Jack gunned the engine as he pulled Sue down, who -unaware of what was happening- screamed. The men aimed and fired as Jack's car sped over the sidewalk towards Massachusetts. The staccato pops the rifles made intertwined with sounds of bullets hitting metal and windows shattering. He felt how splinters of glass fell over him as he kept speeding away.
The SOG team that had been following them, backed away as the men inside reached for their weapons. They knew they would be no match to the heavy military weapons the attackers were handling, so they needed distance. In the ensuing chaos, cars and people were going everywhere, making it impossible for SOG to respond to the attackers.
One of the attackers climbed back inside the car as the second and third aimed a salvo at the SOG team, keeping them at bay. The bullets slammed into the car's armored windows and side, creating whiteout windows. Inside, the men were safe, the distance and the armor held back the bullets. For now. Then the second man took out an RPG-18 rocket-launcher and swung it on his shoulder, taking aim. Even before the man had shouldered the weapon the SOG-team dived out of the car, running away for cover as the third attacker fired round after round at them.
A loud whoosh echoed over the street as the RPG-missile was launched at the SOG Suburban. At 115 meters per second (377 feet per second) it took the 1,4 kg (3 lb) rocket just 2.5 seconds to bridge the 300 meter (329 yard) distance to the SOG car, which on impact engulfed in a sea of fire, sparks and burning white-hot metal. The 4000-pound (1812 kg) car was lifted like a toy when the missile hit and detonated. The blinding flash lit up the whole vicinity, turning the afternoon darkness into midday brightness, for a few seconds, anyway.
The shockwave of the blast knocked the men down and the thundering roar of the explosion was deafening. Windows on the neighboring TechWorld Plaza Building shattered when the kinetic energy of the blast hit, sending glass everywhere and injuring dozens of bystanders.
It all happened in seconds, and then the attackers had already stepped into the car which sped away northbound down New York Avenue NW.
oOo
As they cradled back onto their feet, the silence that had followed the deafening blast became an inferno of sound as sirens were wailing in the TechWorld Plaza, car-alarms set off and people were screaming. There was glass everywhere, it cracked under the soles of their shoes, it was in their hair. Just a few feet down from where they were, a man lay on the pavement, in an awkward pose, a little stream of blood trickled near his side.
The blazing wreckage of their car was dead-centered amongst the carnage, two other cars that were close by were in flames too and from a third one, a family car, there was smoke curling from the interior as its doors were dented, windows gone and the windshield was pushed inwards. Through the smoke they could see a younger woman, slid to the side, unconsciously or worse, her face blood rimmed.
'Alpha One to Base, we've been hit', one of the SOG members managed to say as he clutched his side, face twisted in pain. He dropped to his knees, gasping for air. One of his fellow agents came stumbling over the debris forward to him. 'Eric, you okay?'
'Hell, don't worry about me, check the others and get some goddamn emergency service here', he said through his gritted teeth. 'Are they safe?', the other guy asked. Eric nodded, taking a deep breath of air as a sharp pain shot through his side. His hand felt moist and he knew he had been hit, he didn't dare to look just how bad it was. 'Yeah, they got away.'
oOo
Jack kept racing through traffic, swerving round other cars, ignoring traffic lights, while he checked his rearview mirror for any sign of the Mercedes. He hoped his gamble to make a wide loop through downtown DC whilst heading back to the Hoover Building was the right one, and they wouldn't be waiting there too, to finish the job. His heart nearly bounced out of his chest when he stormed into the safe confinements of the FBI garage. After he had screeched to a halt he leaned against the steering wheel with his head, his eyes closed, his heart racing, his palms sweaty. He sat like this for what seemed an eternity until Sue's voice brought him back.
Her hand touched his shoulder, once, twice, then he heard the panic in the way she addressed him, her voice a high pitch. 'Jack!'
