“We need to go!” O’Hara said as she knelt down and grabbed the USB drive sticking out of Van’s pod. “They’re probably going to level this place to the ground.”
“Oh man, why didn’t I wait a little longer before committing to a side?” Kenwar moaned.
“Man up, Kenwar!” Neil said. “It’s about time someone started shooting at me!” He stood up and glanced out the window for a split second before ducking back down. “Okay, four bogies down there. A large windowless van, too, probably bulletproof. My guess is they’re trying to flush us out so they can snag us.”
“What’s the plan?” Van shouted. He was in no shape to run from a high-powered team of hitmen. He glanced at Sang, who was practically unconscious on the ground. She would probably die if she was moved around too much.
“Who needs a plan?” Neil said as he gleefully reloaded again. Van could see the excitement and joy on his face. “I mean, for once, for once in my life, I can be as excessive as I like and not get yelled at for it.”
“Why are you so nuts?” Van asked.
“You should see me when I’ve had a full night’s sleep!” Neil replied as he pulled a long slender tube out from his belt. He shook it up a little and threw it out the window. A loud explosion rocked the entire building.
“What the hell was that?” Kenwar cried.
“Modified explosive stick—I put it together when you jerks were busy playing Fantasy Wizard Game 3000,” O’Hara said. “We had a suspicion they’d come after us.”
“Call the police!” Kenwar said. “They can help!”
“I’m sure that the police are probably in their pocket,” O’Hara said. “Neil, keep shooting at these jackasses; I’m gonna take the gamer club here somewhere safe.”
“Roger that!” Neil said as he continued to shoot out the window. The gunfire coming into the apartment had stopped now, and Van could smell smoke and burning gasoline.
“Grab Sang and let’s move!” O’Hara said as she rushed over to the apartment’s exit and cleared it.
Kenwar and Van hurried over to help Sang up. Van noticed that blood was pouring down the side of her back. He pulled the back of her shirt down a bit to see that there was a round hole, shaped exactly like an arrow wound. He shivered a little.
“She’s gonna need medical attention if we’re gonna move her.”
“Shotgun, in my bedroom,” Sang moaned. “Under the bed.”
“Did she just say she has a shotgun?” Kenwar asked.
“Kenwar, grab the gauze and dress her wound—I’ll get the gun,” Van said as he rushed to her bedroom. He opened the door to see that the bedroom was almost entirely empty except for a bed and a nightstand holding a book titled The Iliad.
Van reached under the bed to find a large gun case. Sliding the case out, he cracked it open to see a combat shotgun resting there. With a heave, he picked it up. The weight felt good in his hands, but he had never operated a firearm before.
“Attention!” called a megaphone. “This house is surrounded. Surrender immediately and you will not be harmed! All we want is the USB device.”
“Yeah?” Van heard Neil scream. “And all I want is to shoot as many of you goons as I can before the Feds show up. Doesn’t seem like there’s any kind of compromise we can make.”
“It’s not worth your lives!” came the reply.
Van rushed back into the living room to see Sang standing. She had a bandage running across her shoulder and she appeared to be conscious.
“There it is!” Sang said as she grabbed the gun from him and chambered a round. “It’s time to get out of here.”
“Sang, are you okay?” Van asked.
“Nothing a combination of Cwake and morphine can’t fix,” Sang said.
“It’s how I start out every day,” Neil said. “Alright, they’ve stopped shooting. That means they’re going to be breaching at some point. Or firing a rocket launcher into this place.”
“Front door’s clear, but once we get down those stairs, we’re in trouble,” O’Hara said. “I count at least four points where they can see us but we won’t be able to see them.”
“Sang, do you have any other points of exit?” Neil asked.
Sang shook her head. “No—no, I don’t.”
“Well, I guess we’re going to have to make one,” Neil said as he grabbed a few more tubes and walked over to the window. He glanced out again and shook his head. “Dead silent outside. I don’t like it.”
O’Hara walked over to Sang’s couch and dragged it over to the middle of the room. She flipped the couch over and threw a large chair on top of it. She climbed up the makeshift mountain of furniture and rapped against the ceiling.
“Yo, it’s hollow,” she reported.
“Perfect; you kids might want to stand back,” Neil said as he shoved a few tubes and a roll of duct tape at O’Hara.
“What are you doing?” Sang asked.
“You’re on the top floor, right?” O’Hara asked.
“I hear footsteps!” Kenwar shouted. Sang aimed her shotgun at the door and laid on the ground.
“Van, get on the other side,” Sang said. “If it flings open, wait until the first guy comes in and slam it shut.”
Van nodded and rushed behind the entrance. His heart was pounding a million miles an hour at this point, but the CIA team didn’t seem particularly worried. Neil and O’Hara seemed to be enjoying themselves and Sang was too drugged up to show any kind of concern. He felt a real solidarity with Kenwar, who had lain on the ground and curled up into a ball, and was now sobbing hysterically.
“Fire in the hole!” Neil screamed as they blew a huge hole in the ceiling of Sang’s apartment. “Yeaaahaaaaw!”
“Come on, let’s go!” O’Hara shouted as she waved at the team. The door to the apartment began to thump.
“Open up!” cried a muffled voice. “Open up or die!”
“Come on in!” Sang shouted back. “I’ve got a present for you!”
Kenwar scrambled up the furniture and through the hole.
“You next,” Neil said, pointing to Van. The door was still thumping hard, but Van could definitely hear more than one guy on the other side. He hurried and grabbed the data stick from Neil before scrambling up onto the roof.
The wind was whipping pretty hard, but no one else was on the roof—it was just Van and Kenwar. Van knelt down and extended his hand to help the next person up.
“Get out of here, Sang!” O’Hara said. “You aren’t a combat officer!”
Sang nodded and rushed up to the hole, handing Van the shotgun before climbing up. Kenwar and Van helped her clamber up, and she seemed shaky. It appeared the combination of drugs and adrenaline weren’t enough to keep her steady.
“O’Hara!” Neil said. “You better follow them. I still don’t trust that Van character.”
“You’re coming, too, you idiot!” O’Hara said as she leaped up to the hole.
“If you think I’m gonna give up on the opportunity to go weapons free on a bunch of commies, you’re crazier than I am!” Neil replied as he flipped over the pods, shoving them together into a small fortress.
“Come on!” O’Hara said as she climbed up through the hole. “We don’t have time to waste!”
Neil looked up at them and flashed a grin. “O’Hara, there’s something I’ve always wanted to tell you. Your gun’s nicer than mine; can I have it?”
“You’re an utter psycho!” O’Hara shouted back. “I am not giving you my gun! But you can borrow it!” She dropped her pistol down the hole and drew a revolver from her boot.
“Oh yeah!” Neil shouted. “Get the hell out of here, guys, and if I don’t see you again, it was a real honor threatening each and every one of you.”
The door to Sang’s house shattered and Van could hear gunfire and the maniacal laughter of Neil. They didn’t stick around to see how it played out, however, as O’Hara quickly pushed them to run to the edge of the building.