Trial By Fire
Ash awoke to darkness. She started her daily routine and walked to the bathroom. She got her running gear on and took off out her front door onto the quiet streets of suburban D.C. She loved her morning runs. These runs got her awake and allowed her to watch the sun rise over the nation's border. Plus, she knew she needed to stay in performance condition at all times.
A quick sixty minutes had past and Ash returned to her home to get dressed for the day. She put on her Tuesday attire of black dress slacks and black dress shirt. Ash had gotten used to her office job and had fallen into pattern. Clothes had never been one of her interests. As she got in her car, she looked at the clock. '0700 hours… I'm gonna be late' she thought to herself.
As she sat in the daily traffic, she flipped on the radio. "... the FBI is being
awfully vague on the threats received by Upsilon. They really should be open to the public about this information as it could greatly impact our lives."
Ash shook her head. 'Not that simple.'
"Upsilon has made countless threats to the FBI and they have made no actions to carry them out. Perhaps the FBI has been able to shut down these threats, or maybe Upsilon is simply trying to stir up fear."
"While you have fair points, you cannot take their threats lightly. We cannot be sure when they might go through with one. Now we are talking about chem…"
Ash had had enough. She plugged in her phone and put her music library on shuffle to help with her commute.
It was now 0900 hours and Ash pulls into the parking garage attached to her office building. 'At least the parking isn't too bad at this gig'. As she entered the elevator, she heard someone behind her, "Hold the door! Hold it!"
Ash recognized the voice and put her foot into the closing elevator doors.
"Merci." The rushing man's name is Gustave Kateb. Ash and Gustave had cooperated on a mission a few months prior. At twenty, he abandoned a potentially prominent private medical practice in favor of a career with the French Defense Health Service. Gustave was in D.C. working again alongside Ash on an intelligence committee covering the expansion of Upsilon.
The two quietly reached their respective floors and went to their workstations to continue their project. When Ash arrived to her desk, she noticed her folder tower had gotten taller. 'Ugh, when does it end?'
Ash sat down and opened the newest folder. The first document read Unknown Yellow Chemical Found In New Jersey. As she got further into the intel, she came across more and more chemical language and molecules that all went over her head. She looked over her cubicle to see if her neighbor, James Porter, was there to lend some assistance.
"James, would you mind looking over this document and translating it for me?"
"More chemicals? Give it here, let me take a look."
James was recently on loan from Great Britain to help design a new airborne vaccination to a recently popular chemical weapon.
James looked slightly puzzled as he studies the intel.
"Hmm… This is some heavy stuff. I haven't seen this compound before. If this gets made, it could cause some serious damage if inhaled, or even makes contact to the skin."
"Is it feasible to be mass produced?"
"There are some rare elements being used but with the right amount of money, it could be done."
"Thank you James. You've saved me a lot of researching time."
Ash continued her way through the large stack of intel. Reading page after page of information accumulated around the world. 'With this much information, how am I supposed to find pertinent details about Upsilon?'
Ash was starting to feel her mid morning loll and decided to go make herself a cup of coffee before opening a new folder. She made it into the hallway that takes her to the small kitchen. Before she can turn into the kitchen, she is stopped by Gustave.
"Ash, we have to go. Upsilon has struck and we are being deployed. The boss wants the British guy on board too. Get your things and meet me outside, we have a plane waiting for us. I'll explain more on the way."
Ash nodded her head and rushed back to get James. Ash didn't know how severe the attack was, but knew it must be something big for her to be brought in.
"Get your shit, we are leaving. Upsilon has made an attack and we are being deployed. They want us to be on site." James seemingly leaped out of his seat.
"Let's get moving then."
The two rush outside and meet back up with Gustave outside of their jet.
"We should be arriving in Massachusetts in an hour." Gustave yelled over the roar of the jet engine.
"What's happening? Nothing is even on the news yet." Replied James.
"Get on the plane and we will be briefed on the flight."
The trio got on the plane to find a woman waiting for them.
"Hello everyone, I am Captain Castellano with the Navy Intelligence. Please sit down, we don't have long to discuss our plan of action."
The three sat down and the jet began moving to the runway.
"Upsilon has made an attack on Bartlett University inside of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Casualty numbers have not yet been recorded, we are led to believe that they are in at least the hundreds. As of thirty minutes ago, a van full of men, covered in biochemical suits, arrived on the quad of the campus. These men were armed with fully automatic light machine guns and open fired on a crowd of students and faculty before proceeding into the library. Police quickly arrived on site but were ill prepared for the threat."
"So why are we being brought in? Couldn't a SWAT team handle this?" Ash asked.
"Normally, yes. However the men unloaded a large amount of some sort of yellow chemical."
Ash glanced at James, as he lowered his head.
"Team Rainbow is officially being deployed for this operation. The President herself has asked us to bring this a swift ending and to prevent any further loss of life."
"Team Rainbow?" Gustave asked.
"We have been carefully selected to be a part of the returning Rainbow team."
"Wait, is this the same team that was used in Las Vegas, a decade ago?" Asked Ash.
"Correct." Responded Castellano. "The four of us, and two others have been brought together for our particular set of skills and knowledge to deal with any mass terrorist attack. The other two, Lieutenant Estrada and Captain Glazkov will be meeting us at the camp set up just outside of the university."
"So this is an international group?" Asked James.
"Yes. I only know of the members in our team which are American, French, British, and Russian. Once we arrive, we will get the operation plans from Lieutenant Estrada. I've been told that he has quite the background in both intelligence and terrorist negotiations."
The jet lands on an air strip just outside of Cambridge and the crew is met by a six foot tall bald man. "Afternoon ladies and gentleman, I am Lieutenant Estrada, please follow me to our tent."
The group arrived to the tent and Ash noticed six black biochemical suits along with an assortment of weapons and tactical gear. Ash also saw a smaller man standing in the corner. 'I guess that's our Russian.'
"Surveillance shows that there are at least ten men inside of the University's library, each one carrying their own LMG and in their own biochemical suit. Both the grounds outside and the inside of the library contaminated with an unknown chemical weapon that is deadly when inhaled and burns when it makes contact with the skin. We are not certain what lies on the inside of the library, the targets have managed to barricade many of the windows and outside doors to prevent us from looking in. However, we have reason to believe that they have large scale bombs that could demolish the campus. Our job is simple. Get in, clear the targets, disarm any bombs, and gather any intel that we might find."
Ash looked at the rest of the team. Everyone was fixated on Estrada. Not blinking an eye. 'Perhaps we really have been carefully selected for this…'
"Castellano, Kateb, Porter, Cohen, and myself will be helicoptered in on top of the roof of the library. Before entering, we will open the barricaded windows on the second floor to provide ventilation for the chemical to escape, as it is very thick and will impair our vision. These open windows will provide Glazkov with sightlines into the building to give us cover fire and intel. Glazkov, you'll be stationed in scaffold lifts that have been provided by the swat team. Be sure to bring your thermal scope. Any questions?"
No one raised their hand and each person seemed to be itching to get their gear.
"Perfect. Let's do this."