Enter the Players

(Three hours ago)

"... And for Monday, I expect you to have your paper on the equal rights laws currently in effect on my desk at the start of class. Now go home." Almost as a single body, the class sighed with relief as Chevoski finished his three hour period of lecture. There was a hurried slamming of laptops, slapping of books and zipping of bags as everyone hurried to get out of the classroom.

As James McCallister slung his laptop bag over his shoulder and walked out, a pair of people caught his eye. One was tall, broad-shouldered and built like a pro football player and the other was slightly shorter with blonde hair and a slimmer and far more curvaceous build. A grin came to his face as he watched the two embrace. To the casual observer who didn't know the pair, they might think that Robert Samuels and Andrea Grace were together. However, James could immediately note how the kiss to the cheek they exchanged barely brushed skin and how they never quite completely relaxed into each other. They were close, but they were not lovers.

In fact, as they broke apart, Rob and Andrea caught sight of James and both grinned. Rob stood back and gave Andrea a small push towards James. Smiling wistfully, Rob ran a hand over his beard and wished for the millionth time that he could once again know the kind of love that James and Andrea shared. Even when the gestures they exchanged were as simple as a hug, chaste kiss and clasped hands, anyone with half a brain could tell they were truly in love.

Stepping forward, Rob extended his hand and clasped it to James' forearm, feeling the other young man's hand grasping his. They held that for a moment before parting, the trio settling immediately into a moderate pace, aimed at the cafeteria of the school they were at.

As they walked from the classroom, Rob looked down at the combination waiting area and lounge known as "The Pit". Once a few years before any of the three had left high school, it had actually been a sunken area. But once Durham College's campus had been expanded to host the new University of Ontario Institute of Technology, the area had been filled it by the powers that be for some unknown reason.

Taking the stairs down from the upper floor, the three began talking about the weekend to come. "Y'know," Andrea began, "It is Brian's birthday on Saturday. We should do something for it."

Grinning, Rob opened the door at the base of the stairs for the other two. "Hey, we've still got tomorrow and Friday to work at it. After all, when do we ever plan something more than a day in advance?"

Giving them both a speculative glance, James had to agree. "He's right, unfortunately. And besides, none of us have work schedules for this weekend yet, anyway." Andrea made a non-committal noise that made little sense to everyone but the two men with her.

When they entered the cafeteria a moment later, James motioned for the other two to grab one of the tables while he went and got their food. Doing as they were bidden, Andrea and Rob went to grab a table, but not before Rob grabbed the bag slug over James' shoulder, causing the smaller man to spin somewhat gracefully out of the strap.

Setting both his friend's bag and his own down, Rob reached into both and pulled out the laptops while across from him, Andrea did the same with hers. Somewhat fittingly, the couple had matching laptops, while Rob had a slightly more battered but far more powerful one he'd built with the help of a friend downtown. Pulling his out of standby, Rob started some music playing on his, not bothering to check what song was first up.

By the time he'd finished that, James was back with three slices of pizza and three drinks. A bottle of water went in front of Andrea while a bottle of iced tea landed in front of Rob. James kept the Pepsi for himself and laid a stack of napkins in between them.

"So, Rob, did you get a court time booked for Friday?" James asked as he took his first bite.

Nodding, Rob took one of the napkins James had dropped in the centre of the table. Wiping his face quickly to remove the slight trail of tomato sauce that invariably got caught in his beard and mustache, he cleared his mouth to answer. "Yeah. We're booked in for 1640 on court one."

"Shiny. Look forward to it."

At this, Andrea sighed. "I hope you two don't forget about the D and D game on Friday in the commons."

Grinning, Rob looked over at her with a perfectly innocent tone, "Ria, would we EVER forget about your game?" He ducked slightly as a balled up napkin came flying at his face. He decided to come clean about things before she threw her pizza at him. "We did, but we've got plenty of time to make it to the game. We're done with squash at 1845, and the game's not until 1930."

Looking somewhat mollified, she sat back a bit and gave the two young men a contemplative look. "Well, as long as you're promising to be there." Both nodded to reinforce the point.

Fifteen minutes later, the trio of friends had finished up their pizza, packed up their laptops, and wandered over towards the Learning Commons. The commons was a large area filled with computers. All privately mused that the place was misnamed, but none commented to each other.

They met up with a fourth friend of theirs near the back of the room. He was already sitting around one of the round lounge tables, three other chairs around sitting empty. Looking up from the laptop in front of him, Luke Mallard had a slightly blank look on his face. Well used to it, all three just sat down in the little circle of chairs with him.

Pulling out their laptops again, James and Rob booted up and dug out Ethernet cables to plug into the LAN with. Moments later, Luke looked back up at them. "What game are we playing today?"

James shrugged. "Well, I've got a new map to try with..."

Rob suddenly tuned him out. Something was going on out in the quad, near the bus loop. He squinted and winced slightly as a sudden bright pulse of light hit his eyes. He quickly blinked spots away as he saw that the sculpture he and his friends had always joked looked like the gate from Wormhole

X-treme was replaced with something that looked disturbingly similar to the gate itself. In fact, the giant ring started to click the top chevron in and out.

Jaw hanging down slightly, some inner instinct had him shutting his laptop fast. A moment later, laptop, charger and cables were all stuffed haphazardly into the bag, and Rob was hastily pulling plugs for the other two laptop users. James looked up as he noticed his power and network connections cut.

"Look out there, James." Without even waiting for James to look, Rob was digging in his bag for his multi tool, hooking tool and pouch over his belt swiftly. When he looked up, a huge flair of what looked like a cross between water and plasma gushed out from the ring. By then, every person in the large learning commons was staring out the window, watching with baited breath.

Before anyone got the nerve to move, James stepped up beside Rob. "We've got to get these people out of here. This can't be good." Rob nodded mutely, knowing the danger consciously, but unable to tear himself from the amazing sight of what looked like water hanging in a wall. A gasp went through the assembled students as a group of men carrying something that looked like a cross between a staff and a rifle came stepping through the hanging water. They looked around before planting themselves, staff rifles at the ready.

A moment later, another group appeared and started to look around. As this group took positions with the first, all of them aimed their staff-like rifles. A slight orange flash at each muzzle appeared before the first fired, blowing a small crater into the wall beside the emergency exit to the commons. At that moment, three things happened.

James and Rob dove for their friends, James diving mostly to cover Andrea, and Rob slamming Luke out of his chair and to the scant cover of the floor and table while shielding the part of Andrea left open by James with his body.

The main mass of students started to try and press their way out the doors at the west end of the commons, causing a traffic jam and making them sitting ducks for anyone else wanting to fire some kind of plasma blast at them.

Every one of the other invaders opened up fire around them, aiming for anyone and everyone they could see. The brilliant gold plasma bursts melted and shattered the glass wall between the mass of students and the invaders. Subsequent shots began to slam into heads, chests, arms and backs of terrified students, each hit eliciting a sizzle of badly burned flesh, a very sickening thud of something hitting flesh hard, and a scream of pain if the person survived the initial shot.

Stray shots slammed into desks, chairs and computers, setting several of the cloth-covered chairs ablaze and shattering dozens of computer screens all over the trapped students. The noise of exploding projection tubes and overheated capacitors added to the sudden stench of ozone, burnt flesh and burning electronics, adding to the visual chaos.

Hands and arms covering their heads from the flying debris in their area, James and Rob looked at each other quickly, coming to the same thought. "We've got to get out of here," James stated for the benefit of the other two. Nodding, they looked over towards the available doors. One was under constant fire from the attackers while the other was crammed with every other student wanting out and many of them getting shot for clustering together.

All four of them immediately knew that their chances of getting out like that were slim to none at all. They were among the most unfortunate students as they had been caught farthest from the normal exits. So they decided to go for the ABNORMAL exits.

"James, see if you can get through the door to William's! I'll get us into this classroom." Moving fast, James and Rob rose and split off in two different directions. James threw himself at the wooden door they all knew had a chair jammed under the other side. He hoped that the sudden shock of his body slamming into it would jar the chair enough that the door would pop open. Instead, he just bounced off it, narrowly avoiding getting hit with a plasma blast outside. It hit one of the window panels beside the door, melting and shattering it, spraying shards at James as he ducked back.

Meanwhile Rob had gone for the large clear walls of the classroom that jutted slightly into the learning commons. Giving one pane a fast rap with his knuckles, he ducked behind a bunch of computers and their desk, watching as bursts slammed in above his head. They weakened the material he assumed to be plexi-glass enough that Rob was hoping he could shatter it fully with a good impact. Two more bursts slammed into his cover, setting a chair across from him alight while the second shattered a computer screen, showering him with melted plastic and hot metal.

Reaching beside him and up, he grabbed the top of the chair near him and flipped it so that as he rose, it would already be prepared to be swung like a baseball bat. Peaking around the desk legs, he saw that the invaders were busy with their grisly target practice. Moving as swiftly as he could, he stood and used the chair like a hammer, slamming it again and again into the plexi-glass, finally shattering it before a shot into the seat of the chair had him tossing it aside and diving back towards the scant cover hiding his friends. Ducking his head into the strap of his laptop bag, he grabbed James' as well and looked around for the slimmer man. Not seeing him anywhere, he shrugged mentally, knowing that wherever he was, James would be doing everything in his power to help his friends and keep himself alive. Either way, Rob mused, I can't do anything for him until I've gotten these two out of here.

Not waiting any longer, Rob grabbed the attention of Luke and Andrea. "Alright, on my command, we make a charge directly for the opening I made. Keep your head down and move as fast as you can. Use what cover you've got and get out of here. I'll bring up the rear."

Looking at him like he was a fool, Andrea pulled away from him a bit. "I'm not leaving without James."

Knowing they didn't have time for arguments, Rob ignored her protest and slapped Luke's arm. "GO!" A moment later, he stood up, bags slung across his shoulders, a screaming Andrea trapped in his vice-like grip. All but carrying her the entire way, Rob managed to follow Luke through the busted pane of plexi-glass and even all the way out the door of the classroom. The moment they were at the dubious safety of the hallway, Rob ran directly towards the William's Coffee Pub down the hall, dropping both laptops gently as he did.

Running past the hall entrance, he slammed through the double set of doors until he was outside, determined to buy James the time he needed to dodge away from the blistering fire that had kept him huddled behind a low wall in the coffee shop.

Grabbing some fairly small rocks off the ground around him, he moved into sight of the invaders and started hurling both rocks and insults. "Hey, you ugly motherfuckers! Can't fire at someone who's not scared of you? You a race of fucking yellow bellied cowards!" He finished it by managing to bounce one of his rocks off the face of an invader.

While none of the invaders seemed to understand exactly what he was saying, they understood the insults. However, until that one rock had hit the face of their friend, they were content to ignore the ranting young man. Now, however, five of the staff rifles turned towards the rapidly moving young man.

When Rob saw this, he broke back towards the doors, millimetres away from the seeking plasma. He could smell the heat from the scorching blasts, cursing himself a fool for attracting THAT much attention. The curses stopped as he saw James able to scramble out into the hallway, grabbing one of Rob's arm's to help move him out of the line of fire faster.

They sprinted together up the corridor to meet up with Andrea and Luke. The former broke away from Luke as fast as she could and all but threw herself onto James, overjoyed that he was not only was she not going to be forced to leave him behind, but that he was unharmed.

Taking a brief moment to reassure Andrea and remind Luke and James, Rob placed his hand gently on her shoulder. "We all get out of this together. We don't leave ANYONE behind. We clear on that?"

Nodding with slightly tear-swollen eyes, Andrea gave him a smile, forgiving him for scaring her. Somberly, James simply held out his right hand and clasped it against his friend's wrist in a slightly antiquated greeting that went far beyond for the two of them. Luke looked a little worried, but he nodded, clutching his bag tightly.

Breaking away from the two lovers, Rob thrust James' laptop at him while he slung his own over his shoulder again. "Alright, way I see it, we need to get some backup and/or some firepower of our own. Preferably both, I would think."

All three nodded before Andrea spoke up. "So what now?"

A dark look passed through Rob's eyes. "Now, we get out to my van, pack in whomever we can, and y'all get the hell out of dodge while I see what I can do to distract these bastards from getting to the dorms."

James grabbed his elbow as Rob started to lead towards his van. "I thought we just swore that we all get out of this together!" He hissed, sounding far closer to angry than Rob had ever heard him.

Undeterred, Rob smiled lopsidedly. "And we will, my friend. After all, I was rather hoping you'd come back and get me by Athletics." Without waiting any longer, he lead them out in a sprint to the parking lot, careful to watch for any signs the invaders had moved around towards them yet. They were fortunate enough that the group of attackers were still blasting everything and everyone in sight on the front quad.

The moment they reached his van, Rob took the bags and dropped them at his feet as he unlocked the rear hatch. Tossing them in with little regard for what was where, he dug into a large container that his family kept back there. It was filled with a first aid kit, blanket, candles, jumper cable, shovel, tire iron, rope, chains, and a large hunting knife. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the first aid kit and the hunting knife, pleased to note that the leather sheath was still in good shape and still had the knife's little brother sheathed below it.

Tossing his keys to James, Rob threaded the knife sheath onto his belt, doing it up again as he laid out his plan. "Alright. James, I need you to tear out of here like a bat out of hell. I know you can do it, especially since you've watched me do it a few times more than I really should have." The four grinned slightly at that, all of them momentarily thinking of the times that Rob had pushed the envelope a bit driving. "Once you get out, call for help. When you're done that, burn rubber up to Conlin road, come left on Conlin, and come back in to where I park when we go to play squash. Sound good?" While waiting for a response, he wrapped the first aid kit strap around his belt, letting him carry it without having to worry about using his hands.

Nodding slightly, James commented "You're crazy, you know that...? How long?"

Rob checked his watch. "Fifteen minutes. No more. If you don't see me by then, get the hell out of here and go for some more backup." Cursing suddenly as a thought came to him, he pulled his cell phone out of it's belt clip and looked at the screen. "I've got no signal." Dejected, he tossed the phone into his bag, not wanting to carry it with him if it was useless.

Pulling their own phones out of pockets, James and Andrea performed the same check. Both came up with no signal. "Something is jamming the cellular bands." Frustrated, James jammed his phone back into his pocket. Andrea followed suit a little less temperamentally.

Sighing, Rob ran a hand through his hair. "You're going to have to gun it down to a land line and call for help." Nodding, James climbed into the drivers seat and started the engine. Shifting into gear as he tried to get comfortable in a seat adjusted to Rob's larger frame, he pushed down hard on the gas pedal, sending the van darting out of it's parking spot.

By the time James had reached the main driveway, Rob was back inside the school. He quickly saw that two of the invaders had made it to the inner wall of the learning commons and were firing in at the unlucky few to be left in the area. He drew the large hunting knife first and opened the strap stopping him from drawing the smaller one. Holding it down from the bottom of his fist, Rob moved as unobtrusively as possible towards the two nearby invaders.

When he got within ten metres of them, gunshots rang out in time with little bursts of red blood exploding from the far invader. He went down gurgling slightly as his friend turned and fired down the corridor, hitting the brave cop who'd been on campus at the time everything had started. The man went down, but hung on to life, valiantly trying to bring his pistol up again to take out the second invader.

Rob used the commotion to flip the knife around in his hand and charge up behind the invader. He grabbed the man's hair and slammed the point of the knife below the base of his skull, severing the brain stem from the spinal cord. It was a very rapid and fairly clean kill. The body twitched slightly for a moment then fell to the ground. Rob paused long enough to jerk the knife out again and wipe it off on the robe-like garments the man had on before he sheathed it, grabbed the staff rifle and sprinted over to the downed officer.

Dropping to one knee fast, he got an up close and personal look at the kind of damage the weapon in his hand could do. The man was bleeding profusely from a very ugly wound just below his ribcage. Cringing, Rob pulled the first aid kit from around his waist and opened it, digging for a sterile pad to try and staunch the bleeding with. Pulling the thick gauze pad free of it's packaging, Rob gently pushed the officer's trembling hands away from the wound. Being as gentle as possible, he held firm pressure on it, trying to staunch the wound.

Freeing one hand, he reached into the kit for some tape. Setting it on the other man's thigh, he gently cut away the remnants of the man's uniform shirt and tried to pull away the smoking bullet-proof vest underneath. A sharp gasp of pain stopped him as he realized that the heat of the plasma burst had fused it to the skin below.

Weakly, the constable pushed at the young man's hands. "Get out of here. You're just going to get yourself killed trying to save me."

Trying not to cause the severely wounded man any more pain than he had to, Rob pushed his hands away and began gently cutting the vest from the man's abdomen. Small hisses of pain had him wincing at he muttered gentle encouragement to hold on. It took a good three minutes before the vest came free of skin, allowing Rob to place the makeshift dressing properly. By the time that was finished, the officer's face had taken on a very ashen hue and was coated in sweat.

Fearing the worst, Rob placed his fingers against the man's throat, feeling for signs of life. A faint pulse met his questing fingers, relieving his fear for a moment. "Hang tight, Officer. We're gonna get out of here." Rob looked down at his watch, noting that James would be waiting for him in seven minutes. Looking the man in front of him over, Rob tried to figure out how to move him without causing too much further injury.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the slight scrape of metal being slid across the tile floor. It was the cop gently pushing his gun towards his would-be rescuer. "Take it, kid." The injured man rasped. "Ain't gonna do me any good now."

Looking worried, Rob took a second piece of gauze and started wiping the officer's face. "Don't talk like that. You're going to be fine. You'll make it out of this."

A wet laugh escaped his mouth as the cop shifted himself very slightly. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a dreamer, kid?" A small groan escaped his lips as he fumbled out of his gun belt. "Take my gun, and get the bastards that did this. Stop it from ever happening again."

Sighing, Rob took the proffered items, ignoring the blood on them. "I promise, Officer. Now come on, let's get you out of here." Starting to stand, he was halted by a weak grip on his leg.

"Tell my wife and daughters I love them, and that I'm sorry I won't make it... to..." Falling silent, the officer's chest heaved once, twice, and fell still.

Hand shaking, Rob reached forward to check for a pulse, already fearing what he'd find. His fears were realized when he found none. Reaching out with two fingers, he gently closed the dead man's eyelids before closing his own eyes and offering a few final words before he pulled a badge from the man's pocket and took the gun and belt as he'd been told.

Wrapping the gun belt around him, Rob holstered the Berretta and took up the staff rifle he'd dropped earlier, hoping he knew how to fire it. Numbly, the young man moved off, looking around for targets of opportunity. His first was an invader that was walking into the pit, blissfully unaware of what was around him.

Carefully, Rob moved closer before raising the staff rifle and pressing what seemed to be the firing stud three times. His first shot missed, but the other two hit, slamming the hapless invader to the ground. Moving fast while he looked for more targets, Rob checked his watch fast. He had three minutes to meet up with his friends and get out of this slaughter house.

A scream caused him to jump before he realized what was going on. Grabbing the second staff rifle, he turned to his right and barged into the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time. When he got to the top, he leaned the spare staff rifle against the wall, putting his first one there a moment later. Moving slowly, he drew the Beretta and slid the clip out, not wanting to take chances on his ammunition count. Satisfied with the eight rounds he found in it, he pulled back on the slide, checking for the tell-tale gleam of brass in the chamber. A grim smile lit his face as he saw that it was still ready to fire. Replacing the clip and flicking off the safety, he settled into a two-handed grip, left side slightly leading.

Rounding the corner carefully, Rob had a moment to take in the scene of two attackers slapping one of the girls in the school while three more were holding back two young men he assumed to have some relation to the poor girl.

Trying to figure out how best to win the fight fast, Rob realized that if he could take out the two attacking the girl, the other three would be distracted enough for the guys to go back on the offensive, hopefully buying enough time for him to finish the job. Raising the pistol slightly, he sighted down the barrel and pulled the trigger twice rapidly. Two shots rang out incredibly loud compared to the babble of voices it cut out.

Moving his aim as fast as he could to the next invader, Rob fired six rounds into the chest of the startled man. Knowing that he needed to change clips, he rapidly ejected the empty clip from the handle of the gun and fumbled at the unfamiliar belt for a reload. While his fingers were scrabbling, one of the guards on the boys brought his staff rifle up and around. Rather than hoping he could get to a clip fast enough, Rob snapped his last round off as he dove for cover. It hit the invader square in his nose, sending the man back to the ground as if he'd been struck by lightning.

Unseen to Rob, his fire provided enough of an opening for the two captives to move. The larger of the two simply grabbed his target by the back of the neck, brought up a hand to grip the invader's jaw on the far side, and twisted viciously, snapping the invader's neck like a twig.

The smaller of the two instead grabbed for the staff rifle dropped by one of the invaders Rob had shot. Raising it like the shotguns he knew, the smaller man pressed the firing stud twice, sending two plasma bolts into the invader's body at point-blank range. Both invaders were down before they had time to realize how fast the tables had turned on them.

Rolling onto his back, Rob finally got his hand on the elusive clip and slid it home before flicking the slide release with this thumb, bringing the gun back to usefulness. Coming up on one knee to face the remaining hostiles, he saw that he shouldn't have worried as there were now two more young men armed with staff rifles, one of whom was busy trying to offer some comfort to the upset girl.

While not exactly unsympathetic, Rob knew that they had to get out fast before more invaders were drawn by the weapons fire. Holstering his pistol and grabbing the two staff rifles he'd carried into the fight, he gently pressed one into the hands of the still weeping girl. "You're going to need that if you want to stay alive." A concerned look flashed across his face long enough for her to realize that it was the best he could do at the moment to bolster her spirits.

Nodding with determination, she grabbed one of Rob's hands and the hand of her friend, she pulled herself up to her feet. "I'm ready."

While her voice was none too steady, the look in her eye got the message across that her voice couldn't. Rob merely nodded and moved off along the upper floor towards the stairs closest to the athletics complex. Without needing to be told, one of the others took up a position to cover their rear while the other two settled for standing at his left and right shoulder, a pace or two back. Rob was pleased that one of the two leading with him was the girl who'd been sobbing a moment ago. They made it without incident down to the picnic tables that littered the grass between the cafeteria and the athletics complex. Rob checked his watch quickly. They had only two minutes to make it the hundred metres or so to the parking lot for pickup.

Facing the others for a moment, he quickly explained what was going on before he gave them all orders. "Split up, take slightly different paths, and keep your eyes peeled. They could be anywhere by now, and we haven't got the time stand and fight. Understood?"

Nodding, they all moved off along the paths he gestured to. Rob took the most open path, sending both of the other men among the tables while the girl stuck close to the building, which was about the best cover they could give her.

Within thirty seconds, they could see Rob's van, James and Luke using the drivers and passenger doors for cover as they stood with staff rifles, ready to offer covering fire as best they could. Smiling, Rob quickly rapped out some new orders. "James, open the side doors. Luke, get in and make sure the engine's running, I'm driving." Waving at his three companions, Rob broke into a sprint for his seat. Tossing the staff rifle to Andrea, he asked her and two of his three companions to climb in the back quickly. That left the James and the young man who'd stood guard after the little skirmish where they'd met up.

Absently, Rob noted that the man's name was Paul as he greeted James, Luke and Andrea. Busy strapping in and making sure everyone else was strapped in, he missed the other two names. "Alright. We're going to burn rubber out of here. Everyone strap in. James, Paul, be ready to slide the doors open and provide extra cover fire." One last check that everyone was ready, Rob slammed the minivan's gearshift into drive and stomped on the accelerator. Spinning the front tires for a moment, he kept it on line to speed out from the lot, taking the corner just outside it at a pace that caused the fully loaded vehicle to lean severely.

Despite this, he kept it on track as two plasma bursts erupted the ground beside his door. Moving the nose to the right slightly, he quickly jerked it over to the left before two more bursts could hit the minivan as it careened around the next corner. A moment later, he made one more hard turn, this time to the right, and sped off east on Conlin Rd.

Slowing down slightly to take the right onto Simcoe a little slower, Luke pointed towards the road into the school that was coming up. A half dozen invaders stood there, aiming at the oncoming vehicle. Without even bothering to think about it, he slapped the door locks open and powered down the passenger window before handing Luke his Beretta. "James, Luke, cover fire, two o'clock."

The pair reacted swiftly, Luke by leaning out and bracing his hand against the mirror while James slid the door open, turned slightly in his seat, and braced himself to start popping of plasma bursts of his own. Behind him, a second and third staff rifle poked over his shoulders as the girls took aim without prompting. By the time the clip in the Beretta Luke held clicked dry, they had made it past the invaders with the only damage being a shot out tail light.

Looking slightly sheepish, Luke handed the Beretta back to Rob, who simply clicked the slide shut and set it in the cargo net between the seats while he concentrated on driving at over 160 km/h down a wavy, somewhat battered street. As they approached the first traffic lights south of the college, they were met by a wall of flashing red lights and white cars. Slamming the brakes, Rob brought them to a fish-tailing stop a few metres from the roadblock. Putting the van in park, Rob signalled for James to join him in getting out, stopping only to grab the Beretta, slide a new clip home, and chamber a round before he ejected the clip and pulled a loose 9mm round from a small pouch beside the last spare clip. Thumbing it into the top of the clip, he satisfied himself that it was now as full of ammunition as it could be and slid the clip back into the handle of the pistol before holstering it.

Leaving the door open and the restraining strap for his pistol fastened, Rob walked over towards the wall of police. By the time he'd taken three steps, forty guns of varying types were aimed unerringly at his chest and head. Holding his arms out to the side enough to satisfy the message of "I'm not going for my gun", Rob glanced over at James and gestured for him to lay the staff rifle on the ground.

A booming voice caught their attention. "Get down on the ground and keep your hands where we can see them!"