Vindicta Et Retributio
We slipped down the docks near the water and found our targets, we were on a drug bust that Captain Fryer had roped us into a few days back and needed the entry to be calm and smooth; Chin and Fryer took point and I brought up the back with Kono and another uniform in the middle. Everything was going smoothly and we hadn't run into any trouble in the last twenty minutes. We all ducked behind the wooden crates and signalled to the other unit of SWAT that were monitoring the other building from their vantage point and the MC truck. I climbed the ladder attached to the side of the building and made my way up to a high position to lay down cover fire and get some Intel before the others made a breach on the outside door.
"Alright guys we are cleared to enter but be alert for everything!" Chin whispered.
"Sadie, try and get a visual on the suspects through the back entrance, provide cover if required!" Fryer ordered.
"Copied," I whispered back into my comms.
I checked the last quad of the area and dropped down a level through my roof access point I had climbed, the place was pitch black and also smoky, I switched to night vision mode and saw the drug dealers loading up their cargo into the shipment boxes – this was bad.
"Six subjects in warehouse, all heavily armed and loading supplies into shipment – be prepared for hostile entry!" I said quietly.
"Copied – we go inside in five, four, three, two…one!"
The doors blew open and I lay down cover fire as the drug dealers opened fire on the teams making entry, I saw Chin and Kono diving to the side for cover as bullets ricocheted off the metal containers and I took down two of the dealers from my vantage point; problem doing that is the muzzle flash gave away my position in the darkness and within seconds I was under fire myself. I ducked behind the low wall and suddenly heard a scream that would stay with me forever.
"KONO CHIN!"
I snapped back onto my knees and saw a single man standing behind my friends on the ground and smiling, I pulled my trigger and his head snapped back as he fell backwards onto the boxes. I stood up and shouted on SWAT to get them out of there, within seconds they were being removed and the other unit was dealing with the arrests; I heard a noise behind me and I spun around to be barrel charged by another man and we both went over the ledge, we landed twenty feet down onto the solid cement and I screamed as my shoulder took the brunt of the fall. The other man tried to get up and failed, half his skull was caved in since I had used him as a shield when falling.
"McGregor we need help immediately outside!" a voice called to me.
I struggled to get up and put a bullet into the man for good measure as I hobbled off to the outside where Kono and Chin were being worked on by the SWAT medics – I knew immediately that they were struggling to keep them alive and I could hear the EMTs in the distance. I knelt between my two friends and helped secure their wounds and start IV fluids and medications as they were revived – I was in tunnel vision as we worked on them and I only stopped as the EMTs got them stretchered into the ambulance and shoved me in to.
I was soaked in blood from performing a double chest tube on Chin and a single on Kono, both had multiple GSW to the stomach and chest and we lost them more than once while performing EFA; by strength of will and a lot of swearing at SWAT I got them to help me revive them one last time where they stabilized enough to get moved to the hospital at Tripler. Ten minutes later we arrived at the ER and Kono was wheeled out first with me kneeing over her hips as I put pressure onto the chest tube area that had worked loose, the blood loss was the main priority. I shouted instructions to the trauma squad and I was helped off the stretcher as they took over the care and I was pushed outside to the waiting area that had been sealed off due to the blood I was covered in. I staggered into the empty room and paced about the place trying to burn off the massive amount of adrenaline I had built up – trying to calm down my breathing to think straight.
It must have been a couple of hours later that I was still sitting in the waiting area, I hadn't moved an inch after being informed that they were both in surgery and it was going according to plan; I was praying hard and keeping my mind off what had happened as much as possible, I knew the minute that Steve and Danno arrived they would demand answers from Fryer and myself. I heard the hallway door open and footsteps running along the corridor, I stood up and pulled the door open not caring that everyone saw the mess I was in. I watched in slow motion as the two men screeched to a halt as they spotted me standing exhausted in the area.
"Holy fuck," I saw Danno whisper.
Steve moved fast as I crumpled, the adrenaline in my system gone within seconds and leaving me a useless wreck in the middle of the floor; he picked me up and took me back inside the waiting room where he kept me on the floor and held me as I lay exhausted in his arms. He knew what it was like, the exhaustion you felt after Ops like this and the fight you give to make sure you survive. He pulled me tighter to his chest and I grunted as he touched my shoulder. He motioned for Danno to come in and help him get my gear off me, I was still in full tactical gear and he needed to check for injuries, apart from the smaller cuts and bruises on everything below my waist, he checked my ribs and only found bruising and scratches.
"Raise your arms, I need to get your vest off," he whispered.
I raised my right arm but my left was dead, I couldn't feel anything and Danno managed to get the vest off around my shoulders and gasped as he saw what was poking through my t-shirt. Steve turned around and Danno left the room at speed to get help as Steve cradled me against his chest and stabilized my arm.
"Christ did you not think about getting checked out?" he whispered.
"Bit busy, it's just a scratch!" I whispered back sleepily.
"Just a scratch; your fucking collar bone is sticking out your skin!" he replied.
My eyes were rolling backwards and he gave me a couple of really firm pinches on the base of my stomach, I flinched and gasped as I moved away slightly.
"Don't you dare fall asleep Sarah, come on stay with me here!" he demanded shaking me.
The door burst open again with an army doctor taking in the scene immediately and getting Steve to lay me flat on the ground; he gently checked my shoulder and demanded to know what the hell caused the injury and why it was never treated on arrival. He explained that they had just arrived and only when they removed my gear they saw the damage.
"Corporal, do you remember what caused this injury?" the doctor demanded.
"Free fall 20-25 feet onto solid concrete, can I sit up as I am really dizzy!" I replied.
He checked my eyes and I flinched at the light.
"She has unequal pupil reactions and a fair amount of blood loss – pick her up, we need to get her into a trauma room to deal with her injuries!" the doctor ordered.
Steve picked me up again on command and ran to the trauma unit down the corridor and laid me on the bed as the doctor got the nurses to start IVs, order x-rays and medication for me. I looked at Steve and smiled before the doctor cut away my t-shirt revealing the bone fragment sticking out my shoulder, I looked at it and flinched – I mouthed 'Ow' and I just remember my eyes rolling back and blackness.