A Democracy Fallen

by Matthew Savage

  What seemed like a few short minutes had passed. Captain Underwood stood up on what Nolan assumed was several ammo boxes or a small table he was in the back so it was hard to tell. The Captain stood and raised his hands and the room which was small talking fell silent.

  “Alright everyone,” Captain Underwood said his voice implementing a serious tone. “This is it. In a minute we are going to go out and take several helicopters. We will then head to a prison occupied by the United States Security Bureau. We will most likely encounter heavy resistance. I need everyone to understand that what we are about to do, can be considered a mutiny against the Democratic Insurgence. This could mean serious consequences if we make it back.” He paused for a moment and Nolan knew it was so it could sink into just how serious what they were doing was. “With that knowledge, anyone who doesn’t wish to participate can go.” He looked around for a moment to see if anyone had moved to leave the room. “We will be landing a mile away from The Fortress make our way on foot. I am taking my team to the opposite side where we will enter the prison. I will give the word over the radio and the attack will begin on the other side. The team led by my wife Mary and Sergeant Wolf will have to take out the anti-aircraft weapons. When that is done the helicopters will be able to provide some air support. Sergeant Clearwater will be leading the machine gunners, who will be providing supporting fire from a nearby hill. We will have charges to destroy as much as the facility as we can. When that is done we will fall back on Sergeant Clearwater’s position and be picked up by the helicopters. Does everyone understand?”

  He paused for a moment before he spoke again.

  “Well from this moment we will be starting a war.”

  With those words he jumped off the boxes he stood and walked from the room. Immediately everyone in the room followed him. Nolan made his way towards Captain Underwood and he saw Sarah right behind him.

  “Alright, you two, Steven, Orson, Laurence, and I will be the team entering the prison. Before the attack, we will have to make minimal noise. There is an office on the second floor that will have a computer. The Computer will be able to tell us where your father is and who else might be in the prison. The priority is your father. After we get him we will make our way out the prison as quickly as possible. We will lay charges down as much as possible. The prison has to be non-functioning when we leave”

  “Understood.” Nolan acknowledged.

  They made their way towards the hanger when they were greeted by a young soldier who was meant to be on guard duty.

  “You all are not authorized to be here at this hour.” The young soldier said his voice trying to have an authoritative tone.

  “I am afraid we are taking some things. I advise you to stand aside.” Captain Underwood said. “That is an order.”

  The soldier looked back at all the people carrying guns.

  “You are outnumbered.” Captain Underwood said pushing the soldier aside.

  Several people held the young soldier and Nolan could hear them say to the young soldier, “We will let you go in a bit.”

  Captain Underwood instructed which helicopters to take. People began putting fuel in them and getting them started. Nolan’s team found a helicopter and everyone went aboard. Nolan looked around and could see that they were only taking six out of the possible twenty that were there. He wondered when the D.I’s command found out what was happening if they would pursue them. He thought about trying to find a way to stop the other helicopters but it was too late. The engines started and he could feel the shaking underneath him. Captain Underwood came aboard and the helicopter and it took off. They exited the hanger and entered the dark night.

  In the suite at the top of the Democratic Insurgence’s hotel base. Now former Senator Powell was getting ready for bed. It had been a long couple weeks. He could feel the momentum of the Insurgence. More people were joining and he felt the public opinion on them was growing on their side, as President Marshal took more control over the country. Between the public executions, curfews, and raising taxes, the rumors of the government taking controls of businesses in order to serve their needs had made the Insurgence a hot topic of conversation. Not on any media outlet which from their view made everything seem like it had never been better. All day the former Senator had been looking at reports of groups taking action against the United States Security Bureau, most had little success. These attacks, the government tried to blame on the Insurgence, in an attempt to make it seem like his group was a terrorist group, “Which wanted nothing more than to destroy the values of America” as one reporter put it. Now at the end of his night, he got a request to infiltrate a military prison in order to free an individual. Senator Powell new Neil Hunter’s importance but it was a large risk. Since hearing about where he was being held; the Senator had held many meeting discussing ways to break Neil Hunter out of there. If it wasn’t for his family this organization might not have started. They almost owed it to Neil to get him out. Every time the discussion was the same.

  “We don’t have the resources to mount a large-scale attack.”

  “This is not a large-scale attack. It could easily be done with a small force.”

  “Do we want this to be the moment we come out in the open?”

  Around and around this conversation went. Admiral Hays had done several missions close the area. He offered to send troops to raid the prison but naturally, General Wilkins disagreed. He wanted an attack that showed the people of the United States who was really on their side. Senator Powell knew that there were going to be people who thought they were the enemy. No matter when or what they attacked. He knew how divided things can be. They would have to overthrow the government and even then people still would be opposed. After a detailed briefing from Director Moore who seemed to think that it could be easily done. The discussion started once again until most of the high command agreed not to go through with the attack. Senator Powell was surprised at Director Moore’s reaction to being told, no. His argument was strong and his points were valid. It seemed like the prisoner was cooperating and the information seemed to be checking out. When the Director was told no he simply agreed and left the room. Senator Powell had wondered if it was because he was used to high command telling him no. The general’s and other high ranking members seemed to tell him ‘no’ often. He might have gone into the meeting already knowing what would be said.

  The Senator finished the meetings and took care of what he could, now it was time to get a little sleep. The Senator didn’t really sleep anymore, he went to bed then tossed and turned, paced his room while looking over reports. Finally, slept for an hour or two after being knocked out from exhaustion, then this would repeat itself. Until the morning when he had to get up, again. This night, his eyes were closed and he thought he had heard something out of his window. He was too tired to investigate the noise and figured if it was important he would be woken up. His thoughts had come true when he heard a commotion outside of his room. What in the hell is going on out there? He wondered. He sat up and there was a knock at the door. Senator Powell told the person on the other side to enter. He hadn’t finished his sentence when General Wilkins entered the room.

  “Senator.” The General said and Senator Powell could tell he was angry.

  “I am sorry, sir he just barged in.” The Senator’s aide said coming in a few paces behind General Wilkins.

  “We have a situation. It seems that the team who brought in the prisoner and requested permission to get Neil Hunter out of The Fortress denied our request.”

  “What do you mean, General?” The Senator asked still foggy from trying to sleep.

  “I mean they stole eight helicopters and left for that prison.” The General roared.

  The Senator was shocked.

  “How did a team of six, steal eight helicopters?”

  “They did some recruiting and took around thirty other soldiers or more. The soldier on duty wasn’t sure how many people went into the hanger. They raided the armory
too.”

  “Well, it leaves us no choice.” The Senator said standing and going to the phone on his desk. “Get me, Admiral Hays.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Battle for The Fortress

  The helicopter seemed to roar as it exited the base. Sarah wondered if the entire base had woken up when they left. Before she knew it they were soaring through the night sky. As soon as the helicopter’s hit the sky she seemed to have a sinking feeling in her stomach. She felt anxious and Sarah knew it was the anticipation of a fight. The helicopters seemed extremely loud as they maneuvered their way through the mountains. It wasn’t long before they left the mountains and headed in the direction of The Fortress.

  It seemed to take so long before they were close to their improvised staging area. As they came close Captain Underwood went on to the radio. He directed someone name Corporal Hammond to take several people when they land to clear the farmhouse on the property. It was several minutes after that order was given did the helicopters land. Orson had a mobile communications station. He and Karli were listening to see if there had been any word of movements on any radio signals. They had the element of surprise. The engines turned off as soldiers gathered in the field. Captain Underwood and Sergeant Wolf were giving orders and organizing. They got word that the farmhouse was abandoned. With that information, Captain Underwood started to organize the move to head to The Fortress.

  The large group slowly moved towards the prison. Everyone had their guns drawn and was ready to fight. Sarah wasn’t expecting to see any USSB agents but she was ready if there were any. To her pleasure, they did not run into any agents. After fifteen minutes of walking through the near darkness, she got her first glimpse of The Fortress. It was massive, stood like a mountain, right next to the large river. Sarah couldn’t believe how they would find her father in that building. Captain Underwood directed Susan to where she should set up her machine guns. Mary and Sergeant Wolf started setting up troops. While this was happening Captain Underwood gathered Nolan, Laurence, Orson, Steven, and Sarah. He then explained what the plan was.

  “This place is very large but that should be to our advantage. Where we enter it will be very close to the office. In there we will be able to get access to the computers to help us locate Neil.” Captain Underwood was talking in a whisper. “After we find out where he is being kept we will start the attack. Those anti-aircraft weapons will make short work of our birds. If that happens we will be trapped here.” Sarah had started to feel that this mission might be too large to accomplish. Something gave her comfort knowing how close she was to being reunited with her father. Sarah was brought back to reality by Captain Underwood clapping his hands together. “Let’s get moving.” He said.

  The team stood and followed Captain Underwood as they moved through the trees. Sarah did her best to keep an eye on the prison. It made her feel like she was keeping an eye on it as though if she couldn’t see it then it would move on her. There were spotlights patrolling the fence and areas of the forest beyond its walls. This made it hard to move around the prison because they would have to stop and as the light passed by. The group silently moved around the other side of the prison, until they were several yards from the fence.

  “Alright, we need to cut the fence and climb through.” Captain Underwood said.

  Steven grabbed his wire cutters from his vest at the same time Orson grabbed his. The two of them waited for the spotlight to pass before they moved to the fence. Nolan looked through the scope of his rifle, waiting for the signal to move.

  “We got three people in the tower,” Nolan reported.

  “What else do we got?” Captain Underwood said scanning the grounds of the prison.

  “One or two guards patrolling. One of them is close to our entry point.” Nolan said fixed upon the soldier’s position.

  “We’ll take him out when we get closer.”

  “They got through the fence,” Laurence said.

  Captain Underwood led the way towards Steven and Orson’s position. Steven held the fence open for the group, he was the last person to go through the newly created hole. Steven then put the fence back together so that it was almost unnoticeable that there had ever been a disturbance. The group made their way towards the double doors leading into the main building of the prison. The guard who Nolan spotted earlier turned his back to the group. Nolan in a few quick paces was right on top of the guard and hit him in the back of the head with his rifle. The USSB guard hit the ground with a thud and Laurence grabbed the man’s throat and slit it with his knife. The man squirmed for a minute choking on his blood. After several seconds the man had stopped moving. Sarah felt a sick feeling like bile creeping up her throat, she swallowed trying to keep it down.

  Steven grabbed the key card from the soldier, the team formed a single file line on the wall next to the door. Steven swiped the car and held the door open. Captain Underwood was the first person in. He was followed by Nolan, Orson, Sarah, and Laurence. Steven covered the rear closing the door behind them. They headed towards the administration side of the building. It was late and Sarah hoped this would mean that the offices would be empty. As they moved through the halls Sarah’s hoped seemed to have come true, and all of the offices were dark. Captain Underwood seemed to be reading the names of the rooms on the walls, he was trying to see if he could see into any of the rooms. As they walked halfway to down the hall they reached a corridor on their right. Captain Underwood peaked his head to look down the hall. Nolan then crossed on Captain Underwood’s signal and then covered the rest of the team as they crossed. After walking past several more rooms Captain Underwood stopped at a room, with name Major Fulton on the door. Captain Underwood then tried the doorknob. To Sarah’s surprise, it was open. The team entered the office. Sarah noted how neat the room was. It was decorated with an American Flag and a picture of President Marshal behind the desk. Something about seeing President Marshal in the room seemed to light a fire of anger in Sarah.

  Orson went to the desk and got onto the computer. He pulled out some tools from his bag and in a few short minutes had logged on. While Orson was doing that Captain Underwood radioed Mary.

  “We are in.” Captain Underwood said.

  Mary replied on the other end of the radio, “Understood. We are standing by.”

  Orson was still going through before he yelled.

  “I got him!” Orson realized he was loud, then whispered. “I got him. He is being kept on the third floor in cell number 323.”

  “Good. We need to get moving then.” Captain Underwood grabbing a map of the building off the wall. He looked at it for a moment then radioed Mary. “We have the location of the package.”

  “Copy that.” The radioed voice of Mary said.

  “You can begin,” Captain Underwood said. He then opened the door slowly and peered out of it. He checked to make sure the hall was clear. Captain Underwood then turned to the group. “We only have a few minutes before she starts. We need to move up to Neil’s room. We will have to make sure he is ready to move and head for the exit before the confusion dies down.”

  “I’ll set charges in here,” Nolan said and he went into his bag and pulling rectangular explosives out of it.

  “Good idea Nolan. Let’s move.”

  The team exited Major Fulton’s office and headed towards a stairwell. They made their way up at a quick pace. Sarah remembered how vulnerable a person is when entering a stairwell. She knew this was much safer than trying to take an elevator. The team moved to the third floor. Captain Underwood listened on the door to see if he could hear anything. When he was satisfied he opened the door and the team entered the hall. This passage was different than the last. Whereas the last hallway was full of offices. This one was filled with rooms with thick metal doors. There were no windows looking into the hallway. Each door had a metal slide on the top and bottom. Which Sarah figured was used for giving food and looking in on the prisoners. Sarah had a hunch there weren’t windows looking outside.
Which meant for the last couple months his father had been living in darkness. They took several turns down different halls and Captain Underwood followed the map. Sarah was counting the room numbers in her head until they reached 323. The team stopped and Captain Underwood approached the door and knocked three times. He places a small explosive on the lock of the metal door. The team waited.

  BOOM!

  Nolan was surprised by the explosion. He realized that Captain Underwood’s door breaker had not exploded. That explosion came from outside. Sarah wondered what could have made that big of an explosion.

  Several things happened quickly, Captain Underwood’s door bomb made a small explosion and he opened the door. Captain Underwood entered the room followed by Laurence, Nolan, and Steven. Sarah and Orson kept watch on the outside of the cell. Sarah was trying to see what was happening in the room. Growing impatient she went into the room and she got her first sight of her father.

  Outside the prison Sergeant Mary Underwood, watched the explosion from the anti-aircraft gun. She ran down to the prison grounds. The blast from the explosion had sent the fence flying. There were twisted metal and parts of the fence littered on the ground. The watchtower had begun firing at the troops but was taken out quickly by her sister’s machine gun nest. Mary knew now that there was still one other anti-aircraft weapon. She led her team quickly through the smoke of the burning fence and into the prison grounds. There was little resistance at first as they entered. She was hopeful it would be easy to take out the guns but this was quickly smashed. She saw the doors of the prison open and several USSB agents exited the doors with machine guns. Mary raised her weapon and fired.

  Several of the USSB agents dropped. Mary couldn’t hear them yell but knew they weren’t dead as some convulsed on the ground and their fellow agents dragged them away. The D.I soldiers started firing at the doorway and USSB agents returned the gunfire. The sounds of automatic weapons were so loud it was hard for Mary to think. She closed her eyes for a moment and her instincts started to kick in. She instructed several soldiers to keep cover on the door. She could hear machine-gun fire from behind her. Mary knew that Susan had spotted more soldiers coming. Mary led the remaining forces towards the second anti-aircraft gun post. The other guard tower behind her exploded from a rocket-propelled grenade. Mary concluded that Sergeant Wolf had started his assault. He was making sure that the path was clear for Mary and her team to get back. She could hear her radio starting to go off, her soldiers started communicating where USSB agents were and even some requesting medical attention.