Chapter 23: Claes' Ninth

Claes arose as the sole survivor in the concrete holding cell, despite the fact that its ceiling had caved in after being hit by a mortar shell. The two Jackals that had been ordered to kill her lay dead underneath a messy pile of concrete slabs with their bodies broken and, unfortunately, their weapons as well. Both the Mac-10 and NeoStead 2000 were bent and dented beyond recognition.

Despite still being unsteady from the anesthetic and muscle relaxants that had been injected into her several hours ago and being unarmed and unarmored, Claes stumbled around the mound of concrete in the center of the room, doing her best to keep her eyes from the bodies of Sabri's gang, and made her way to the door which was thankfully unblocked. She entered the brightly lit hallway, squinting slightly after emerging from the darkness.

Claes had one objective in her mind, which was to finally find and eliminate Qadir Khalid. Not only because she was the closest to his location and had the best chance of verifying his death, but also because she had long ago marked him as the reason for her being in Algeria as well as the subsequent instances of near death that followed.

And so, despite being unarmed and unarmored, Claes staggered down the hallway with the cold, mechanical intent on finishing her mission once and for all…

Angelica squeezed off five more shots from the Barrett before reloading. Each round flew down from the high desert rock ridge, finding and eliminating their marks.

"Good job, Angelica," Marco commended her, surveying the expansive besieged Jackal compound through a pair of binoculars, "Make sure nobody makes it through those narrow passes, or they'll flank us."

"Yes, sir," Angelica replied, continuing to locate and neutralize hostiles with amazing ease and uncharacteristically mechanical efficiency. In truth, her current effectiveness stemmed from the hope that Claes was alive. For the entire duration of time that her gaze passed through the Barrett's scope, Angelica was scanning the burning, crumbling buildings for the slightest glimpse of her friend. Unfortunately, so far the only living things to pass her field of vision were her enemies, none of whom could stay very lively for very long.

Marco pointed south-southwest, his eyes never detaching from his binoculars. "There," he said, "Someone's trying to sneak across the battlefield in a cardboard box."

Angelica scanned the area below and saw the small gray cube slinking over dead bodies and mortar craters. "Target sighted," she said emotionlessly as she pulled the trigger. "Target eliminated."

One hand on the jaw and the other at the base of the back of the neck. A little twist and the unfortunate Jackal that Claes had taken by surprise instantly became a corpse whose weapons now belonged to its killer. Claes considered the mercenary's armor for a moment, and decided against putting it on. However unlikely it was, there was still the possibility that wearing a Jackal uniform could cause Marco's snipers to mistake her for a hostile, and so Claes was forced to continue her mission wearing nothing except the casual street clothes that she had worn for her operation in Algiers.

She methodically stooped and picked up the Beretta 93R that the soldier had been carrying, performed a cursory maintenance evaluation and retrieved the extra ammunition that the mercenary had in his vest pockets. She checked the serial number on the weapon and found that it was in fact and by some eerie coincidence the exact pistol that she had used previously that day. Perhaps while she was unconscious the Jackal decided to scavenge it from her as a trophy or reward of some kind. Whatever the case, he didn't have the Beretta anymore and he wouldn't need it where he was going.

Claes walked cautiously down the hallway, keeping her weapon raised in front of her and pressing herself up against the cracked gray wall, all the while keeping away from any windows in the area. Outside the full moon was high in the star-dotted heavens. The night's darkness would hide her well and allow her to move about without too much trouble. This would be incredibly important, as the Jackals' base of operations turned out to be a massive collection of tightly-packed, concrete and steel structures of varying sizes. The close arrangement of the buildings were perfect for mortar teams to knock down, so Claes was not expecting any part of the compound to remain standing for very long. She had to keep moving.

Thankfully, at the center of the complex stood the tallest and most fortified structure that proved to be practically impervious to the shelling from the Desert Children. Claes inferred that her target must be located there, as he would be most protected and be able to survey the damage caused throughout the compound, and so she headed to this tallest structure to meet with Fate…

"Sir," Angelica reported, still peering through the scope of her rifle, "There's some sniper activity within the top floor of the central building, but they've turned out the lights."

"Can you identify any targets?" Marco asked, turning his gaze to the structure in question.

Angelica answered, "Negative. They're keeping well away from the windows, but are picking and firing at targets rather efficiently."

A few meters away a mortar team launched a shell that flew upwards and came whistling down on the building. When the smoke cleared there was a blackened circle burnt into the walls and ceiling, but other than that there was no integral damage.

"Hmm," Marco mused, "It looks like that's where the most resistance will be. When it's clear we'll send in the trucks to take out the base of the building. That should cause it to buckle well enough. For now, though, switch your focus from ground targets to that structure there," he pointed to a specific building which looked identical to those around it, "It seems that the majority of the hostiles are coming out of there."

"Understood," Angie replied. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong…

Two quick bursts from her Beretta and Claes had sent four more Jackals to Charon's ferry. Now that her blood was flowing again and her body was working the chemicals out of its system, her recovery from the drugs was quickening, and this in turn brought up her reaction time and agility. Still, if she was going to reach Khalid before he attempted a getaway, and he was sure to have some hidden means of escape within his own complex, then Claes needed to hurry. Thankfully, she was getting close to the central structure now. She just needed to pass through this building and ascend to the top floor to confront Khalid. Of course she could be wrong and her target may not be where she predicted, but Claes decided to deal with that issue in due time.

At the moment, though, it seemed that she had found herself in the soldier's barracks, an unkempt, brightly lit, white-tiled, plaster-walled series of buildings full of military bunks, supply chests and, unfortunately for Claes, their owners as well. For every Jackal she killed, it seemed that three more would appear to investigate what was going on, despite the gunfire and explosions outside.

Claes jumped out into the hallway that she had arrived from, taking cover from the fire of the Jackals that had appeared on the opposite side of the room. She reloaded her Beretta making note of the fact that she had only three magazines left, and swore under her breath. "God," she said to herself impatiently, "I really don't have time for this!" She prepared to charge, but, thankfully, she hesitated.

If the mercenaries in the room had paused in their firing they would have heard a sharp whistling above their heads, escalating in volume with every passing second. Unfortunately for them, they didn't hear the whistling and consequentially they didn't bother changing their positions.

Although Claes also could not detect the whistling over the sound of gunfire, she did hear a monstrous crash and watched as dust poured out of the barracks, obscuring her vision and interfering with her breathing. After a brief coughing spell, Claes peeked into the room and strained to see the dust. Where the Jackals had been standing previously, only a concrete-choked crater remained, and without hesitation, she crossed the room four strides, leaping over the crater and landing in the doorway beyond it, weapon held up and at the ready. She scanned tiled corridor, but all that was left was a group of six Jackal corpses strewn about. The majority of them had been killed by snipers and some of them had wounds indicating that a .50 caliber rifle had been used. She let out a low whistle, but was otherwise speechless from this seemingly unwarranted series of lucky breaks.

Claes picked up a Kalashnikov from one of the dead mercenaries, along with extra ammunition. She made sure the weapon was primed for firing before bolting down the corridor, staying low to avoid being spotted by snipers. A few rounds entered through the windows lining both sides of the corridor and exploded in the walls and floor next to her. One flew into the corridor and found its mark, lodging itself obliquely in the gastrocnemius muscle in the back of her right calf. She tripped and hit the floor, sliding with the forward momentum of her sprint cut short.

Claes swore, staying down to avoid any more sniper fire. She grunted to herself in panic and pain, "Those idiots are… going to kill me," she gritted her teeth and between them groaned in agony as artificial glands released vasoconstrictors into her body, reducing blood flow and decreasing the bleeding from her calf. This was a recently developed innovation from the scientists of the Social Welfare Agency, and honestly it was likely Claes' least favorite. However, now was not the time to complain about something as insignificant as a forced cramp. At the present moment, Claes had to worry about being killed, and by friendly fire, no less…

"Angelica," Marco ordered, "Faiz is telling me his snipers have downed a hostile on their way to the central building in that corridor," he pointed to the structure in question, "The DC can't get a shot off from where they're at, but we should be able to."

"Understood," Angelica said as she turned her scope toward the target corridor. She was despairing from the fact that she had not seen any sign of Claes, but she wasn't going to give up. Angelica was certain that Claes was somewhere in the maze of concrete buildings, and she was sure that her friend would pull through one way or another.

Angie scanned the corridor through the windows. She had fired upon this same structure earlier, clearing it of any Jackals that emerged from the adjacent building as Marco had previously ordered her to. Her sight quickly fell to a small, prone figure wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and olive cargo shorts. A crimson pool of blood had formed underneath the figure's right leg.

"Marco!" Angelica cried out, pulling the scope from her eye which was already filling with tears of joy, "You have to tell Faiz to hold fire! That's Claes they're shooting at!"

Marco nodded in surprise and began issuing the order fervently through his communicator. Meanwhile, Angelica watched her friend lying in the hallway. Watched as she lifted her head up, surprised by the ceasefire, and pushed herself onto her knees and then onto her feet with her legs and hands shaking from the agony, the Kalashnikov dangling in Claes' small pale fist. Angelica watched Claes limp slowly down the rest of the hallway, drawing her Beretta because she was losing the strength to raise the AK, and watched as she disappeared into the central building in order to confront her demons. Just as Claes vanished from sight, Angelica's vision blurred with tears.

At the same time, outside of the rocky valley, a motorcade of trucks filled with high explosives was gathering at the entrance to a narrow pass that descended straight down and led to the ground floor of the central structure. Plastic explosives had been strapped to the engines of each truck. A team of Desert Children began to change the settings on the timers of the bombs. Marco and Angelica had forgotten…

Claes stood outside of a rusted metal door at the top of the tallest building in the Jackal compound, trying to sort out a strategy within her mind which was becoming difficult to control due to the excruciating pain in her leg and the dangerous levels of stress that she was under. Her breathing was shaky and irregular, her heart was thrashing about in her chest, she felt chilly yet a film of sweat soaked her palm, making the Beretta and AK in her hands feel slippery, and her entire body was shaking slightly. Was this fear she felt?

She heard that familiar, commanding, gravelly voice in her head, Just count to three, Claes. Was her mind playing tricks on her?

"One…" Claes counted and immediately she felt her body stop shaking. "Two…" Claes counted and immediately she felt the chill in her body dissipate and her palms dried. She holstered her Beretta and found the strength to lift the Kalashnikov. "Three," Claes counted as she bashed the rusted door open with her shoulder. Immediately her heart calmed, her breathing slowed, and she found peace and focus for the first time in her life.

The room was darkened to prevent the Desert Children from sniping accurately into it. A number of Jackal snipers were lined up against the sides of the windows, at a shouted order from a figure hidden somewhere in the dark room, a sniper would jump out, aim, fire, and jump back into cover.

As Claes entered, those closest to the door turned their heads, only to be greeted with quick double-taps in rapid succession from Claes' AK. She stormed further into the room, calmly picking and eliminating new targets with every step at an inhuman speed. One by one, the elite Jackal snipers were killed by Claes' fierce determination to put an end to the violence that had pulled her out of her quiet life and placed her in a situation where she was to break her sacred promise again and again. This determination and rage seemed almost to protect her, and she also seemed to wield them as if they themselves were tangible weapons.

In mere moments all of the snipers had been killed and Claes was left alone with her smoking barrel and carpet of shell casings. However, there was one last figure in the shadows that rose from its crouched position and fired its weapon at her.

Claes was hit hard in the side by the Taurus Raging Bull's .500 S&W Magnum rounds, which caused her to drop her AK-74. She quickly drew her pistol, clutching at her bleeding wound and aimed at the source of the shot, but despite the dark sky turning blue with the rising of the sun, the figure in the dark stayed away from the windows and remained hidden. Another shot came, this one hitting Claes at the top left of her chest throwing her shoulder back. Consequentially the muzzle flash revealed for an instant the hated face of Qadir Khalid, whose eyes were wide with terror and rage.

Claes raised her Beretta as her left shoulder was hit by the impact from Khalid's weapon and fired two wildly inaccurate shots, both, however, wounding their target. Khalid answered back with another magnum round before Claes could get a third shot off. This one lodged itself into Claes' torso, missing her lung by mere inches.

Now, both cyborg and target fired wildly at each other, Claes dispensing twelve more of her eighteen remaining rounds in the same amount of time it took for Khalid to fire twice more from his Raging Bull. Khalid was hit six more times in his upper torso, and Claes was hit once more in her midsection and felt the fifth magnum round graze her skull.

With each successive shot and hit, both Claes and Khalid were pushed back by the force and pain of each round. Claes stumbled backward, losing her balance, and Khalid took slower, steadier steps back toward the window behind him. The latter's silhouette was now revealed by the dark blue sunrise.

Claes fired her last two rounds, but at the same time she was hit in the right side of her chest, throwing her firing arm off and forcing her to miss and fall to the ground. If only she had fired sooner instead of waiting for Khalid to hit her twice. The old voice came up in her head again, this time sorrowful, regretful, Didn't I tell you, Claes? Knowing when to shoot is more important than knowing how to.

Claes' vision blurred with the tears that she had held back for years. The energy granted to her by her fury and resolve ebbed away, dragged out by the same force that drained her blood from her wounds. "I'm sorry… Raballo," she whimpered weakly, "Angelica… I'm sor…ry…" Her voice died away as nothingness finally claimed her mind.

Nearby, Qadir Khalid was still on his feet, but critically wounded and losing a lot of his blood. He was becoming unsteady and his mind wasn't functioning properly. He continued to pull the trigger of his Raging Bull as if it was still loaded, and continued to step backward as if he was still being shot by his dead opponent. He stepped back again and again unsteadily until he was standing right outside the window. Then, instantly and quietly, his head was thrown sideways as a .50 caliber BMG round passed through the side of his skull, causing him to lose his balance and fall stiff and lifeless on his side…

Angelica peered through the scope of her Barrett, the barrel of which was still issuing smoke, and waited to confirm her kill. "Target eliminated, sir," she reported, "I think Claes was in there. It looked to me like he was shooting at someone."

"Is she alright?" Marco asked.

"I can't confirm her condition," Angelica replied sounding concerned, "I don't see any sign of her."

Marco tried to comfort his cyborg. "I'm sure she's alright, Angie," he said placing a hand on her shoulder, "Claes is strong and she's worked so hard in order to get back home. I doubt she'll let herself die before she realizes that goal."

Angelica was still doubtful. "You don't understand, Marco," she almost whispered, "Claes wanted to get us home."

Marco held Angelica close and said quietly to her, "Have faith, Angelica. The fighting has died down. Soon we'll be able to get down there and find her ourselves."

Suddenly, Marco noticed movement down in the valley. He saw the narrow pass that served as the main entrance and exit for the Jackal compound, and he watched as several trucks rolled down the pass without drivers and sped toward the central building.

"No!" Marco cried out. He spoke into his communicator, "Hadi, call off the truck bombs, now!"

The communicator crackled to life and Hadi's voice responded in a panic, "I am sorry, Marco, but it is tool late to stop them!"

"Dammit!" Marco swore, "Angelica, do something!"

Without a word, Angelica took up the Barrett, peered through the scope and took aim. She fired and the leading truck veered off-course, flipped and became useless. She repeated this several more times, but there were too many trucks to handle and she soon had to reload. During this gap in time, three of the rigged trucks crashed through the walls of the central structure, burying themselves deep within its interior. A sickening pause ensued, and all at once the trucks that had rolled down the hill were obliterated in a series of fiery explosions that destroyed everything nearby, most notably the support structures within the central building of the complex. The building quaked and collapsed upon itself into a crumpled pile of steel and concrete.

Angelica stared in terror at all of this and whispered a word in quiet despair, as if afraid of shattering the universe which had already been weakened by the raucous uproar of the explosions. "No…"