Dana swiveled to confront the last guard but this time her luck had run out. He had his rifle trained on her. “Drop it!” Dana could see his hand was shaking. He was terrified and rightfully so, he had just witnessed two of his colleagues get gunned down.
“Here’s what we’re going to do, we’re both going to put down our guns and talk about this,” Dana said, her pistol still pointed in the direction of where Mat had stood.
“Put it down!” he yelled.
Back at the end of the hall, the others heard the commotion. Cal peaked around and said, “Shit, she’s in trouble.”
“Did she give the cue?” Kyle asked.
“No, trust me, she’s in trouble,” Cal said and bolted from around the corner.
With no other choice, Kyle and the others had to follow. They cleared the corner and began to race down the hall, covering the distance quickly.
The guard saw them and yelled, “Everyone fucking stop, freeze!”
“You’re outnumbered. I’m sure you don’t want to die!” Dana said.
“Please put down you gun!” the guard urged Dana, his hands shaking uncontrollably.
“You’re a young guy, I’m sure you don’t want to die. If you put the rifle down, I promise my friends won’t hurt you,” Dana lied, she had no intention of keeping him alive.
Cal and the others were closing in fast.
The guard stepped away from her until he walked into the door. His eyes darted between her and the men coming fast. In his head he debated what to do. If he surrendered and they killed Number One, he’d forever be known a traitor and a coward but if he fought back and died, he’d be hailed a hero of The Collective and there was no greater honor than that. He stiffened his back and said, “For The Collective!” He squeezed the trigger and unleashed a burst of rounds directed at Dana, striking her in the chest. She reeled back and dropped to the floor. He pivoted to engage the men but Kyle had the guard sighted in through the Trijicon MRO on his rifle and shot several times.
The rounds the guard squarely in the chest. He fell back, hit the door and slid down but was still alive. Thinking quickly, he keyed his radio handset and sounded the alarm, “We’re under attack, level five. Repeat, we’re under attack, level five.”
Kyle reached him first and without saying a word put two rounds in his head.
Tommy came up beside Kyle, turned towards Cal and Eric to see where they were. He found them kneeling next to Dana’s body. Cal had her in his lap, his trembling hand stroking her hair. “Oh baby, I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
Eric knelt next to him, holding her hand.
“There’s not time for this, I need the charges,” Tommy snapped.
The guard’s radio crackled to life. “Who was that? Come back. Who was reporting an attack on level five?”
“Eric give me the charges, we’re going to have company soon,” Tommy barked.
Gunshots ripped through the door, one grazing Tommy’s leg.
Kyle stepped out of the way while Tommy crawled to clear the gunfire punching through the door from inside. “Looks like he knows we’re here.”
“Who is it?” Barry yelled at Cisco who was awkwardly holding the AR platform rifle at the hip.
“How am I supposed to know?” Cisco yelled back.
Barry raced back into the bedroom of the suite. Inside two young girls no older than twelve were there huddled in the corner whimpering. He looked at them and screamed, “Shut the fuck up!” He went to the closet, found a rifle and a pistol. He checked to see if they were loaded and headed back towards the living room. On his way past the girls, he aimed, shot and killed the them. "I told you to shut up."
Cisco fired another volley of rounds until the bolt locked back. “It’s empty! I need more bullets!”
Barry tossed him a fully loaded thirty round magazine.
Cisco caught it but had no idea how to remove the empty one. “How does this work?”
“For Christ’s sake,” Barry bellowed storming over to Cisco and doing it for him.
“Number One are you safe?” a voice boomed from a radio positioned on the sofa table.
Barry picked it up and yelled, “No, we’re not. Now stop calling and send up everyone!”
“Everyone?”
“Yes, everyone!”
Cal stormed over to Kyle and shoved him, “This is your fault!”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Kyle asked shocked and annoyed by Cal’s behavior.
“Dana’s dead because of you. I told you this was a bad idea and you supported her plan. Now’s she’s dead!”
“She died a hero. She was one of the toughest and bravest people I’ve met in a long time.”
Cal grabbed Kyle by the collar and pushed him hard against the wall. “I should kill you.”
Done with Cal’s tantrum, Kyle pulled his knife and poked Cal in the groin with it. “Let go or I’ll have you singing soprano.”
Feeling the sharp tip of the blade against his genitals, Cal looked down and took a step back. “When this is done, you and I will have a few words.”
Kyle cracked a smile and looked at Tommy, “Drama queens, I told you.”
Tommy wasn’t paying attention to the squabble, he had cut open his pants and was addressing the wound.
“You good?” Kyle asked.
“Fine, just grazed me,” he said tying a cloth bandage around it. “We need to get these doors open and now. Eric toss me the satchel,” Tommy said.
Eric did as he was told and threw the satchel over.
Tommy quickly set the plastic charges near where he guessed the hinges were located and stepped back. “Everyone get clear.”
The others stacked up against the wall and waited.
Tommy blew the charge. The concussion was loud and the hall was showered with wood, plastic, sheet rock and other debris.
Kyle was the first to enter, “Going left.”
Cal came in behind him with Eric right behind and Tommy bringing up the tail end.
Kyle scanned his area of responsibility and upon seeing no one was there, called out, “Left clear.”
“All clear here!” Cal hollered. “I’ve got a double set of doors here.”
“Me too,” Kyle said.
On either side of the large living room were entrances to two bedrooms.
“Anymore charges?” Kyle asked.
“No,” Tommy replied.
“I guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way,” Kyle said. “Let’s take down the one on the left first.”
“I’m going to keep watch on the door, we’ll have visitors soon,” Tommy said going back to the breached doorway to provide watch.
A loud crash came from the opposite side of the room from Kyle. He looked and saw Cal kicking in the door. “For fuck’s sake!” Kyle ran over and said, “Get out of the way!”
Cal resisted at first but soon relented.
Kyle stepped back, aimed at the door handle and shot several times. He turned back to Cal and said, “Try now.”
Cal came forward and kicked hard. The doors flew open.
Eric raced in and looked around. “No one here.”
“I’ll check the bathroom, Cal check the closet,” Kyle said heading towards the bathroom, his rifle at the ready in his shoulder. He pushed the half closed door fully open and peaked inside. “All clear.”
“Closet too,” Cal said.
Heavy gunfire erupted from the front door area.
“It’s Tommy. Our guests are here!” Kyle said bolting out of the room. “Tommy, you good?”
While engaging guards further down the hall, Tommy replied, “I got this, go get your man.”
Wanting to show his bravado, Eric marched over to the other bedroom door and kicked it, “Open up!”