Big Luke
I spent the evening cleaning the M40 and thinking about what I had done. I had just asked two guys to possibly give up their lives for the good of the world. I thought back to when I first joined the Marine Corps.
I popped into the recruitment office two miles from my step-dad's house down south in Louisiana after what happened. I yanked the door open of the recruitment office just as the recruiter was locking the door for the night.
"I need to join the military, now," I said, gasping for breath.
"You know, being demanding is my job," the recruiter said, who I later learned was called Tom.
We sat down at the desk and I filled out the paperwork. The whole office was one big room with posters of the Marines from the American Revolution to World War II to modern day Afghanistan. Towards the door, there were a line of chairs and a number ticket machine. Their were six desks all together, three on the right, three on the left. All the lights were off except the one above us and one in the front.
Tom was in his late forties, his hair was graying and his face was weathered. He wore a pair of combat boots and camouflaged pants much like I wear now only his were in their woodland MARPAT configuration with lots of browns and greens. He wore a black long-sleeve button up shirt that was all triple stitched and certainly not something you would find at Macy's. He also had a chain necklace with a bullet threaded on to it. He used his computer quietly. Rather than give me a huge spiel on "Why I should join the Marine Corps". He saw that I was desperate, which I was. Fifteen years in that house was fifteen years too many.
I had finished up the paperwork and began asking questions about heading off to basic training. Tom told me about the ASVAB test I would have to take along with the physical test.
I was going to be a Marine, just like my great grandfather who had fought in World War II and stormed the beach on D-day. I was in no hurry to go back to that house so I asked Tom if he would be willing to stay for a couple hours and keep me company. He agreed. By this time it was nine at night and he probably wanted to go home to see his family. The seventeen year old me never considered it, which turned out to be a big mistake. He began questioning me about my family and why I wanted to join the Marine Corps, and I told him my story. It turned out that Tom was a Marine Scout Sniper with several years experience, so many he lost count. That's where he got the necklace. Then he grew tired of it and became a recruiter.
While I was sitting on my bunk, cleaning the M40, I thought about Tom. Did he realize what he was doing? Did he ever think about how many people he recruited would come back alive and how many would come back in caskets?
I pressed a secret button under the bed and my little compartment opened in the wall, exposing my M16 and a couple spare mags on a chest rack. I set the M40 behind them and closed the compartment. I un-clicked my holster and laid it with my 1911 under the bed. I changed cloths and laid on the bed and fell asleep.
I had a dream of the start of a bank robbery. This was different than any normal bank robbery, this one had taken place at night. Most bank robbers will operate in the day time because it is easier to get in the bank, you can walk right in. If you go at night the doors are locked and they are marked by an alarm system so if you broke the glass, you would set off the alarm bringing the police. In this dream there were two armed guards and six robbers. I woke up with a start. It was time to go to work.
We had traveled all the way to Detroit, Michigan in a matter of seconds by means of shadow travel. My crew that night was made up of two snake-woman and three other demigods. One of which was Luke Castellan himself who had insisted to go on this operation. He was not pleased with the last job that we did. So, he insisted that he come with us on this one.
The plan was like any other: cut the power to the ventilation system but not the alarms or the lights inside as to not alert the two guards. While in the Marine Corps, I specialized in close quarter tactics and warfare, that's why Luke had wanted me to lead the heists. The war wasn't free and they needed funds to fuel the "movement" as I called it, and robbing banks was how we did it.
We had shadow jumped right on the "X" which is military lingo for dropping directly on to the target. We were on the roof of a Bank of America that was directly connected to two, two story buildings on either side of it. The Bank of America itself was a single story. The Michigan air that night felt slightly colder than it should of been. I looked around to my view of Detroit. I could faintly see tall buildings, downtown. The Bank of America must have been placed towards the outskirts of town.
I was a little nervous, it wasn't because I was about to infiltrate a bank and commit yet another act of larceny. I had done that and been all over the news for it. I was a kind of rock star in a sense. I had led teams all over the country pulling off the heists. I had even made it to the national news, "The Traveling Thief" they called me. From each report that came out, the one thing that they all had in common was a guy of my height, build and of course, my accent. Being a southern boy, witnesses always seemed to remember my southern drawl.
I sent the two other demigods, both sons of Ares, to the two story building to the right to cut the power, I prayed to whoever was listening that they wouldn't screw it up. As we waited I checked over my gear, I was dressed in all black, even gloves. I had a small backpack with a roll of duct-tape (most useful tool in the world), a single flashbang, four ski-masks, one for each human, the snake-woman had their own. A flashbang is a type of nonlethal grenade that, when activated, emits a bright flash and a loud bang, disorientating anyone around it. I also had some of my breaching equipment: pry tool, screw drivers, a small hand portable butane torch, and a single kicker charge for any doors that got in our way. I had swapped out my 1911 for a Heckler and Koch HK45C with a suppressor. I heard Brandon call it a silencer which is not the correct terminology, silencer would imply complete silence which this does not do. It was loaded up with standard ammunition, not Celestial Bronze cased.
"You ready?" Luke asked me.
"Oh, ready as I'll ever be," I never enjoyed steeling, even if it was our only source of income. I mean come on, you can't fuel a war by selling lemonade, can you?
"You don't sound confident. Are you afraid of what might happen to you if you don't come through?" I knew what he was getting at and believe me, it wasn't good.
"There are always risks, especially when the only intel I've got came to me in a dream," I knew I was taking a shot at him but I didn't care. I didn't like Luke, he was a bad leader and a jerk. At that point, he wasn't fit to lead a rat to a block of cheese. He was spineless compared to some of the men I've fought under. He was confident but he was not courageous.
"You better watch your tone," Did I mention he wasn't intimidating either?
"You remember the plan?" I asked him.
"Of course I do!" he exclaimed.
"SHHHHHH!" the three other life forms on the roof told him.
I went to the ventilation gate on the roof. The plan was to get in through the ventilation system, hence cutting the power to it. all three building's power was controlled from the building to the right. After getting in, we would position our selves directly over each guard. We would drop the flashbang at their feet and take them hostage.
I had finished unscrewing the vent and set it to the side. I motioned for everyone to stack up behind me. Luke was right behind me the whole way in. He was also shaking and uncomfortable.
When we got into position, we ran into a problem. The two guards were too far apart for the flashbang to be very effective. One was behind the counter and the other was near the front sliding glass door. Both guards were sitting down and they didn't look like they were moving anytime soon.
It was three in the morning, I was tired and I didn't want to be there. I felt so flustered because Luke just HAD to come along and I just HAD to only bring ONE flashbang. I had a few options however: we could retreat a few steps and I could drop to the floor in the hallway by the coffee room and the safe behind the first guard. I would walk up and knock him out while the rest drop in on the other. However, I didn't like the idea of Luke Castellan dropping in on an innocent security guard, he might have killed him. The other option was to retreat and try again on another night with the right equipment, but I was all ready on thin ice with Luke so I decided to risk it.
There were four of us in the ventilation ducts, the two snake-woman, Luke Castellan and I, and we all backed up as quietly as we could. We left the two other demigods on the roof as scouts. I left their ski-masks on the roof for when they returned from cutting the power. I tried to charade the new plan as best I could to the crew. I split off in another tunnel over the hallway where I lifted the grate to create an opening. I dangled my feet over the edge.
"Just another day at the office," I told my self.
I held my breath and took the plunge. As I landed, I bent my knees to absorb the shock and I exhaled. Not the quietest landing I ever had but it didn't seem to phase the guard any.
He was seated in a office chair behind the counter facing away from me and he was reading a magazine, Motor Trend. I had just started to creep up when I heard the flashbang go off and I saw the flash. Then I heard three sets of feet hit the ground. Caution flew out the window as I charged the guy behind the desk. He had stood up when I tackled him from behind. He became bent over the counter and I flipped him over and stuck a solid right punch to his face. He was knocked out instantly and I sat him back in the chair.
When I looked up, I was shocked at what I saw. Luke with his sword "Backbiter" (half Celestial Bronze and half tempered steel) impaled in the other guards chest. That was exactly what I didn't want to happen.
"What did you do?" I cried.
"I took him out," Luke said with a calm face as he pulled his sword out of the guys chest.
"I wanted you to knock him out! Not kill him! I thought I made that clear before we even shadow jumped," I had completely forgot about being mad for the terrible timing.
"These mortals will die anyway once Kronos takes over," as if that was some kind of excuse.
"No! The plan was to get in, get the dough, and get out. Not this! Now we are going to be all over the news and wanted for murder!" By this time, the guy I knocked out was starting to wake up.
"Keep your masks on!" I commanded to the crew.
I pulled the duct tape out of my bag and started taping up our hostage. I ran tape all the way around his chest and the chair, I taped his wrists and his mouth. As he woke up, I saw his gaze move towards his now dead co-worker who was now laying face-down in a pool of his blood. I had stripped him of his gun and his belt and his shoes. I could see in his eyes the terror that we had installed in him.
"Do you know where you are? Nod yes or no," I demanded. You need a coherent hostage to be of any use. He nodded yes.
"Do you know the combo to the safe? Nod yes or no," he shook his head no. "Damn. I'm going to have to blow the door off the safe," I informed the crew. I looked back at my hostage, "Do you know how to open the front doors with out setting off the alarm? Nod yes or no," He nodded yes.
I looked at him strait in the eyes, "If you cooperate, you will get out of this alive, I promise," I glared at Luke then I began taking my boot off.
Houdini always had a trick up his sleeve, mine was in my boots. I had made C4 plastic explosive insoles for them in case of any emergency. C4 is so stable you can shoot it and it wont blow up. It is also very malleable, so it makes for great insoles. Think Play-do, but with deadly intentions.
I opened up my backpack and took out the kicker charge. There was enough C4 explosive on it already for the safe but I was not entirely convinced. I wadded up my insoles and molded them onto the kicker charge, then I put my boots back on. I was no bomb expert, but I was a master of overkill.
The safe was huge, about the size of a shed you would see outside a Lowe's or Home Depot, and they managed to place it at the end of the hallway. I carried the charge over to the door and placed it on. I heard the magnetic strips snap to the metal surface. I held the detonator in my right hand as I ran back and hid behind the wall. Everyone stacked up behind me just like they did on the roof, Luke just behind me, still shaking at the knees.
"Fire in the hole," most people would say that they always wanted to say that, but I had done it plenty in the Marine Corps.
The detonator was about the size of two AA batteries stacked end to end, with a little round red button on the top. I pressed down firmly on the button and waited for the bang... I waited some more for the bang, it never went bang. I sighed, nothing that night was going as planned.
"Why didn't it blow up? You going to go check it out?" Luke asked me.
"You want to go check it? There is an armed bomb down that hallway and I don't know if it's going off in four seconds or four-" BOOM! The bomb went off. "It's open," I said, stating the obvious.
I radioed to the two Ares kids to come down and help unloading the safe. I walked down to the safe and walked inside. There was close to a million dollars in bills and a couple bricks of gold in the safe. I grabbed a cart and rolled it over to Luke. I guess that I rolled it a little too hard so it hit him in the knees. He caught it and glared at me.
"Your welcome," I told him as I stormed out of the now blown up crater of a door.
I walked back over to our hostage.
"How do you open the front doors?" I saw the other Ares kids walked down the hallway as I ripped the duct tape off the guards mouth.
"OW! 1, 4, 6, 3, pound on the number pad by the doors!" He exclaimed, then I laid the duct tape back down on his mouth.
I trusted what he was saying because we all had our masks still on. That meant that we were not planning on killing him. He didn't want to spoil his chances of making it out alive, so he told the truth.
The truth was we didn't need the code, we would take the carts full of cash and shadow jump with them back to the Princess Andromeda, Luke's flag ship. No finger prints, no evidence left behind except the blown safe door, what was left of the kicker charge, and the duct tape on the guard. Of course we would leave this guy a story to tell the cops and a dead body, credit of Luke Castellan.
The crew had finished cleaning out the safe of every cent left in it and was now waiting with all the cash in the center of the lobby. I walked over to the spent flashbang and picked it up and set it on one of the carts. I went over to the number pad and punched in every number except the ones the guard told me. I listened, this bank had a silent alarm and a silent alert sent to the cops. Some banks will make a lot of racket when you set in the wrong combo. So, we shadow jumped in silence.
We landed on the deck of the Princess Andromeda and the snake-woman took the cash to a safe we had on board. I began walking to port side where there was a zodiac inflatable boat with another snake-woman inside waiting for me. Just as I climbed on board, Luke caught me by the shoulder. I tuned around.
"I'll let you know when we need you again. What have you learned from Camp Half-Blood?" In case your wondering, I am a spy for Luke's army.