn’t notice the gun inside the back of his pants. His shirt came down over the top of it, concealing it completely. But even if they spotted it, he still had another gun strapped to his leg underneath his pants.
“The hostages?” Recker asked.
“All right, everyone can go.”
The hostages weren’t sure what was happening and were slow getting up, not sure they could actually move.
“C’mon, get out of here!” Cummins yelled.
“Hostages this way,” Recker said, pointing to the door he just came from. He kept his arms up and stood to the side as they started filtering out.
As the hostages went through the door, they were immediately greeted by Haley and Malloy on the steps. They just kept waving the people to continue going down the steps. Once all the hostages were out of sight, Haley and Malloy snuck closer to the door, ducking just behind it as they waited for their cue.
“Take off your mask,” Cummins repeated, since the hostages were gone.
Recker pulled his mask off, holding the hood in his hand. “That everyone?”
“It’s everyone you’re gonna get. There’s still a few more people in these other rooms, but they’re staying put for now.” Cummins studied the man’s face, hoping he would recognize it, but he didn’t. “Now, bring in the rest of your men.”
“Before I do that, what exactly is your plan here? Why are you doing this?”
“We’re waiting on our friend until he’s well enough to be moved. They said it’ll be a few hours. That’s why we’re doing this.”
“Doesn’t seem very logical. You can tell you don’t do this type of thing very often. You did everything all wrong.”
“Listen, man, I don’t need to take any of your crap. Now, you gonna bring your men in here? ‘Cause if you don’t, I’ll just shoot you right now and deal with them later.”
“Calm down, calm down, I’ll bring them in.” Recker then pointed to the other door at the far end of the hall. “They should be coming in that door over there.”
“That’s our cue,” Haley said.
“Light them up,” Malloy replied.
19
Just as several of the Scorpions turned around to look at the other end of the hallway, Haley and Malloy burst through the door. Haley stood tall, while Malloy dove onto the floor, not wanting to put too much trust into his leg at the moment. They each immediately took aim at the Scorpions directly ahead of them. As soon as the gunfire started, Recker dove onto the floor and reached around to his back for his pistol, nailing the man that was to his immediate right. Haley then picked off the one to Recker’s left.
The remaining Scorpions retreated to the end of the hall, ducking into a couple of the rooms, ducking their heads out and taking a few random shots. Recker took a quick look around, and, not seeing Mia, knew she had to be in one of those rooms ahead of them. While Malloy crawled on the floor to a better position, Haley reached down and found Recker’s rifle, then tossed it over to him. Recker put his mask back on, just in case there was anyone else lingering around, they wouldn’t have a chance to see his face. Recker and Haley then each found a corner to get behind. Worried that they would be coming up behind him, Recker knew a way to stop that.
“Jimmy, you keep your eyes on that door,” Recker said, pointing to the steps they just came from. “Just focus on that and take out whoever comes in. We’ll focus on these jokers.”
“You got it.”
Recker and Haley exchanged fire briefly with the remaining Scorpions on the floor. As one of the Scorpions stuck his head out to take another shot, Haley carefully aimed at him, hitting the man square in the head, dropping him instantly.
“Think there’s two left,” Recker said.
Cummins and Maglio knew it was getting too hot in there and they had to leave the scene. They’d have to figure out Billings’ situation at another time. Their plan had unraveled, and they lost control. They came out of their rooms quickly, rapidly firing in the direction of their opponents. They just wanted to get them ducking for cover to aid in their escape. It worked. Recker and Haley kept their
bodies tucked behind the corner of the wall, making sure even the smallest piece of them wasn’t exposed. After the bullets stopped, Recker and Haley peeked around the corner, seeing the two last Scorpions fleeing toward the other stairwell.
“Let them go,” Recker said.
He didn’t want to keep shooting in the event there were more innocent people on the floor. If a bullet got away from them, or if their targets shot back and missed, and the shots entered a room and hit someone, killing them in the process, it just wasn’t worth it. It was better to just let them go. Besides, now his thoughts were turning to Mia again. He needed to find her.
“Start checking doors,” Recker said. “Keep your guard up in case any of them got left behind.”
“Right.”
Recker took the right side of the hallway, while Haley took the left. Malloy still kept his eyes planted firmly on the door, waiting for another round of action. The first doors the team checked on both sides were empty. The next two were the same thing. Once they got to the next set of doors, Haley pushed the door open, seeing a doctor and nurse standing over someone. He rushed in to see who it was.
Haley grabbed Mia’s hand. “We’re here.”
Mia groggily looked up at him and smiled.
“Mike! She’s here!”
Recker darted into the room, trading places with Haley.
“I’ll keep a lookout,” Haley said, exiting the room, continuing to check the other doors.
Mia smiled upon seeing Recker’s eyes. “I knew you’d come.”
“Nothing would stop that.” Recker looked over at the doctor, wondering about her status. “What does she need?”
“She needs to get into an operating room, and she needs it now.”
“Can you do it?”
“Yes, but we need to move quickly. She should have been in that operating room an hour ago.”
“OK. You wheel her to where she needs to go. We’ll provide cover for you.”
“Are they still out there?” the doctor asked.
“I think we’ve cleared them from this floor, but we can’t be sure yet. We’ll accompany you to the operating room.”
“I could use an extra pair of hands.”
Haley appeared in the frame of the door. “You’ve got them.” He finished checking the other rooms. There were another five nurses stashed in there, taking care of patients.
“Let’s go,” Recker said.
The doctor and nurse helped put Mia on a bed and wheeled her out of the room. Recker and Haley walked alongside her as they walked down the hallway to get to the operating room.
“Jimmy, you good over there?”
“Ten-four,” Malloy answered. “How’s the missus?”
“Alive. We’re taking her to the operating room. Just keep your position.”
“Roger that.”
“Chris, take up position at the other stairwell and make sure nobody comes through.”
“Will do,” Haley said, running over to it.
Once they got to the operating room, several of the nurses took Mia in, while the doctor and a few other nurses got scrubbed up. Recker held her hand as they waited for the doctor to come back in.
“You’re gonna be OK,” Recker said.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Mia replied.
“You’re gonna be fine. I promise.”
“If I don’t make it, I want you to know that I love you. And that you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Don’t talk like that. You’re gonna be fine.”
“Just in case I don’t, I want you to promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Promise me you’ll move on and find someone else. That you won’t let what happened to you the last time happen again. Don’t close yourself off.”
Recker smiled, trying hard not to drop any tears. “I won’t have to worry about it. ‘Cause you’re not going anywhere.”
“Just promise me.”
“I promise.”
A few minutes later the doctor and other nurses entered the room.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to step back,” the doctor said.
“That’s fine,” Recker replied. “I’m actually gonna wait just outside the door to make sure we get no unauthorized visitors. Do what you have to do.”
“I’ll let you know when we’re finished.”
“About how long should it take?”
“About an hour. Rough estimate.”
“Then after that?”
“Let’s just take it one step at a time so I can see what the damage is.”
“I’ll be outside.”
Recker took one last look at Mia, then walked out of the room to take up standing guard. He should have given her a kiss before leaving, he thought. What if that was their last moment spent together? He quickly shook those thoughts out of his mind, refusing to believe that was going to be it. Mia was strong. She was a fighter. Something like this wouldn’t be her downfall. She was going to beat it. Recker believed that.
“We gotta make sure we hold off for about an hour,” Recker told his partners.
“Sounds good to me,” Malloy replied.
“No problem here,” Haley said. “How’s she doing?”
“Don’t know yet,” Recker answered.
“She’ll pull through.”
“I hope so.”
“She will. By the way, while I was checking those other rooms, I found Billings.”
“Which room?” Malloy asked.
“516.”
“If they still want him, they’re gonna make another try for him.”
“I think we can pretty safely assume that they will,” Recker said. “At least one more.”
“That reminds me, how much longer you think the cops are gonna hold off for? If they heard the gunshots, they must be getting pretty antsy right about now.”
“Yeah. I would think we’ll be seeing them pretty soon. At least a SWAT team or something.”
They all stayed in their spots for another ten minutes, without any further issues, or a sign of the Scorpions still being around. Recker was getting antsy though. Whether it was just Mia’s situation on his mind, or anticipating another assault by the Scorpions, or assuming the police were coming in soon, or maybe all of the above, he started to pace around a little bit. Not very far from the door though, just in case there was an update about Mia.
“We got movement over here,” Malloy said.
“What you got?” Recker replied.
“Not sure yet. I can see shadows moving around in the stairwell through that glass part of the door.”
“See anything on your side, Chris?”
“Negative.”
“All right, stay sharp. If they start coming in, let me know and I’ll come back you up.”
“You got it,” Malloy said.
About two minutes went by. Recker assumed it was the Scorpions, getting ready to make another push. But it also could have been hostages who were making their way down the building if they had escaped or were let go. He didn’t really believe that though. He expected to receive a call for help any minute. And two minutes after that, he got it.
Malloy stuck to his spot, sitting there on one knee, patiently waiting for the door to fully open. It moved open a crack, as if someone was trying to sneak their way in. Malloy wanted to be positive who it was before firing at them. It kept moving open slowly and Malloy readied himself.
“Got someone coming in,” Malloy said. “Slowly.”
“Scorpions?” Recker asked.
“Can’t tell yet.”
The door opened just enough now for someone to sneak in, and one of the Scorpions tried crawling in to avoid being detected. It obviously didn’t work with Malloy watching the door. Malloy instantly fired, killing the man before he was able to stand up.
“One down,” Malloy said.
A second later, the door opened quickly, several Scorpions rushing in. Malloy immediately engaged, the two sides swappi
ng bullets.
“Three more just came in!” Malloy shouted.
As soon as he heard the words, Recker immediately left his post and started running down the hall to assist. “I’m on my way.”
“Want me to lend a hand?” Haley asked.
“No, stay there,” Recker replied. “Just in case they try to do a double.”
Malloy crawled over to a different position so as not to be in the line of fire so much. He also hoped to move the Scorpions position, so they would have their backs turned as Recker approached. Malloy, while waiting for Recker to arrive, lay down on his stomach and reached around a desk, aiming for one of the men’s legs. He fired, hitting a man in the shin, instantly dropping him to the ground. Once the man’s full body was in view, Malloy fired a couple more rounds through the man’s torso.
“Two left,” Malloy said.
Recker came down the hallway to the left of the door, seeing the backs of two men who were shooting at Malloy. He raised his rifle and took aim. His first shot went right through the back of the man’s head. As the Scorpion to the right turned around, Recker fired again, this time the bullet going through the man’s chest. Once the man dropped to the ground, Recker updated the situation.
“None left.” Recker continued looking, not initially seeing Malloy at first. “Jimmy, you OK?”
He then saw Malloy’s head poke up above the desk. He put his thumb up in the air. “Good to go.”
“Good. I’m heading back to my post.”
“I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
“Hopefully, that was it,” Haley said. “Hope they got the message that it’s over.”
“Maybe,” Recker said. “But I doubt it. I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet.
20
It was only a few minutes later that Haley started to report a similar issue on his side. He saw the door move a crack, though it didn’t appear to move any further than that. It actually looked like someone was about to go in, then changed their mind and retreated.
“What do you think?” Haley asked.
“I think they’re coming,” Recker replied. “I think they might be testing things to see how well each side is guarded. They tried the other side first. Now they’ll try here.”