Lethal Force

by Mike Ryan

  “Let’s hope they don’t decide to do both doors at once.”

  “That might be next.”

  Feeling like they were about to get an assault on Haley’s side soon, Recker left his position once again and headed down to where his friend was. About a minute after Recker got there, the door flew open, several Scorpions bursting through. On Malloy’s side, the Scorpions tried to sneak their way in. That obviously didn’t work. This time, they were going in full blast, trying to force their way in with power.

  Recker and Haley were ready for them though. Haley shot the first man through in the chest, Recker took care of the man behind the first guy, also hitting him in the chest. A third man came in, Haley also dropping him. Then a fourth one came through, with Recker finishing it up. Four bodies piled up on the floor, almost directly on top of one another.

  “Think that’s it?” Haley asked.

  “I dunno. We’ll find out in a minute.”

  A few more minutes went by without any other issues. Instead of just waiting there for another round, Haley got an idea.

  “Cover me?”

  “What are you doing?” Recker asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  Haley went over to the door and grabbed each of the dead bodies and dragged them closer to the door, putting them right up against it. He made sure each of the bodies were on top of each other, leaning their weight against the door to prevent it from opening easily. Recker smiled once he was finished.

  “Why make it easy for them?” Haley said.

  “That’s a good call.”

  “They won’t be sneaking in again on this side.”

  Recker then looked down the hall at Malloy’s position. “Maybe we should do the same down there.”

  “Wouldn’t hurt.”

  Recker went back down the hall to Malloy’s side, dragging a couple dead bodies with him. Along with the bodies that were already lying around there that tried to come in, they had five people to stack up in front of the door.

  “That should hold them a little while,” Recker said.

  “They gotta be close to bailing,” Malloy said.

  “I agree,” Haley replied. “They’re taking too many hits. I lost count, but they gotta be down about twenty guys now. That’s a major hit to anybody. They can’t just keep coming full bore like this. At some point, they gotta retreat, live to fight another day.”

  “Retreating isn’t something these guys are used to,” Recker said.

  “Hey, everyone does it sooner or later.”

  Recker stood there thinking, trying to add up all the Scorpions that were killed. In the chaos of all the action, it was tough to remember every single piece of it, but he suspected that Haley’s number was pretty close to being accurate.

  “I guess how long they plan on staying depends on how many they brought to begin with,” Recker said. “If they brought eighty guys, they still have sixty left. Still a lot of firepower.”

  “They can’t have everyone here,” Haley replied. “That’s just taking so much to chance. I mean, they’re willing to wipe out their entire organization over this? That’s just not smart business.”

  “I think I’ll side with Chris on this one,” Malloy said. “Having a little understanding of how these organizations work, they wouldn’t bring in everybody. Just in case they ran into a problem, they still have guys on the outside. They could still recruit, bring in new members.”

  “With a hospital this size, you still need a lot of men to cover everything,” Recker said.

  “Yeah, but you know you can’t cover everything. Maybe you put a couple men at each floor, a man or two inside the floors, plus a few on the ground floor to cover the entrances to hold off the police… I figure they brought in around forty. Maybe fifty at the high end.”

  “If that’s true then we took out about half of them.”

  “Either way, they can’t be feeling too comfortable about now,” Haley said. “They gotta be thinking about escaping at some point.”

  Their discussion was soon interrupted as a call came in to Recker’s phone. It was Jones. Recker walked down the hallway again to get to where the operating room was.

  “Yeah? A little busy here.”

  “I’m well aware,” Jones said. “I thought I should point out that you are about to have a new problem.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “The police.”

  “What about them?”

  “They’re coming in.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Watching news coverage, reading reports, everything. They’re coming in. And they’re coming in now.”

  “Well, it’ll probably work out better for us that they do.”

  “How do you figure?” Jones asked.

  “Well, by our calculations, we think we’ve taken out about half of them now. We think they had about forty to start with.”

  “Have you gotten to Mia yet?”

  “Yes. She’s in surgery now. We’re guarding the fifth floor right now. We drove the Scorpions off the floor for the moment. So, she’s being operated on, but we also discovered that Billings is on this floor. This whole thing was about getting Billings, but they couldn’t move him yet. Something about he couldn’t be moved for a few hours.”

  “That makes sense. What’s Mia’s prognosis?”

  “I don’t know yet. Probably have another forty minutes or so.”

  “She’ll make it. I know she will.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I know that’s where your main focus is at the moment and rightfully so, but you have to start thinking about leaving.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Michael, the whole point of this was to get Mia and get her help. You’ve done that. There’s nothing else you can do there. If the police are coming into the building, the Scorpions are no longer a concern for you. The police will round up whoever’s left assuming they haven’t fled the building already.”

  “I can’t leave her. Not now.”

  “I’m not trying to argue or say that you’re inherently wrong or that I don’t understand your feelings, but you can’t do anything for Mia if the police lock you up.”

  “Don’t forget I still have a get out of jail free card in my back pocket.”

  “I was hoping we wouldn’t need to use that unless it was absolutely necessary.”

  “It’s necessary now,” Recker said.

  “What about Chris and Malloy?”

  “Chris has got a card too.”

  “What about Malloy? He went in there with the sole intention of helping you.”

  “He knew the risks before he came in.”

  “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do all you can to protect the people that willingly went in there with you, knowingly putting themselves in danger for the sole purpose of helping you.”

  “It’s a cruel game we play. We all know that.”

  “What about Mia?” Jones asked.

  “What about her?”

  “You’re gonna blow her cover in the process.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Once the police take you into custody, you don’t think they’re going to put two and two together and figure out your relationship with her? First of all, the police will start putting pressure on her to reveal what she knows about you. Second, once it’s out that you two are together, every criminal in the city is going to look to use that to their advantage. You want another Jeremiah situation on your hands?”

  Recker sighed, not really wanting to hear any of it. Not that he could necessarily deny any of what he was saying was wrong. He just didn’t want to hear it.

  “So, what do you want me to do? Just fly out of here without knowing what’s happening with her?”

  “That’s not at all what I’m suggesting,” Jones answered.

  “Then what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you need to make yourself scarce when the police arrive. When Mia gets out of surgery, do you reall
y think she wants to hear the news that you’re in a jail somewhere instead of being there by her side?”

  “I guess not,” Recker solemnly said.

  “Then just trust me. Make sure you’re not there when the police get there. Just do something to disappear for the time being.”

  Recker sighed, taking Jones’ words in, becoming more receptive to them. “OK. I gotta talk to Chris and Malloy first and figure something out then.”

  “OK. Just let me know what you decide.”

  After getting through with Jones, Recker immediately sought input from the other members of his team. He touched his earpiece to connect with the others.

  “Guys, I just heard from David. Looks like the police are about to enter the building.”

  “Is that good or bad?” Haley asked.

  “Could be either depending on what we wanna do.”

  “Just trading one problem for another,” Malloy said. “That’ll drive out the Scorpions. But now we gotta deal with the cops.”

  “Jimmy, how many are friendly to you?”

  “Not enough where we could just stroll right out of here and walk past them. There’s a few, but too many more who’d be asking questions.”

  “I was afraid of that.”

  “How much time you figure we have?” Haley asked.

  “I dunno. Five, ten minutes. Can’t imagine it’ll be too much more than that. Guess it’ll depend on the Scorpions and if they run into them, and if they just give up or make a fight out of it. They’ll run into them before they get to us.”

  “I assume we’re not taking on the police when they get here?”

  “No, but I don’t wanna just lay down for them either,” Recker answered. “Especially with Mia in there, there’s gonna be too many questions. And she deserves to have someone there with her when she gets out of there.”

  “I agree. What’s the solution then?”

  “I don’t know. Haven’t got one yet.”

  “I might have something,” Malloy said.

  “What you got?”

  “We blend in.”

  “We’re in riot and tactical gear, how do you propose we do that?” Recker asked.

  “There’s a lot of rooms on this floor. I’m sure there’s some extra uniforms or something.”

  “We don’t exactly look like doctors.”

  “We get changed, stash our equipment, then walk out with everyone else.”

  “Or we could just take everything off,” Haley said. “We got regular clothes on underneath. We could just say we were visitors. We could go lock ourselves in a room somewhere and wait it out.”

  “Yeah, I guess that might work too,” Recker said. “Either of those plans seem like it’s our best option. Which will it be?”

  “I say we just say we’re patients.”

  “Yeah, I can go along with that,” Malloy said. “If you wanna do it the boring way.”

  “All right, I guess that’s what we’re gonna do then. Chris, were there empty rooms when you checked?”

  “Yeah, a couple. What are we gonna do about Malloy’s leg?”

  “I’ll just say I was one of the unlucky ones the Scorpions tried to make an example out of. Unless I can bandage it up and find a new pair of pants without blood on it, then I can just limp my way out.”

  “With your record, I’m not sure they’d buy that you weren’t involved somehow.”

  “We’ll just have to give it a shot and see what happens.”

  “How are we gonna know when they actually get here?” Haley asked. “I’d prefer not to shut everything down, assuming they’re getting here pronto, only to have them take their time and have the Scorpions take one last run at things and catch us unprepared.”

  “Yeah, that’s a problem,” Recker said. He pulled out his phone again and called Jones. “Hey, do you know if the cops are in yet?”

  “They are in the building.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Definitely.”

  “OK, thanks.”

  “What are you planning to do?” Jones asked.

  “Wing it.”

  Jones put his phone down. “That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence,” he said to himself.

  “They’re in,” Recker told his partners.

  “Yeah, but how long?” Haley asked.

  “Can’t be long.”

  “I say we take a chance and grab a room real quick,” Malloy said.

  “I’m inclined to agree. Hey, what about your cop friend in the garage?”

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll give him a call.”

  Recker and Haley patiently waited as Malloy called the police officer that assisted them in the parking garage. About a minute later, Malloy gave them the news.

  “Hey, looks like we got less than five minutes.”

  “They’re on the way up?” Recker asked.

  “They’re clearing the third floor now.”

  “What about the Scorpions?”

  “They said they’ve arrested five of them so far. The rest are probably in the wind.”

  “How could the rest get out of the building?” Haley asked.

  “They had an escape plan before they got in here,” Recker answered. “They knew how they were getting out.”

  “Yeah. Well, guess we need to get out of sight.”

  “You guys find a room. I’m gonna check on Mia first.”

  “Will do.”

  As the other two moved from their positions to find an empty room, Recker knocked on the door to the operating room. He didn’t wait for someone to come, peeking inside instead. Once his entire body was in the room, he motioned for one of the nurses to come over.

  “Is everything OK?” the nurse asked.

  “Yeah. I’m gonna have to go, but the threat is over, so you guys will be safe. The police are almost here. Should be here in a few minutes.”

  “The police? Wait, aren’t you the police?”

  “No. But you guys are in the clear now, OK?”

  “Thank you.”

  “How is she doing?” Recker asked.

  “She’s doing well. She’s going to make it.”

  Recker could feel a gigantic weight lift off his shoulders. “How much longer?”

  “It’ll probably be a half hour at least.”

  “But she’s going to pull through? You’re sure?”

  “I’m ninety-five percent certain she’ll make it. The biggest issue she had was the amount of blood she lost. But she’s doing fine. She’s a fighter.”

  “Seems that way.”

  “Do you know her?”

  “No. But I know she has a boyfriend,” Recker said. “I’ll get word out to him somehow that she’s here.”

  “That would be great.”

  “Mike, where are you?” Haley asked. “Time’s running short.”

  “I’m on the way.” Recker took another quick look at Mia, then left the room. “Where are you?”

  “I’m in room 525. Malloy’s not here yet.”

  “Malloy? You coming?”

  “Yeah,” Malloy replied. “I’ll be there in a minute. Just gotta finish something.”

  “Finish what?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  Malloy limped along the hallway, picking up one of the guns that were lying beside the dead body of one of the Scorpions. He marched along until he got to room 516. He went inside, pushing the door open slowly, in case there were any Scorpions still in there alongside their friend. It was empty though. Not even a hospital staffer. It was better that way for what Malloy intended. He walked over to the bed that Billings was lying on. The Scorpion leader was sleeping, not having any idea the danger that was coming his way. Malloy crept up beside him, then raised the gun he just stole, pointing it at Billings’ chest. He unleashed three rounds, all of which entered Billings’ chest and remained there. Malloy stayed put for a moment, until Billings’ heart monitor stopped. It was just one long continuous beep. He was gone.

  Malloy then turne
d around and walked out of the room, taking a look around to see if they had any visitors yet. With it clear for now, he walked back over to the dead Scorpion and dropped the gun back down on the floor, next to the body. He turned, ready to find where his friends were.

  “What room you guys in?” Malloy asked.

  “525,” Haley answered.

  Malloy went down the hall and turned to his left, finding the door on his left-hand side. Once in, he was immediately grilled about what he was doing.

  “Where were you?” Recker asked.

  “Finishing something.”

  “Finishing what?”

  “Finishing what we started,” Malloy answered.

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means nobody has to worry about something like this happening again.”

  Recker and Haley looked at each other, believing they knew what he was referring to.

  “You killed him?” Recker asked.

  “Is anyone gonna shed a tear over it?”

  It wasn’t that they were necessarily upset over Billings being dead. It was the fact that he wasn’t armed and wasn’t a threat. That’s really what bothered Recker and Haley more than anything. Malloy was right, they wouldn’t shed any tears over it, it was just killing an unarmed and defenseless man was stepping over the line as far as they were concerned. But then again, Malloy operated under a different line than they did.

  “Hope it doesn’t come back to you,” Recker said.

  “It won’t. I used the gun of one of the dead guys out there. It’ll look like they came in here to kill him.”

  They started getting undressed, taking off all their gear. They put everything, including their guns, inside the closet in the room. They went through a couple of the drawers in the room, finding a few basic medical supplies, basically some bandages to wrap Malloy’s wound. Once they were finished, they sat down on the bed, waiting for the next domino to fall.

  “What’s the next move?” Haley asked.

  Recker quickly responded. “Only thing we have to do now… is wait.”

  21

  After being in the room for about ten minutes, they heard a knock on the door.

  “Police, open up!”

  Recker went over to the door, trying to play the part of a hostage. “How do I know it’s really the police?”