Happy climbed into the window and joined Walter. "What is it looking like Walt?"
"Get Mr. Simmons or Cabe in here, we need to get kids from across the hall and we'll need someone of authority the teachers will accept without a lot of discussion." Walter told her.
Happy looked out the window and pressed her coms. "Cabe, we need you or Mr. Simmons inside now. Walter says we need to start evacuating the rooms across the hall."
Walter downloaded some tools from the Garage server and installed them to the tablet. Then he took the cable out of Ralph's satellite and plugged it into the computer. He found it much easier to hack back into the system from Ralph's computer and he quickly built a background bridge that gave the school's surveillance system a fake blank screen but allowed the tablet to show the camera feeds once he connected wirelessly to the computer.
Just as he finished he saw Cabe climbing in the window right after Toby. The four of them moved quickly to the door. Walter nodded as he reached down and removed the boot and Cabe opened the door and moved out with his gun drawn followed by Happy who took the other side of the hallway. They moved quickly and quietly but found it difficult to get the kids out because each room was locked down. But they persisted mostly because once he joined them the teachers trusted Mr. Simmons and slowly they began getting the classes to move quietly and quickly across and hall and exited out of the computer lab windows.
Rapid response pulled up behind Cabe's SUV as Paige stepped back with Ralph and began relaying the situation that was unfolding. After listening they brought out floor plans of the school and working with Paige and Ralph as he showed them the camera feeds on the tablet they began getting a good picture of where and what was going on.
Paige turned to the scene commander and pointed at the floor plan. "I want four men, two on each side of this classroom's windows in case any of the men try to walk the perimeter of the school."
The scene commander nodded as he shouted at 4 of the men. Paige watched as they pushed into the bushes. She looked over at the tablet and saw them climb the fence and began running towards the school the whole time gesturing to the kids to keep moving to the fence.
The negotiator took out his cell phone and called the school principle's private line. "H-hello." He heard the scared answer.
He could hear the phone was on speaker. "Hello, I'm Steven Chase. I'm a Homeland negotiator, to whom am I speaking?"
"S-sherry Oliver, I'm t-the principle." Sherry told him.
"Sherry, we know that some men have entered the school. Is one close by that would speak to me?" Steven asked.
"How did you find out about us so fast?" An unknown male voice spoke.
"We got an anonymous tip." Steven told him.
"Unlikely, this was too well planned. Who cut our video feed?" The voice asked.
"I have no knowledge of that but I can make some inquiries. How may I address you?" Steven asked.
"You may not. This school and everyone in it belongs to me. Infiltrate the school and I can promise you a bloody mess." The voice told him.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Steven swore as the line went dead. He began trying to get them back on the line.
"Paige, we're beginning to send kids from across the hall out to you guys now." Walter told her as the last of the first floor classrooms kids on the south side of the school finished climbing out from the bushes.
Paige smiled even as her stomach rolled in nervousness. "Okay Walter, I think we need to commandeer some backyards to move the kids too, to get them out of harms way."
Walter nodded. "That's a good idea. Get one of the rapid response guys to set it up."
Paige looked at the scene commander. "Okay, they are beginning to get the kids from across the hall here to come out these windows. I want a couple of men to move over to these houses and get their backyards opened up and let's move these kids into them to get them further from the scene."
As the commander turned to begin issuing orders Paige looked at the lieutenant standing there. "Let's get a call out to the Red Cross and any other organizations, any one that can help bring in supplies and get some relief services for these kids."
The lieutenant nodded as he grabbed his mike and keyed up and began relaying her order for the Red Cross.
Paige grabbed one of the teachers. "I want a head count and a name for every child. I also want a contact number for a parent or guardian of a child. I want each teacher staying with their class. Keep them together and calm. We need to get their parents notified that they are safe and not to try and come down here and cause problems." She grabbed a clipboard from one of the men and gave it and a pen to the teacher. "Give each teacher a piece of paper and get the info to me pronto. I want the teachers to choose the most responsible child from their class to act as couriers between us. One of the teachers needs to take charge of Mr. Simmons class since he is inside trying to get the other children out here."
Ms. Blain smiled. "I'll take care of Mr. Simmons class."
Paige nodded back in response.
The other teacher nodded and began moving the children back towards the houses and their backyards.
Paige looked up and saw officers moving from door to door and advising the occupants that they were commandeering their backyards for the duration of the crisis.
Ralph stood there next to his Mom watching Walter and the guys on the tablet.
Ms Blain looked at Ralph. "Ralph, come on back here with your class."
Paige spun around. "Sorry, no, Ralph is staying here in case we have any problems with the computer network."
Ms Blain looked shocked but nodded as she resumed leading the two classes on across the street.
Paige's phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. She smiled as she saw Katherine Cooper's name. She hit answer. "Hey Katherine. Yes, they are fine. Walter just had all the guys turn their phones off that's why you can't get Cabe. Yes, everything is going smoothly at this time. We've evacuated five classrooms from the first floor along the outside south wall. Walter and Cabe along with the guys and a teacher are moving as quickly as they can to get the kids from the rooms on the opposite side of the hallway to exit from the room Ralph's class was in."
"Right, the scene commander is here and being very helpful. I've got a call going out to get Red Cross and any other organizations to get out here with supplies and relief to help the kids. I'm having some of the men going house to house and we're putting the kids and their teachers in the backyards to get them further from the school. Of course, I'll see you soon then." Paige hung up her phone and slid it back into her jacket pocket.
Paige looked at the scene commander. "How many more men do we have here?"
"We've got twelve more guys right here, not counting the six moving from house to house." The commander told her.
Paige nodded. "Okay, I believe we need to send four teams of two men up to the room the kids are coming from. Have them enter into the school from that point and one team can take up a position here and one here." She pointed at the floor plan. "The other two teams can move up these stairs as agent Gallo and team Scorpion move up the stairs. If you got climbing ropes, send them in with them. It'll be safer having the kids climb down the ropes. We'll send in a few of the men to stand under the windows to assist as the kids come down."
Paige reached up and pressed her coms. "Walter, I want you guys to hold your position before going up to the next floor. I have men coming in to guard the stairs and to go up with you. They'll bring in ropes so the kids can come down from the second floor."
Walter smiled. "I copy that. We're sending out the last class room now."
Ralph looked at his Mom and smiled.
Paige saw it and her brow raised. "What is it Ralph?"
Ralph shook his head. "The way you are taking charge, it is impressive."
Paige smiled and reached out and caressed his cheek lovingly.
Happy was standing by the stairwell with Toby waiting on Cabe, Walt and the extra men to guard the stairwell. They both heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Toby slowly turned to face the man standing there with his AR-15. Toby raised his hands. "Who are you?" The man asked.
Happy stayed low and moved back and around the stairwell the other way.
Toby tried clearing his throat. "I just came in to pick up my best friend's kid. They told me to wait here for him."
"Okay then whose here with you?" The man asked.
Toby shook his head. "Just my wife, but she isn't here, here." Toby pointed with his fingers to the floor.
"Hey dumb-ass." Happy called from the other side of the stairwell.
The man half turned and Happy fired her paintball gun. The small plastic bubble slammed into the man's face shield with such force pieces broke and paint sprayed all over the face shield and into his eyes.
The man screamed as pieces of the shield cut his face and the paint burned his eyes. He dropped his gun and Happy ran up and kicked him hard in his gooty. Toby grimaced even as Cabe and Walter came running up. Happy grabbed his gun from the floor and cracked him in the head with the butt of the gun knocking him out.
Cabe looked down the other hallway as he moved up and with Happy dragged the man back into the cleared hallway. Cabe quickly put handcuffs on the man. He smiled at Happy. "Kid, you are insane."
Happy gave him a grin with her tongue pressed between her teeth.
"Look Mom, Happy got one of the men." Ralph told her.
Paige looked down at the screen and nodded her head. "Commander, one of the men has been neutralized." She saw a black SUV pull up beside them.
The Commander nodded and dispatched two other men to move up and get the man and bring him back out.
The back door opened and Katherine Cooper climbed out. She smiled at Paige as she moved over to where Paige and the scene commander were at. They brought her up to speed quickly.
Ralph looked up from the tablet. "There are more than three men involved Mom."
Paige looked over and saw six more men moving through the hallways on the other side of the school. She pressed her coms. "Walter, heads up, there are at least six more men in the school. But it looks like the classrooms have engaged their boots. They can't get into the rooms."
"We discovered that on the other rooms. Depending on what they are here for that may make them more dangerous. Ralph's message got through even though the system didn't report it to him." Walter explained what they were told by a teacher.
Just then one of the men turned and began shooting at one of the doors. The construction of the door resisted the impacts of the bullets. Team Scorpion inside the school all ducked at first but slowly stood back up looking about.
Walter looked at Mr. Simmons. "I need you to go back to your class and close the door and secure it with the boot again. Then get out of the school and move back off of school property. We'll take it from here. "We can do this safer if your class room is secure."
Mr. Simmons slowly nodded. "That makes sense. Okay then, be careful and save our kids."
Walter nodded as he watched him hurry down to his room and close the door. He pressed his coms. "Okay Paige we're moving on upstairs, and Mr. Simmons is headed out."
"Walter, be careful." Paige told him softly.
"The carefulest." Walter told her simply as they began climbing the stairs leaving two special ops men at the stairwell. "Wait." Walter said as he thought. "Cabe, this is the wrong approach. It is going to take too long and we don't know how long before the men take drastic measures to get into the rooms. We've got to take the fight to them."
Cabe's head ticked to the side. "Walter, you know I believe in you kid and if you say this is the right play then I'm with you. But maybe we should try and have a negotiator talk with them."
They all could see Walter's eyes moving as he was calculating odds. "Sylvester, back me up. With what we know now, what are the odds of a negotiator being successful?"
Sylvester looked at the negotiator as he swore having problems reestablishing contact with the school. "The negotiator is already having problems with that. Without knowing what their objective is. Having already captured one of their men, and the likelihood he would name the other men I calculate a less than 4% chance they would be interested in negotiating if they know it. I calculate a 78.4% chance of them escalating violence once they find out the man is missing. A 93.23% chance of greater violence if they find out we have him." Sylvester rattled off.
"Thank you buddy, that's pretty close to what I had." Walter looked at Cabe. "I think our best bet is to press the attack." He looked at the screen and saw the men trying each door, as they move on down the corridor. Walter pointed at a spot in another hallway. "We take these four men with us, leave the two sets where they are to guard the stairwells as well as our backsides and move to here. You and Happy move forward to this point. Happy can fire one paintball at one of the men and you both run back to here. When they come around the corner our team here can take them out."
Cabe frowned. "That goes against your normal plans of no deaths."
Walter shook his head. "See, they are wearing body armor. They'll get banged up pretty good but unless they get struck in the head, nothing life threatening. The surprise should cause them to drop their weapons and then our men can move in on them."
Cabe slowly nodded. "Okay, it sounds plausible. But is this all the men? Are there anymore? Originally there were only three."
Walter nodded. "I believe these others were on the outside still and only moved in after we started moving up to start getting kids out. There are no more anywhere on any of the cameras."
Greetings! Well, I hope this finds you all well! Doing okay here...still pretty much trapped on the property but at least we got heat, power, food and water! Got another 3 inches of snow last night. Really torqued my left elbow the other day trying to clear some snow for a safety path.
Avinash - Thank you! So glad you have found this story that way! You're welcome and you are correct. The wait of hoping for new episodes is exhausting for sure!
Marti - Thank you! It certainly surprised me. I thought I would be writing about what was going to be happening elsewise and boom, this happened.
Lucy - hehe I was just as surprised. And apprehensive because of the nature of the subject. I can't wait to see how it gets resolved!
Railman - The story definitely kicked it up a notch or two. lol I really figured I would be writing about Ralph but...not in this fashion.
Margaret - Thank you! Thank you for the prayers too! So grateful we didn't have it as bad as Texas no doubt!
Marie - I'm so glad you are!
Susan - Have I ever made you wait too long? hehe
To the Adventure! -Tim