DIE HARD: THIRD STRIKE DIE HARD: THIRD STRIKE

CHAPTER FIVE
The police car blasted through the streets speedily. Its sirens were blaring loudly and flashing brightly. "Okay, Inspector Smith... do you have a first name?"
The cop sighed. "Yes. Ronald's the name." He paused, then tried to change the subject. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to the United Nations Trade Centre. I have a hunch that we'll find Mr. Simon Gruber there."
"Wait a second! Why would a German terrorist want to blow up any U.N. building? Germany is a part of the United Nations."
"He doesn't care about his country," John replied. "There has to be something else there, probably money."
"Why would there be money in any United Nations building?"
"Maybe it was an emergency."
"So why did he waste his explosives on the school?"
"He didn't use it all. 75 pounds of highly-explosive C-4 would have made a much bigger bang. He kept a lot of it. Besides, sending police all over the place searching for a bomb kept the cops busy."
"But then you found the bomb and made them accelerate their plans?"
"Exactly, Ron."
"Then who is Anders? Could he be their target?"
"No. He's the traitor in the United Nations. The guy probably knows right when they check for the money and instructs a time for Gruber and his men to siege the building."
"This is all just a theory, though."
"It's an educated guess," John replied. "By the way, Ron, why did you fire at that terrorist in the school when he had a hostage? You could have killed her."
"I'm sure her parents have her life insurance paid up," came the cold reply.
"Seriously, why are you so heartless? Innocent people will be getting killed if you don't start thinking."
"I don't care." Ron seemed to have lost all sensitivity for human life. "After you've been through what I have in the police force, life doesn't really seem to matter anymore. Once I let a killer go because he had a hostage. Then, that same guy bombed a building, slaughtering hundreds. Now you tell me, McClaine, was it worth it to save that one life while killing innocent millions in the process?"
"The people he killed afterward was not your fault," John responded after putting much thought into the matter. "You can't see into the future. You have to save as many lives as you can. If a killer gets loose in the process of saving a life, that's a sacrifice that must be made."
"So, it doesn't matter how many die. Just as long as one person lives." Ron shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Ron, are you racist?"
The officer was surprised at his inquiry. "What?"
"It's just that you don't seem to like me or any of the other white cops very much and keep to yourself. Maybe I'm just imagining things."
"I don't really like anybody."
The police vehicle pulled up next to the U.N. building. John stepped out of the car and said, "Wait out here. If I'm right, they probably see us already. If I don't come back in twenty minutes, call the police."
"Okay," Ronald replied.
"Do you have a cell phone?" John asked
"Yes," Ron replied.
"Give me the number and I'll call you if something happens."
"Okay," Ron said and gave him the number. "Good luck!"
John charged into the building. The first thing he saw when he entered were the six dead guards. I really hate it when I'm right! John thought. He pulled out the Smith & Wesson he had been using and kept it raised as he moved along the hallway. Although he saw no one, Gruber was watching him in the camera room. As John entered the elevator, Gruber sneered.
"You think you can beat us McClaine?" Gruber yelled. After the doors had shut and the elevator had been moving for a while, Gruber turned off the power to the elevator John was in. Then the terrorist leader turned his radio back on and said, "Elevator 2 has been shut down. Use the other one to." Gruber smiled. "We'll leave John in there and then blow up the building with him still inside."
John was riding up in the elevator when it stopped functioning. The lights went out, and all was dark. After pressing every single floor number, John realized it was useless. A Christmas without terrorists would be nice. He took out his cell phone and dialed Ron's number.
"Are you calling already John?" Ron answered.
"Yeah, but I'm experiencing some serious deja vu."
"Not already! I haven't written my will yet."
"Yeah," John said, "I hear that a lot. Listen; Gruber is here. Call the police right now."
He turned off the cell phone and sighed. He probably should have planned ahead for another terrorist strike on Christmas. Now he was stuck in an elevator between floors in a building again. Knowing that the doors wouldn't open, John climbed up through the door on top and saw a door leading to the third floor. He tried pulling it open, but it was to no avail. Banging on it loudly and hoping someone would hear was his final solution. If I had a crowbar, I'd pry it open.
The doors started opening slightly. Someone on the other end was prying them open little by little. The gap got bigger and bigger as the man did. After the doors were far enough apart, a block of wood was put between them. After that, the U.N. guard looked down at the stranger quizzically.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm a New York cop," John replied, showing off his badge. "The name's John McClaine."
3 of Gruber's terrorists suddenly barged into the room. John ducked down when he saw them. The United Nations guard looked back and saw them too late. A dozen gunshots went off, sending the man falling down onto the elevator roof.
"What was he doing over there?" one of them asked dumbly.
Before they could figure it out, John gave them a big hint. He rose from the elevator with the Smith & Wesson handgun in his hands and shot all three of them. That used up all of the bullets in his gun. He took their machine guns and snatched up one of their communicators.
John moved into the next room. He found a bag stuffed with C-4 and a timer set counting down from 25 minutes. Why are they blowing this place up? he wondered. They're only here for the money.
Gruber's voice suddenly came booming from the radio. "Valentin has just arrived with the helicopter. Everyone has 25 minutes to get out!"
"How ya doing Gruber?" John yelled. "I was curious: Why are you blowing up this building if you've already got the millions from the vault?"
"McClaine! How did you ever get out of the elevator? The money is for us to use. We're blowing it all up because there are some very rich gentlemen in the Middle East who will pay us 200 million dollars on top of the 40 million we've already collected to destroy this U.N. building. I don't think they're big United Nations fans. Anyway, you can give yourself up now and come down the only operative elevator to the bottom floor, or you can die up wherever you are. The choice is yours, but I have five nice gentlemen waiting there for you. What do you say?"
Since John did not reply, Gruber looked at the elevator information telling him what floor it was on. The numbers rose up to 3. After a short period, the elevator descended to floor 2. "He's coming," Gruber said over the radio. "I'm glad you've taken me up on my offer, McClaine."
Gruber's five guards were ready by the elevator. They each had powerful submachine guns in their hands pointed at the doors. The number above the doors changed to 1 and they opened up. Inside was a very small portion of the C-4 and the detonator counting down from 3 seconds.
The entire room instantly exploded brightly. Each terrorist was instantaneously disintegrated. What was left of the wall behind the elevator crumbled apart. Within seconds, the room's roof fell down into the fiery mess. Dozens of flames showered into the rooms nearby.
John began laughing. "There go five of your boys. How many do you have now, Gruber? You must be down to six or seven including you and your pilot Wirth."
"I should have known that John McClaine would try to be Rambo," Gruber said. "But do you really think you can beat all of us? We still outnumber you seven to one."
"Like I said to your brother," John said, "yipee-kiyay."
"Listen, everyone: Elevator 1 no longer works either. Take the stairs if you have to. Any volunteers to go kill McClaine and deploy another bomb? He's on the third floor, probably somewhere near the elevator he's just wasted."
"I'll get him," Ranis said. "I've got three other guys up here too. We'll be out in no time."
Gruber smiled. "Thank you, Kurt, for ridding us of that pest. So long, McClaine."
As Gruber, Schulze, and Anders left the building, Ranis and his followers marched up the stairs from the second floor to the third with their guns ready and a new detonator. They reached the top of the stairs and found no one. Together as a group, they walked through each room and couldn't find him.
They finally came to a new room. No one seemed to be in it either. Then, as they got ready to go, bullets started shooting all over the place. The terrorists started dropping like flies. Glass flew all over the area. Ranis, using the quick reflexes he got from being an ex-spy, immediately dove into the next room, where he could not be shot at. Two of the other terrorists were filled with bulletholes. The other one was on the ground with bullet in the leg.
John stepped through the window he was standing just outside of. There were pieces of glass all over the floor. The shreds snapped as John walked across the room with his Smith & Wesson drawn. "I know someone else is alive," John said. "Four guys came up here and only three are on the ground. Just give yourself up. I'll let you live if you do."
"Why would I do that?" Ranis asked with a chuckle. "Some cop who watches too many movies is no match for an experienced German spy."
John traced the voice into the other room. He slowly walked in with his handgun raised and looked around. Suddenly, Ranis fell from the ceiling and tackled McClaine. As he landed on his stomach, the gun bounced away from him.
"You're good," Ranis said as he pulled out his machine gun and pointed it at the hero's head. "Unfortunately, you're also dead!"
John flipped around onto his back and kicked the gun, causing it to point away when Ranis pulled the trigger. Wasting no time, John jumped up and pounded the terrorist hard in the face. The punch sent him walking backwards back into the other room where he tripped over one of his dead compadres. John rushed into the room and saw the one wounded soldier with a bullet in his leg aiming his machine gun toward him. Moving quickly, John fell to the ground and snatched up a dead terrorist's weapon. Then he rolled forward and backwards across the ground as bullets blasted all around him. He pointed the gun barrel past his head and fired as he moved. As John used up the rest of the ammunition, he realized the terrorist was already dead. Then he turned toward Ranis.
The man had gotten up from the floor and shot a few rounds at John. "Give it up!" he said. "You're finished!"
Unfortunately, it seemed that Ranis was right. The guy was holding his machine gun and one of his dead friends' machine guns, meaning the only loaded weapon remaining was thirty feet away from John next to the terrorist he just shot. He had one terrorist corpse lying right next to him, but with no weapon.
Gathering together an idea, John lifted the body up so that it the front half of him completely and ran towards Ranis. He fired, but all the bullets hit the dead terrorist's body. As John got close to the enemy, he stopped running and threw the body with full force at the ex-spy. As the man struggled to get the dead warrior off him, John snatched up a sharp piece of broken glass off the ground and jammed it deeply into his adversary's chest. The defeated soldier fell backwards and crashed on the hard metal ground.
John grabbed one of the machine guns and hurried towards the stairs. Then he heard a noise and turned back to see Ranis standing up shakily, with a machine gun trained on John's head. Immediately, the cop ran towards the broken window, aiming back at the bag of C-4. As the bullets flew past him, John jumped out the window and fired at the bag.
The top floor erupted into a magnificant explosion. John felt the heat surrounding him as fire engulfed the top story of the building. John fell to the ground with a loud and painful thud. He had no time to waste, though. He quickly hurried away from the area as all the rest burst into flames.