The neighborhood sat in dead silence. Nothing was moving, not even the wind. The alleys, wine cellars, and houses sat there as if everything there was dead, and there was nothing left. That observation isn't far from the truth though. Everything leading up to this point was now almost wasted. The adventures, the pain, the money, and the adrenaline, all of it, was gone. If there was one thing everybody learned, it's that friendship is like makeup. When it's on, it usually makes the woman more attractive, but when you take it off, the woman usually looks very different than the makeup covered face. Sometimes without makeup it looks good, and sometimes it can be very ugly. Funny analogy? Yes. True? Yes.
It's very true, about how people are influenced my money. This is something that we must accept as a fact of life. Humans are Humans, they are not all Saints. And people who believe that, are people who only see the makeup on somebody's face, instead of the real face underneath. And when put in situations where friends or relationships don't seem to be what they look like, this is a huge factor in what we do in life. For some people,like the people who are lying in this neighborhood, it means their death.
Tom Hawkesworth looked at the M4A1 rifle closely. He looked at the carbine, all the shells on the ground, the handle on the top, a thirty-one hundred dollar gun. The NightHawk pistol in his hand was worth a thousand dollars including ammo, but all the ammo was gone now. It was all sitting in human flesh.
He looked at the room, completely empty except for a mass of dead bodies. The room was 15'x15' according to the briefing, and the whole floor was littered with emtpy faces of what was once called a person. Four of which were the hostages and the others, Italian 1337 Crew. Blood flowed over their bodies and onto the floor like water flowing over a brook.
Tom turned around, put the muzzle of the gun into his stomach, and closed his eyes. He never thought any of the things that happened would all lead up to this. Pulling the trigger would be like letting the guillotine blade fall. That would be it, done and over. A little bit like the adventure everybody had experienced or the friendships that had died. All that was left though was broken trust, blood money, and dead bodies.
Will Christo stared intently at the red light. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, had one hand on the shift, and his foot ready to push on the gas. He looked over to his right through the window, and the car next to him was being driven by a familiar face. It was his friend Brad Ciran. Brad was in the same position Will was in. Will looked back to the red light and didn't break his concentration.
The edges of the light started to change first and Will had already slammed on the gas. His reaction speed was amazing. Brad slammed on the gas right as he heard Will's engine next to him blast. Will floored the pedal and kept his eyes straight ahead intensly. Brad was slowly catching up to him.
It's very hard to picture what I'm trying to describe. But you'll have to bear with me. If you've ever seen what a Saleen or a Ferrari Enzo looks like in person, then you may have a clue what I'm talking about. The Saleen's headlights are rounded and come to a point at the front, the curve on the hood is steep, but it gets taller as it goes over the wheels, with ridges on the side of the doors like gills on a fish, with chrome wheels and red tube lights inside of the silver colored car.
The Ferrari Enzo and it's large tail is equally impressive though, and it's especially breath taking if it's in red with white tube lights and chromed wheels. But picture all of this at two oclock in the morning at a local road in a small town. The road is straight for about two miles, with only one stop light, the one that both of them started at. The road passes many small grocery stores, hardware stores, privately owned busnisses, along with many different stores.
If you could also imagine two V12 engines roaring at top speed at the same time, you'd be in a perfect position to picture what's happening here. Well, back to what was happening.
Will and Brad were going neck and neck the whole way. We could all hear them coming from the halfway point in the dead silence of the small town. I was amazed, it was the first time I ever saw anything like it. I saw the red and white lights from inside their cars about a few hundred feet away on darkened street. The red lights were Will's car, the white were for Brad's, when all of a sudden, I saw the white and the red lights split in two different directions off the road and come to a dead stop. The engine roar was silenced, as if a hunter came along and slayed the giant beast.
I turned and ran to my H2 behind me. The three other people who were watching with me jumped into the giant Hummer with me. I started up the car, suddenly very frightened by what may have happened. I drilled the Hummer to sixty and started to slow down when I got close. I don't think I ever saw anything like what I had seen there either.
Glass littered the whole road as I stepped out from the Hummer. I saw a body lying in the road and both cars off to the sides of the road. I ran to the body and flipped the seemingly lifeless mass of flesh over. It was Will, both his eyes were cold, his face littered with shards of glass. I let the other three people dial 911 as I ran to Brad's car.
I tore open the door to the Ferrari and tried to see if Brad was alright. He was blinking and moving his fingers. That was a good sign at least.
"Brad are you okay!?" I said, very concerned.
He gently nodded. I was going to ask him what happened, but I decided to wait till he could talk better.
"The ambulance is coming. Boss won't be happy with this. Will's not doing too great as it looks though, I have to go look at his car, I think he flew through the windshield," I said. "Not to worry though, I think he'll be okay."
I turned and ran to the Saleen on the other side of the road. The windshield was shattered, and I peeked into the driver's seat. Will must not have worn a seatbelt, but when I looked in i was startled to see the seatbealt still in its buckle, but the buckle was torn out of the side of the seat and hanging losely. He broke the seatbelt flying out of the car. He was still breathing when I checked him, so I didn't know how that was possible.
I sat in the conference room with the three other people who were at the scene of the accident. The Boss came in with a thick folder under this right arm. He was wearing a white button down shirt with a silver tie striped with black diagonally. His hair was black with a few grey strands starting to come, and his hair was thinning drastically.
"I cannot believe what you all did," he said simply, letting us think about our foolishness. "Will and Brad, two of our best members, were drag racing with two unbelievably fast cars, and you all stood there and made bets."
I looked over to my friend Craig, he was looking down at the table as the Boss talked to us. Craig was a good friend of mine, Will was the one to introduce him all to us. He was a good member of our squad.
"Now, as Counter-Terrorist S.W.A.T. members, I don't think drag racing is the best thing for us to do. It's embarrasing. Now two of our best members are in the hospital. I have the updates of their injuries if you're all insterested."
Craig looked up as soon as The Boss said that, and the other two members, Iain and Ryan were the other two.
"Brad has a bad concussion and his left arm is broken at the forearm. He also has six bruised ribs from the seatbelt. His recovery time should be about three months. And Will has four broken ribs, three bruised ribs, a broken leg and a spinal disk was slightly moved."
All of us were shocked. Will's injuries sounded unbelievably bad and we couldn't believed he would live.
"How did Will survive?" I asked.
"Well, his car swerved a bit, and that's when the buckle came out of the seat, and so he hit the side of the car before he actually went out of the window. So since he hit the side is lessened the blow, but it's the seatbelt that did the most damage to him," the boss replied. "Now I need you all to sign this paper saying that you were all witness to it."
Craig signed first, then Ryan, then Iain, and then I signed my name last. I picked up the pen, found the line I had to write on, and wrote my name: Tom Hawkesworth.
Brad and Will had gotten fined and given tickets of course, and I don't know what the exact law is, but I know they ended up paying a heft amount of money. Their medical attention was covered for by the government since we were technically under the protection of the S.W.A.T. unit. Both cars had been photographed, the damage was unbelievable. Insureance didn't cover all of it, becuase there was simply too much, and since it was the driver's fault and illegal, the insurance wasn't allowed to cover it anyways. So both their cars would be impounded and they would have to save up enough to buy more cars. They could afford it though, they had been given grants from the government as extra sallary, as well as money invested from busts in certain missions that was legally theirs.
We all sat in Will's living room, about a year and three months after the accident. I had myself a Miller lite in my hand, Brad and Iain the same. Will, Ryan, and Craig all had a blood mary with the rim salted. We were all relaxing, talking about new cars. We had been doing several small missions, mostly following military around and doing oddjobs of hunting down people in Cuba and Mexico, but the government didn't exactly have our trust after the accident. But we still got paid good money, and our funds still included grants given by the government.
The doorbell rang, interupting Will's sentance. Will stood up, now almost entirely healed from the accident. His back tightened up sometimes, but for the most part he still had his reflexes pretty well. He walked through the living room into the front hall and opened the door. Will's house was fairly large. He had a spiral staircase leading the second floor, tile floors, exotic rugs, leather couches, the whole deal. I had known Will ever since he was born. We were more than just friends, we were cousins. Not blood related though, we were first cousins, but I had been adopted. I was originally born in Seoul, South Korea. Will was American, coming from Greek and Albanian descent. Will and Brad had been friends for a long time as well, ever since eighth grade. They were both twenty-eight now. I'm thirty. I grew up in California, but Brad and Will grew up on Cape Cod, MA. Craig was from MA too, but he lived in Boston. Ryan was from Ohio, and Iain was from England. It's ironic how we all met. Will and Brad met Craig, Iain, and Ryan by playing a game on the computer. It was called "Counter-Strike", and it was a Counter-Terrorist versus Terrorst game. And it's ironic, because we're all in the same squad (We requested it of course), but we're all doing exactly what the game was. Will and Brad introduced me to them, and we all became friends.
Will opened the door, three familiar faces stood there. Ty Hall, Eric Ritter, and Rolando Wallace. They were Will and Brad's best friends since 8th grade as well. They all had gone to the same school and grew up together. Ty had been one of those white kids who was accepted by everybody. He had done his drugs and gotten into his fights, and that's what made him interesting. Eric used to steal his mom's car and drive it around until he got into an accident and he got busted. And Rolando was the quiet little Philipino kid who really wasn't all that quiet once you go to know him.
Rolando and Ryan were probably the most skilled members. Ryan was older than all of us, he was thirty-seven, but still one of the best. We all had different jobs in the squad though. Brad and Ty were snipers, Will was scout infantry (He would go in first to spy and see how to work out a plan), Rolando and Ryan were heavy artillary front men, while Craig, Iain, and I were second line shooters. Which means Ryan and Rolando go in first all rambo like, and Iain, Craig, and I come in with surprise as backup. We were thinking of setting up three different squads though becuase of our range in talent.
"What up Rolando?" Will said, giving Rolando daps. "You got the stuff?" Rolando nodded.
I didn't know what was going on. By "stuff" I assumed Will meant drugs, and that was very unlike him, especially since he could get in big trouble with the S.W.A.T. department. All of us had tried weed a few times before, and of course all of us liked our alcohol, but drug handling was dangerous, especially since we were tested monthly for health issues anyways for our performance in the field. I could forget all this though, because what Rolando handed him wasn't drugs, but a folder.
Will walked back to the living room, Eric, Ty, and Rolando following as they all sat down. I nodded to Rolando as Ty gave Brad daps. Will opened the folder and leafed through the pages in it.
"Annyeong-haseyo," I said. It was Korean for "Hi." I liked learning my native language.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Pictures of my car from the race," Will replied, not looking up from the pictures, busily inspecting them.
"What did you want the pictures for?" Craig asked, wiping some of his bloody mary off the top of his lip.
"Well, it wasn't just an accident last year," Will started. "Me and Brad were going neck and neck, when all of a sudden I thought i heard something hit the side of the car, and my window shattered. It scared the shit out of me and that got my attention off driving and so i went into Brad's car. I didn't really look at much else because I was in deep enough shit already."
"And so what are the pictures for?" Craig asked, his question still unanswered.
"To see what that thing was that hit me," Will said with a smile as he handed the folder to Brad, pointing to something in the picture.
Brad's eyes widened as he took the folder and handed it to Ryan. Ryan nodded and looked back to Will.
"What is it?" Craig asked.
"Bullet hole," Will simply stated. "Right at the top of my door. The impact of the bullet must of been enough to shatter my window. I think some motha fucka is tryin to kill me. But the question is, what are we gonna do about it?"
"Tell the boss," Ryan suggested. "If somebody is going to kill you, we need to get you protection, and make sure that you're safe in our missions as well as your personal life. But nobody may even want to kill you at all, just don't forget that."
Will, Craig, and I were sitting at the dining room table, we all had a coffee in front of us with an empty plate in between the silverware. The room had dark blue wallpaper with a white rug. The table was polished wood with a small chandalier over the table. It was meant for parties, seating sixteen people, but it was just Craig, Will, myself, and Michele tonight. Michele Marciano was Craig Marciano's wife. They were highschool sweethearts.
Michele walked in with a big steaming pot. She left and came in a few seconds later with three empty bowls. She set up the bowls as Craig and Will silently watched. She took her seat, and took the lid off the large pot. She took the spoon out and served herself some soup. Craig just stared silently. Will and I looked down at our laps, wondering what was wrong.
"Honey," Craig said slowly. "Where's the pork?"
Michele had this look on her face and looked up at him regrettingly and said, "I'm sorry honey. I burnt it."
I chuckled, but was quickly sorry I did as I saw the look on Craig's face.
"Thats embarassing," He said sternly.
Will started to laugh, Craig was so serious about it.
"Sorry guys, I just wanted you to have a nice dinner," Craig replied. "Ah, it's alright Michelle, I'm just uptight because of the new mission we have."
"New mission?" Will said, a puzzled look on his face. Will looked over to me, I hadn't heard of a new mission either.
"Yeah, didn't the boss give you the mission background yet?" Craig asked, now puzzled himself. "The boss gave it to us a few days ago, Eric, Ty, Rolando, and Brad got one too. We're heading out to Italy. Just call up the boss after dinner and ask him about it."
Michele had already starting eating, she was halfway done with her bowl. We all grabbed our spoons and had dinner together wondering about this new mission.
"What the hell is this "New Mission" thing about?!" Will exclaimed, his face was cross and he was fidgeting.
As he listened to what the boss had to say his expression changed. It was a look of surprise.
"We're not a squad anymore," Brad simply stated.
"What the hell, why not?" Iain said scratching the back of his head. "I thought we were doing a right job on the missions. We were getting proper with it and everything was going soundly." (He's from England, that's why it may sound funny.)
"It's me, Craig, Rolando, Ty, and Eric in Squad A. Will, Tom, Ryan, and Iain in Squad B," Brad finished. "The boss thought it would be wise if we split up."
Iain and Ryan turned and sat down on the couch in the office. Each blew out a large sigh.
"But the boss decided to let us stick together on missions that needed two squads. Will, you're squad should ge the briefing soon. So start packing," Brad said.
They had all boarded the plane to Italy and gotten through all right. The Italian head of S.W.A.T command met them there.
"Jordan Rocchio," The head said, exchanging handshakes with Will and myself. "Now, I'm assuming your boss has told you the main points of this mission?"
Will, Jordan, and I continued walking along the stone road, admiring the Italian surroundings. The houses were not modern, all old, and the streets hadn't been paved at all. The streets were completely empty except for a few parked cars on the sides of the road.
"One of the terrorists in there is named Anthony Antonio. He's been charged for the murder of eighteen people and the bombing of two warehouses. If possible, we would like to have him alive. He is guarding a group of four hostages, and we think that there could be anywhere from eight to twelve other terrorists in the area," Jordan told us. "Make sure you spread the word about this Anthony fellow to your other teammates. Now, I understand the the U.S. sent along weapons and equipment for you all?"
"Yes, we have all of our supplies, and we have gotten the formal briefing, we're all ready," I said to him.
"Okay then. Get started, the element of surprise is still at our advantage," Jordan replied with a smile.
I cocked and loaded the SMG. My kevlar was already fastened, and my helmet securely in place. I had flashbangs, smoke grenades, and the normal frag grenades around my waist, and a nighthawk pistol at my left hip.
"Report in team," I spoke into the mic inside of my helmet, testing it out to see if it worked.
"Reporting in," Brad said. I heard a response from Iain, Ryan, Eric, Ty, and Rolando.
"Mas, HighRise, report in," I spoke again. We all had nicknames in the squad so that we'd never have to say the real name in case anybody heard us. Mas was Craig's nickanme, short for Marciano, his last name, and HighRise was Will's old nickname when we played Counter-Strike.
"They aren't replying?" Brad's voice crackled over the radio.
"No, Ryan go check on them, make sure their radios are working," I commanded him.
I saw one of my teammates get up and walk over to where Will and Craig were sitting. Our nicknames were on the sides of our helmet to let us know who everybody was under the helmet. Ryan was talking to them and I saw both of them nod.
"They said that the U.S. didn't send over enough helmets, and so they had to borrow some from the Italian S.W.A.T. division so there are no radios in their helmets. The Italian division offered to give them handheld walkie talkies and change to our channel, but Will and Craig refused, saying that it was it wouldn't be wise to have to hold a radio in one hand and a gun in the other. They needed both their hands to be able to be free to use their equipment," Ryan said.
I grumbled, and I heard Brad grumble too. "Fine then, we have to get going, we'll just have to rely on the old hand signals for them," I said. "Now let's get moving."
There was a fork where we were supposed to start. Both ways led to the house the hostages were being held in, but they both gave many different tactical approaches. The original squad was still divided in two. Squad A being Brad, Craig, Rolando, Ty, and Eric. Squad B being myself, Will, Ryan, and Iain. But since Will didn't have the radio with him, I would have to take over as squad commander for the mission. My squad took the right path on the fork, and Brad's squad took the left.
I ran forward, my teammates following close behind. Up ahead there was a stack of boxes, and if we climbed them we could get into the window of one of the houses, but we decided to take a right through the alleyway. On the map that Jordan showed us this was supposed to be a market place, and when we went through the alley we found exactly what we expected. I ran behind one of the corners of the market, Iain next to me. I pointed to the corner opposite of me on the other side behind two barrels and Will and Ryan ran behind them.
"Okay team, I'm unhooking a flashbang and I'm going to throw it off this right wall into the next area. Be prepared to run on my command. Ryan, tell Will this," I commanded.
I took one of the flashbangs from off of my waist and unhooked it. I bounced it off the wall in the next area, and when I heard it go off, the four of us ran into the small alley. I crouched down on one knee behind a crate as I saw Will and Ryan come through and do the same. Iain ran ahead to scout for an enemy.
"Sector Clear," Iain's voice crackled over the radio.
Iain turned around quickly, when I saw a figure jump from one of the roofs above us onto him. I fired my SMG, and Ryan and Will fired their M4A1 Assault Rifles. The terrorist was lit up by our bullets and he slid off of Iain.
"I'm injured," Iain spoke. "Minor Injury, Class B knife wound. He had a blade on him, element of surprise and stealth."
"Are you okay to proceed? Where are you injured?" I asked.
"He nailed me on the top of my left shoulder. It's not deep, he skimmed it more than stabbed," Iain replied. "I'm okay to proceed."
Iain started to stand up as me and Ryan swarmed around him, Will followed my hand signal. We kept walking forward, there was either a turn to the right or a large tunnel and at the end of the tunnel was the house where the hostages were.
"Go left," I spoke into the headset. I gave the bycicle signal to go right to Will, he nodded.
"Negative, I think we should go through the tunnel," Iain replied. "Becuase A. The tunnel leads straight to the objective, and B. Brad's squad should be over on that side of the neighborhood, the two squads should avoid confrontation and crossfire."
"No, we go left. It could be a trap to go straight through the tunnel. There are windows in the house, there could be snipers to pick us off as we go through the tunnel. Choose Tom," Ryan stated.
"No, let Will decide," I replied.
I looked over to Will and shrugged my shoulders. He seemed to understand and pointed to Ryan. He took off his kevlar helmet and hissed: "Ryan's been in the field more. I can understand Iain's point, but the tunnel is too much of an open area. Plus, since it's a tunnel it's easy to be surrounded, better chances going to the left."
I nodded and so didn't everybody else. Iain shut up and followed my orders. We started walking to the right when all of a sudden in a crevace in one of the buildings in the alley two terrorists rolled flat out on the ground, firing two AK-47. Both of their heads exploded in a spray of blood before we could even do anything. I glanced upward, and on one of the balconys about eighty feet away, were two snipers. It was Brad and Ty. I gave them a thumbs up and they did the same.
"Keep on alert, be as stealth as we can," I spoke into the mic. "Ty and Brad won't have our asses all mission, this was just luck."
I felt a shiver go up my spine knowing how close we were cutting it.
We slowly kept going down the alley, and we took a right. Up ahead about twenty feet were a set of small stairs that turned into a corner and went to the right. We slowly creeped up to the stairs. We walked by a door to some kind of wine cellar on the way. I peeked in, no terrorists. We slowly went up the stairs, crouching as we went, and we saw the house with the hostages. Then faster than we could even respond to, there was gunfire from one of the windows. Bullets ripped up the stairs around me as from above us two terrorists jumped down and another one jumped off a balcony right above the stairway. We were surrounded.
I started to unload a clip at the one that jumped off the balcony, I nailed him a few times in the chest, his bullets whizzing around me. I turned to help out to see if Iain was okay with his wound, but he was unloading on the other two that jumped down. Will was handling himself well, firing at the bullets from the window and Ryan was up against the wall, letting the rest of us handle it. More terrorists jumped down from the house and rushed out.
"Retreat!" I yelled into the headset.
The four of us turned and started to run as fast as we could back the way we came. I saw Ryan take a right into the wine cellar as Iain, Will, and I ran toward the tunnel.
"Iain, make sure to take cover when running through the tunnel. Snipers may be shooting at us. And Ryan, why did you run into the cellar? Where are you now?" I said, raising my voice in response to all the shooting that just went on.
"I'm in the wine cellar, I don't see any movement. It looks like this is a safe haven. Permission to stay here?" Ryan asked.
"Yes, permission to stay there, but if you see Brad's squad going by at all, you are to warn them and accompany them out of there," I replied.
"Now, Iain, Go! Go! Go!" I yelled into the headset, moving my hand back and forth quickly to the house, giving Will the signal.
The three of us started to run up the hallway at full speed. Will was in the rear covering our backs, when suddenly, I heard gunfire from a Krieg 552 rifle. I turnd quickly to see it, and three terrorists had popped out of a door that was in tunnel and were now shooting at Will.
"Iain, be Will's backup, I'll keep running!" I commanded.
Just as I turned my head back toward the house something whizzed by my helmet causing me to stumble. I looked back up and rolled over behind a crate in the hallway. I peeked behind me to see Will and Iain taking care with the three terrorists. Two were already dead, and the last one was starting to run away. I saw Will take out his USP 9mm Pistol and give one good shot and hit the terrorist in the back.
"Watch out! There are snipers from the house!" I yelled into the headset.
"Flashbang!" Iain crackled over the microphone.
"Good idea Iain," I replied.
"No! Cover your eyes! There's a flashbang!"
I turned back to the house when all of a sudden I was blinded by a bright white light. I heard gunfire, the whizzing of the bullets, and the sound of the bullets going into the crate in front of me. I thought that I was going to die right there, we were in a bad situation. We had been in worse situations, but this one didn't look good at all. I waited to feel the bullet tear through my kevlar or helmet at any time now, and I expected to still be alive when they find me. But all of a sudden, the bullets stopped, and the white light started to fade.
I saw two looming figures above me, and I knew that we were all in trouble.
Brad had taken the left route. They had five people in their squad, Brad and Ty were snipers, Rolando was front man, and Eric and Craig were second line men. They all ran down the street, getting ready for any surprise attacks. Brad always relied on his speed and his surprise and precision shooting. Up ahead was a large stairway that led upward, and then ther was a small bridge above a road that led to the right.
"We're going to split up," Brad said. "Rolando, I want you to go up the stairs into that house, Eric and Craig take the road to the left, Ty and I will climb up to the bridge right here, it's only about twelve feet high, and we'll go up on the roof of that house and look to take out some easy targets. Now go."
Rolando went up the stairs quickly. He had a Par 9456 Machine Gun in his arms. This was about $6000 dollars worth of artillery right there, and it had 100 bullets before its reload. It was a very heavy gun, and was very big, but it was a very deadly gun, its bullets being 8.46 mm long. When he got to the door of the house, he slowed down and came to a complete stop. Put his Para on the ground and took out his NightHawk pistol. He grabbed a flashbang as well, unhooked it and got ready for anything that was behind that door. He kicked it open and threw the flashbang in, he heard it explode and he jumped into the room. There was a terrorist in the corner, Rolando put a bullet through his right eye. All that was there was a stairway leading down.
He turned and picked up his Para and put his pistol at his side. He continued down the stairs and found himself in a wine cellar. He didn't hear anything yet. He kept walking through when he came upon a stack of papers in the corner.
"Brad, I found a stack of papers, I'm going to look at them real quickly, there might be something useful in them," Rolando said into his headset.
Brad got on Ty's shoulders to reach the bridge. He lifted himself up and put his large AWP gun down. He reached down over the edge of the bridge. Ty was ten feet away from the wall that the bridge was against. Ty started to run full speed at the wall, and when he got there he jumped as high as he could, took two steps up the wall and jumped off to grab Brad's hands. Brad lifted Ty up, and Ty grabbed to the edge of the bridge. He holstered himself up, and the two of them then looked at a barrel that was next to a door to where the bridge led to. Brad quickly opened the door.
"Check this out," he said into the headset to Ty.
Brad jumped onto the barrel, and then jumped onto the top of the door, standing on the very top of the door, trying to keep his balance. He then jumped up to the shingles that were on the edge of the roof, and lifted himself up. Ty did the same, it looked harder than it really was. Brad was surveying the area, when he saw two terrorists run into a crevace.
"Ty, two targets acquired, lock and load," Brad said.
The two of them brought their scopes to the crevace, when all of a sudden they saw four people in black run out from the corner near the crevace. It was Tom's squad. The terrorists jumped out of the crevace and Brad and Ty both fired their rifles. The explosion from the muzzle of the AWPs was like thunder, louder than any other gun they had ever handled. Brad and Ty gave Tom a thumbs up.
Eric and Craig went underneath the bridge, and kept going down the alley. They took a left, and ahead of them was a door on the left side, and a set of stairs up ahead that cornered and went to the right.
"Go through the door," Craig said.
Eric nodded and the two of them walked forward and opened the door. It was nothing but a bunch of crates and papers, it was a long hallway that bended to the left. They followed the hallway, when suddenly they came to a large room full of wines. It was a wine cellar, and in the corner was Rolando crouching down reading something. And behind him was a Terrorist holding a knife.
"Rolando!" Eric yelled into his headset. "Behind you!"
They saw Rolando turn around quickly and look up at the terrorist holding the blade. Rolo got on his back and kicked the terrorist in the knee caps. The terrorist dove on Rolando with the blade in hand, going down for the kill. Rolando grabbed the arm and punched the terrorist in the face. The terrorist dropped the blade, and then Eric and Craig ran forward. The terrorist grabbed something at Rolando's waist, and then all of a sudden the room went white. The terrorist had activated a flashbang.
"Nobody can catch Anthony Antonio!" The terrorist yelled.
When the white spots were gone, the terrorist was gone too, and the three of them had failed to capture Anthony, their terrorist target.
"Are you okay Rolando?" Eric and Craig asked.
There was suddenly gunfire from outside the wine cellar where Eric and Craig had come from. The three counter-terrorists took spots in the corners, and behind wine shelves to wait for whatever may be coming.
Ryan walked through the wine cellar.
"Iain, make sure to take cover when running through the tunnel. Snipers may be shooting at us. And Ryan, why did you run into the cellar? Where are you now?" Tom said over the headset.
"I'm in the wine cellar, I don't see any movement. It looks like this is a safe haven. Permission to stay here?" Ryan asked.
"Yes, permission to stay there, but if you see Brad's squad going by at all, you are to warn them and accompany them out of there," Tom replied.
Ryan looked around the cellar. He trekked on down the hallway, when he came to a large room full of wines. Three counter-terrorists jumped out at him, when they suddenly stopped seeing that it was one of their own. They all took of their helmets to talk.
"Ryan? Where's the rest of your squad?" Craig asked.
"We got separated in a gun fight. Nobody was injured, and they are all in the tunnel right now heading toward the hostage house. We haven't found Anthony yet," Ryan replied.
"Yeah, Anthony just got away, we almost had him," Rolando mumbled, angry they didn't catch him.
"We should head toward the house though, let Will and all of them go to the tunnel, and we'll go up the stairs we were just fired upon. We already killed a few of them just then, so they should be weak in that spot," Ryan told them.
Craig, Rolando, and Eric nodded and followed Ryan back to the stairs to go to the hostage house.
Brad and Ty jumped down from the roof and went down the alley that the bridge was connected to. It turned right, and they both peeked around the corner. It was the hostage house.
"Get ready, let's see if we can pick anybody off from here," Brad spoke quietly.
They took their aim and looked at the windows and balconys of the house. There were two terrorists patroling the balcony. Ty and Brad took careful aim and took them out. They sat there for another minute, and nothing moved. The ran toward the house.
"Sector clear," Brad said to Ty.
They ran forward, and to their left was a stairway that was leading up. They saw four counter-terrorists running up it.
"Eric, Craig, Rolando, who's with you?" Brad asked.
"Ryan, they got separated," Craig replied.
There was suddenly a huge chain of gunfire that didn't cease for a few seconds.
"Go to the house! Me and Ty will check it out!" Brad commanded. "Go! Go! Go!"
Brad and Ty ran to the tunnel where the gunfire was coming from. Brad threw in a flashbang and let it explode. They turned into the hallway and saw a figure go to the wall. They started to fire their pistols, but only hit the walls and crates. They stopped and ran to the crates and looked down.
I looked up, and looked at their helmets. It was Brad and Ty. I let out a sigh of relief and spoke into my headset, "It's okay guys, it's just Brad and Ty. Iain, make sure you tell Will that."
They helped me to my feet as Will and Iain ran up from the end of the tunnel.
Rolando kicked the door down to the house. He ran down the first hallway, Eric, Ryan, and Craig following. He came to the end of the hallway, it went to the right, he jumped onto the wall and pushed off. He landed on his stomach and looked up to see two terrorists guarding two of the hostages. He unloaded his Para on the first one as Craig came around the corner and unloaded a clip into he other one.
Ryan ran toward the two hostages, as Eric ran up the stairs. There was Italian music playing. Once he got to the top, he saw a sniper crouching in the corner. Eric shot him in the chest and continued down the hall. He came to a balcony where two terrorists were lying dead. Two bullet wounds from an AWP, these were the terrorists Brad and Ty took out. There were two more hostages where the sniper just was. Eric got them, and ran down the stairs with the rest of the group. Brad, Ty, and Tom's squad were there now.
"Now let's get these hostages back to base," Brad said. "Just watch eachothers backs, nice job guys."
Will, Brad, Ryan, Craig, and I were sitting down at the bar in this local Irish pub. There was loud music playing, neon beer advertisment signs all around, and groups of people gathered around the TVs in the corners of the room. The room was pretty silent, only the TVs could be heard. Everybody had been watching the Baltimore Ravens game against the Tennessee Titans for the first playoff game. But the game was suddenly stopped, and Chris Berman came on and started to talk.
"There have been reported Terrorist attacks coming into America today. San Fransisco, Boston, Miami, and Dallas were all swarmed by giant explosions. There had been as many as four hundred terrorists who had bombed local hotels with large amounts of a new bomb they have developed. It was enough to blow up a radius of three hundred feet around each building. They had filled suitcases full of the bombs, checked into their hotel and left the baggage there. They would leave the hotel and set off the bombs. President Bush has set the Terrorist alert to the Highest. We are not sure who is behind the bombings as of right now, we have reason to believe it was Iraq, but there have been leaks of a new Terrorist organization in the making, not only comprised of Iraqis but of many other countries."
I looked to Craig real quickly. He was just staring at the TV blankly, Brad had the same expression on his face. Ryan must had gotten up to go to the bathroom or for some other reason, because he wasn't sitting next to Will anymore. Will had his cell phone out, probably dialing the Pentagon to see more confidential information about the bombings. I didn't know what would happen next, we had to find out who the terrorists were.
"Brad, what do you want to do?" I asked.
"Wait for Will to finish on the phone," he replied, taking a sip of his beer.
Will ended the call on the cell phone and looked at all of us, "Grab Ryan, we're leaving tonight. All of us, so Brad, call Ty, Eric, Rolando, and Iain."
Will and I were sitting in the briefing room, the Boss sitting across from us. Will and I were fully dressed in our equipment.The room was painted with a light tan, the chairs all leather and comfortable, the wood table with a large pane of glass on the top. The room was dead silent except for the ruffling of the papers as the Boss went through the folder that was lying on the table.
The door opened and Brad, Iain, and Craig walked in, fully suited in their S.W.A.T. equipment. Completely black outfits except for their nicknames on the side of the helmets which were labeled in dark green. The visor was tinted black, and their chests were busting with kevlar. All types of grenades and flashbangs were strung around their belts, and pistols on the sides of their thighs. It was really very impressive to see a team of S.W.A.T. fully geared up.
They all sat down, and about a minute later Rolando, Ryan, Eric, and Ty all came in. All of them suited up as well.
"Okay, new mission, this should be a quickie, but it's majorly important. We have heard from various sources that there were Brazilians down in a small village in Brazil. You are to board a private jet to Rio Branco, it's a city near the border of Peru and Bolivia on the western side of Brazil. From there you will go by helicoptor to a small area outside of the village. We have had scouts check out the area, and we have a crew who will be waiting for you. Jordan should be there again, he'll make sure your equipment is all set this time. You remember him right? From Italy?"
We all nodded. He finished his little speech, and we all left to board our plane.
It's very true, about how people are influenced my money. This is something that we must accept as a fact of life. Humans are Humans, they are not all Saints. And people who believe that, are people who only see the makeup on somebody's face, instead of the real face underneath. And when put in situations where friends or relationships don't seem to be what they look like, this is a huge factor in what we do in life. For some people,like the people who are lying in this neighborhood, it means their death.
Tom Hawkesworth looked at the M4A1 rifle closely. He looked at the carbine, all the shells on the ground, the handle on the top, a thirty-one hundred dollar gun. The NightHawk pistol in his hand was worth a thousand dollars including ammo, but all the ammo was gone now. It was all sitting in human flesh.
He looked at the room, completely empty except for a mass of dead bodies. The room was 15'x15' according to the briefing, and the whole floor was littered with emtpy faces of what was once called a person. Four of which were the hostages and the others, Italian 1337 Crew. Blood flowed over their bodies and onto the floor like water flowing over a brook.
Tom turned around, put the muzzle of the gun into his stomach, and closed his eyes. He never thought any of the things that happened would all lead up to this. Pulling the trigger would be like letting the guillotine blade fall. That would be it, done and over. A little bit like the adventure everybody had experienced or the friendships that had died. All that was left though was broken trust, blood money, and dead bodies.
Will Christo stared intently at the red light. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, had one hand on the shift, and his foot ready to push on the gas. He looked over to his right through the window, and the car next to him was being driven by a familiar face. It was his friend Brad Ciran. Brad was in the same position Will was in. Will looked back to the red light and didn't break his concentration.
The edges of the light started to change first and Will had already slammed on the gas. His reaction speed was amazing. Brad slammed on the gas right as he heard Will's engine next to him blast. Will floored the pedal and kept his eyes straight ahead intensly. Brad was slowly catching up to him.
It's very hard to picture what I'm trying to describe. But you'll have to bear with me. If you've ever seen what a Saleen or a Ferrari Enzo looks like in person, then you may have a clue what I'm talking about. The Saleen's headlights are rounded and come to a point at the front, the curve on the hood is steep, but it gets taller as it goes over the wheels, with ridges on the side of the doors like gills on a fish, with chrome wheels and red tube lights inside of the silver colored car.
The Ferrari Enzo and it's large tail is equally impressive though, and it's especially breath taking if it's in red with white tube lights and chromed wheels. But picture all of this at two oclock in the morning at a local road in a small town. The road is straight for about two miles, with only one stop light, the one that both of them started at. The road passes many small grocery stores, hardware stores, privately owned busnisses, along with many different stores.
If you could also imagine two V12 engines roaring at top speed at the same time, you'd be in a perfect position to picture what's happening here. Well, back to what was happening.
Will and Brad were going neck and neck the whole way. We could all hear them coming from the halfway point in the dead silence of the small town. I was amazed, it was the first time I ever saw anything like it. I saw the red and white lights from inside their cars about a few hundred feet away on darkened street. The red lights were Will's car, the white were for Brad's, when all of a sudden, I saw the white and the red lights split in two different directions off the road and come to a dead stop. The engine roar was silenced, as if a hunter came along and slayed the giant beast.
I turned and ran to my H2 behind me. The three other people who were watching with me jumped into the giant Hummer with me. I started up the car, suddenly very frightened by what may have happened. I drilled the Hummer to sixty and started to slow down when I got close. I don't think I ever saw anything like what I had seen there either.
Glass littered the whole road as I stepped out from the Hummer. I saw a body lying in the road and both cars off to the sides of the road. I ran to the body and flipped the seemingly lifeless mass of flesh over. It was Will, both his eyes were cold, his face littered with shards of glass. I let the other three people dial 911 as I ran to Brad's car.
I tore open the door to the Ferrari and tried to see if Brad was alright. He was blinking and moving his fingers. That was a good sign at least.
"Brad are you okay!?" I said, very concerned.
He gently nodded. I was going to ask him what happened, but I decided to wait till he could talk better.
"The ambulance is coming. Boss won't be happy with this. Will's not doing too great as it looks though, I have to go look at his car, I think he flew through the windshield," I said. "Not to worry though, I think he'll be okay."
I turned and ran to the Saleen on the other side of the road. The windshield was shattered, and I peeked into the driver's seat. Will must not have worn a seatbelt, but when I looked in i was startled to see the seatbealt still in its buckle, but the buckle was torn out of the side of the seat and hanging losely. He broke the seatbelt flying out of the car. He was still breathing when I checked him, so I didn't know how that was possible.
I sat in the conference room with the three other people who were at the scene of the accident. The Boss came in with a thick folder under this right arm. He was wearing a white button down shirt with a silver tie striped with black diagonally. His hair was black with a few grey strands starting to come, and his hair was thinning drastically.
"I cannot believe what you all did," he said simply, letting us think about our foolishness. "Will and Brad, two of our best members, were drag racing with two unbelievably fast cars, and you all stood there and made bets."
I looked over to my friend Craig, he was looking down at the table as the Boss talked to us. Craig was a good friend of mine, Will was the one to introduce him all to us. He was a good member of our squad.
"Now, as Counter-Terrorist S.W.A.T. members, I don't think drag racing is the best thing for us to do. It's embarrasing. Now two of our best members are in the hospital. I have the updates of their injuries if you're all insterested."
Craig looked up as soon as The Boss said that, and the other two members, Iain and Ryan were the other two.
"Brad has a bad concussion and his left arm is broken at the forearm. He also has six bruised ribs from the seatbelt. His recovery time should be about three months. And Will has four broken ribs, three bruised ribs, a broken leg and a spinal disk was slightly moved."
All of us were shocked. Will's injuries sounded unbelievably bad and we couldn't believed he would live.
"How did Will survive?" I asked.
"Well, his car swerved a bit, and that's when the buckle came out of the seat, and so he hit the side of the car before he actually went out of the window. So since he hit the side is lessened the blow, but it's the seatbelt that did the most damage to him," the boss replied. "Now I need you all to sign this paper saying that you were all witness to it."
Craig signed first, then Ryan, then Iain, and then I signed my name last. I picked up the pen, found the line I had to write on, and wrote my name: Tom Hawkesworth.
Brad and Will had gotten fined and given tickets of course, and I don't know what the exact law is, but I know they ended up paying a heft amount of money. Their medical attention was covered for by the government since we were technically under the protection of the S.W.A.T. unit. Both cars had been photographed, the damage was unbelievable. Insureance didn't cover all of it, becuase there was simply too much, and since it was the driver's fault and illegal, the insurance wasn't allowed to cover it anyways. So both their cars would be impounded and they would have to save up enough to buy more cars. They could afford it though, they had been given grants from the government as extra sallary, as well as money invested from busts in certain missions that was legally theirs.
We all sat in Will's living room, about a year and three months after the accident. I had myself a Miller lite in my hand, Brad and Iain the same. Will, Ryan, and Craig all had a blood mary with the rim salted. We were all relaxing, talking about new cars. We had been doing several small missions, mostly following military around and doing oddjobs of hunting down people in Cuba and Mexico, but the government didn't exactly have our trust after the accident. But we still got paid good money, and our funds still included grants given by the government.
The doorbell rang, interupting Will's sentance. Will stood up, now almost entirely healed from the accident. His back tightened up sometimes, but for the most part he still had his reflexes pretty well. He walked through the living room into the front hall and opened the door. Will's house was fairly large. He had a spiral staircase leading the second floor, tile floors, exotic rugs, leather couches, the whole deal. I had known Will ever since he was born. We were more than just friends, we were cousins. Not blood related though, we were first cousins, but I had been adopted. I was originally born in Seoul, South Korea. Will was American, coming from Greek and Albanian descent. Will and Brad had been friends for a long time as well, ever since eighth grade. They were both twenty-eight now. I'm thirty. I grew up in California, but Brad and Will grew up on Cape Cod, MA. Craig was from MA too, but he lived in Boston. Ryan was from Ohio, and Iain was from England. It's ironic how we all met. Will and Brad met Craig, Iain, and Ryan by playing a game on the computer. It was called "Counter-Strike", and it was a Counter-Terrorist versus Terrorst game. And it's ironic, because we're all in the same squad (We requested it of course), but we're all doing exactly what the game was. Will and Brad introduced me to them, and we all became friends.
Will opened the door, three familiar faces stood there. Ty Hall, Eric Ritter, and Rolando Wallace. They were Will and Brad's best friends since 8th grade as well. They all had gone to the same school and grew up together. Ty had been one of those white kids who was accepted by everybody. He had done his drugs and gotten into his fights, and that's what made him interesting. Eric used to steal his mom's car and drive it around until he got into an accident and he got busted. And Rolando was the quiet little Philipino kid who really wasn't all that quiet once you go to know him.
Rolando and Ryan were probably the most skilled members. Ryan was older than all of us, he was thirty-seven, but still one of the best. We all had different jobs in the squad though. Brad and Ty were snipers, Will was scout infantry (He would go in first to spy and see how to work out a plan), Rolando and Ryan were heavy artillary front men, while Craig, Iain, and I were second line shooters. Which means Ryan and Rolando go in first all rambo like, and Iain, Craig, and I come in with surprise as backup. We were thinking of setting up three different squads though becuase of our range in talent.
"What up Rolando?" Will said, giving Rolando daps. "You got the stuff?" Rolando nodded.
I didn't know what was going on. By "stuff" I assumed Will meant drugs, and that was very unlike him, especially since he could get in big trouble with the S.W.A.T. department. All of us had tried weed a few times before, and of course all of us liked our alcohol, but drug handling was dangerous, especially since we were tested monthly for health issues anyways for our performance in the field. I could forget all this though, because what Rolando handed him wasn't drugs, but a folder.
Will walked back to the living room, Eric, Ty, and Rolando following as they all sat down. I nodded to Rolando as Ty gave Brad daps. Will opened the folder and leafed through the pages in it.
"Annyeong-haseyo," I said. It was Korean for "Hi." I liked learning my native language.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Pictures of my car from the race," Will replied, not looking up from the pictures, busily inspecting them.
"What did you want the pictures for?" Craig asked, wiping some of his bloody mary off the top of his lip.
"Well, it wasn't just an accident last year," Will started. "Me and Brad were going neck and neck, when all of a sudden I thought i heard something hit the side of the car, and my window shattered. It scared the shit out of me and that got my attention off driving and so i went into Brad's car. I didn't really look at much else because I was in deep enough shit already."
"And so what are the pictures for?" Craig asked, his question still unanswered.
"To see what that thing was that hit me," Will said with a smile as he handed the folder to Brad, pointing to something in the picture.
Brad's eyes widened as he took the folder and handed it to Ryan. Ryan nodded and looked back to Will.
"What is it?" Craig asked.
"Bullet hole," Will simply stated. "Right at the top of my door. The impact of the bullet must of been enough to shatter my window. I think some motha fucka is tryin to kill me. But the question is, what are we gonna do about it?"
"Tell the boss," Ryan suggested. "If somebody is going to kill you, we need to get you protection, and make sure that you're safe in our missions as well as your personal life. But nobody may even want to kill you at all, just don't forget that."
Will, Craig, and I were sitting at the dining room table, we all had a coffee in front of us with an empty plate in between the silverware. The room had dark blue wallpaper with a white rug. The table was polished wood with a small chandalier over the table. It was meant for parties, seating sixteen people, but it was just Craig, Will, myself, and Michele tonight. Michele Marciano was Craig Marciano's wife. They were highschool sweethearts.
Michele walked in with a big steaming pot. She left and came in a few seconds later with three empty bowls. She set up the bowls as Craig and Will silently watched. She took her seat, and took the lid off the large pot. She took the spoon out and served herself some soup. Craig just stared silently. Will and I looked down at our laps, wondering what was wrong.
"Honey," Craig said slowly. "Where's the pork?"
Michele had this look on her face and looked up at him regrettingly and said, "I'm sorry honey. I burnt it."
I chuckled, but was quickly sorry I did as I saw the look on Craig's face.
"Thats embarassing," He said sternly.
Will started to laugh, Craig was so serious about it.
"Sorry guys, I just wanted you to have a nice dinner," Craig replied. "Ah, it's alright Michelle, I'm just uptight because of the new mission we have."
"New mission?" Will said, a puzzled look on his face. Will looked over to me, I hadn't heard of a new mission either.
"Yeah, didn't the boss give you the mission background yet?" Craig asked, now puzzled himself. "The boss gave it to us a few days ago, Eric, Ty, Rolando, and Brad got one too. We're heading out to Italy. Just call up the boss after dinner and ask him about it."
Michele had already starting eating, she was halfway done with her bowl. We all grabbed our spoons and had dinner together wondering about this new mission.
"What the hell is this "New Mission" thing about?!" Will exclaimed, his face was cross and he was fidgeting.
As he listened to what the boss had to say his expression changed. It was a look of surprise.
"We're not a squad anymore," Brad simply stated.
"What the hell, why not?" Iain said scratching the back of his head. "I thought we were doing a right job on the missions. We were getting proper with it and everything was going soundly." (He's from England, that's why it may sound funny.)
"It's me, Craig, Rolando, Ty, and Eric in Squad A. Will, Tom, Ryan, and Iain in Squad B," Brad finished. "The boss thought it would be wise if we split up."
Iain and Ryan turned and sat down on the couch in the office. Each blew out a large sigh.
"But the boss decided to let us stick together on missions that needed two squads. Will, you're squad should ge the briefing soon. So start packing," Brad said.
They had all boarded the plane to Italy and gotten through all right. The Italian head of S.W.A.T command met them there.
"Jordan Rocchio," The head said, exchanging handshakes with Will and myself. "Now, I'm assuming your boss has told you the main points of this mission?"
Will, Jordan, and I continued walking along the stone road, admiring the Italian surroundings. The houses were not modern, all old, and the streets hadn't been paved at all. The streets were completely empty except for a few parked cars on the sides of the road.
"One of the terrorists in there is named Anthony Antonio. He's been charged for the murder of eighteen people and the bombing of two warehouses. If possible, we would like to have him alive. He is guarding a group of four hostages, and we think that there could be anywhere from eight to twelve other terrorists in the area," Jordan told us. "Make sure you spread the word about this Anthony fellow to your other teammates. Now, I understand the the U.S. sent along weapons and equipment for you all?"
"Yes, we have all of our supplies, and we have gotten the formal briefing, we're all ready," I said to him.
"Okay then. Get started, the element of surprise is still at our advantage," Jordan replied with a smile.
I cocked and loaded the SMG. My kevlar was already fastened, and my helmet securely in place. I had flashbangs, smoke grenades, and the normal frag grenades around my waist, and a nighthawk pistol at my left hip.
"Report in team," I spoke into the mic inside of my helmet, testing it out to see if it worked.
"Reporting in," Brad said. I heard a response from Iain, Ryan, Eric, Ty, and Rolando.
"Mas, HighRise, report in," I spoke again. We all had nicknames in the squad so that we'd never have to say the real name in case anybody heard us. Mas was Craig's nickanme, short for Marciano, his last name, and HighRise was Will's old nickname when we played Counter-Strike.
"They aren't replying?" Brad's voice crackled over the radio.
"No, Ryan go check on them, make sure their radios are working," I commanded him.
I saw one of my teammates get up and walk over to where Will and Craig were sitting. Our nicknames were on the sides of our helmet to let us know who everybody was under the helmet. Ryan was talking to them and I saw both of them nod.
"They said that the U.S. didn't send over enough helmets, and so they had to borrow some from the Italian S.W.A.T. division so there are no radios in their helmets. The Italian division offered to give them handheld walkie talkies and change to our channel, but Will and Craig refused, saying that it was it wouldn't be wise to have to hold a radio in one hand and a gun in the other. They needed both their hands to be able to be free to use their equipment," Ryan said.
I grumbled, and I heard Brad grumble too. "Fine then, we have to get going, we'll just have to rely on the old hand signals for them," I said. "Now let's get moving."
There was a fork where we were supposed to start. Both ways led to the house the hostages were being held in, but they both gave many different tactical approaches. The original squad was still divided in two. Squad A being Brad, Craig, Rolando, Ty, and Eric. Squad B being myself, Will, Ryan, and Iain. But since Will didn't have the radio with him, I would have to take over as squad commander for the mission. My squad took the right path on the fork, and Brad's squad took the left.
I ran forward, my teammates following close behind. Up ahead there was a stack of boxes, and if we climbed them we could get into the window of one of the houses, but we decided to take a right through the alleyway. On the map that Jordan showed us this was supposed to be a market place, and when we went through the alley we found exactly what we expected. I ran behind one of the corners of the market, Iain next to me. I pointed to the corner opposite of me on the other side behind two barrels and Will and Ryan ran behind them.
"Okay team, I'm unhooking a flashbang and I'm going to throw it off this right wall into the next area. Be prepared to run on my command. Ryan, tell Will this," I commanded.
I took one of the flashbangs from off of my waist and unhooked it. I bounced it off the wall in the next area, and when I heard it go off, the four of us ran into the small alley. I crouched down on one knee behind a crate as I saw Will and Ryan come through and do the same. Iain ran ahead to scout for an enemy.
"Sector Clear," Iain's voice crackled over the radio.
Iain turned around quickly, when I saw a figure jump from one of the roofs above us onto him. I fired my SMG, and Ryan and Will fired their M4A1 Assault Rifles. The terrorist was lit up by our bullets and he slid off of Iain.
"I'm injured," Iain spoke. "Minor Injury, Class B knife wound. He had a blade on him, element of surprise and stealth."
"Are you okay to proceed? Where are you injured?" I asked.
"He nailed me on the top of my left shoulder. It's not deep, he skimmed it more than stabbed," Iain replied. "I'm okay to proceed."
Iain started to stand up as me and Ryan swarmed around him, Will followed my hand signal. We kept walking forward, there was either a turn to the right or a large tunnel and at the end of the tunnel was the house where the hostages were.
"Go left," I spoke into the headset. I gave the bycicle signal to go right to Will, he nodded.
"Negative, I think we should go through the tunnel," Iain replied. "Becuase A. The tunnel leads straight to the objective, and B. Brad's squad should be over on that side of the neighborhood, the two squads should avoid confrontation and crossfire."
"No, we go left. It could be a trap to go straight through the tunnel. There are windows in the house, there could be snipers to pick us off as we go through the tunnel. Choose Tom," Ryan stated.
"No, let Will decide," I replied.
I looked over to Will and shrugged my shoulders. He seemed to understand and pointed to Ryan. He took off his kevlar helmet and hissed: "Ryan's been in the field more. I can understand Iain's point, but the tunnel is too much of an open area. Plus, since it's a tunnel it's easy to be surrounded, better chances going to the left."
I nodded and so didn't everybody else. Iain shut up and followed my orders. We started walking to the right when all of a sudden in a crevace in one of the buildings in the alley two terrorists rolled flat out on the ground, firing two AK-47. Both of their heads exploded in a spray of blood before we could even do anything. I glanced upward, and on one of the balconys about eighty feet away, were two snipers. It was Brad and Ty. I gave them a thumbs up and they did the same.
"Keep on alert, be as stealth as we can," I spoke into the mic. "Ty and Brad won't have our asses all mission, this was just luck."
I felt a shiver go up my spine knowing how close we were cutting it.
We slowly kept going down the alley, and we took a right. Up ahead about twenty feet were a set of small stairs that turned into a corner and went to the right. We slowly creeped up to the stairs. We walked by a door to some kind of wine cellar on the way. I peeked in, no terrorists. We slowly went up the stairs, crouching as we went, and we saw the house with the hostages. Then faster than we could even respond to, there was gunfire from one of the windows. Bullets ripped up the stairs around me as from above us two terrorists jumped down and another one jumped off a balcony right above the stairway. We were surrounded.
I started to unload a clip at the one that jumped off the balcony, I nailed him a few times in the chest, his bullets whizzing around me. I turned to help out to see if Iain was okay with his wound, but he was unloading on the other two that jumped down. Will was handling himself well, firing at the bullets from the window and Ryan was up against the wall, letting the rest of us handle it. More terrorists jumped down from the house and rushed out.
"Retreat!" I yelled into the headset.
The four of us turned and started to run as fast as we could back the way we came. I saw Ryan take a right into the wine cellar as Iain, Will, and I ran toward the tunnel.
"Iain, make sure to take cover when running through the tunnel. Snipers may be shooting at us. And Ryan, why did you run into the cellar? Where are you now?" I said, raising my voice in response to all the shooting that just went on.
"I'm in the wine cellar, I don't see any movement. It looks like this is a safe haven. Permission to stay here?" Ryan asked.
"Yes, permission to stay there, but if you see Brad's squad going by at all, you are to warn them and accompany them out of there," I replied.
"Now, Iain, Go! Go! Go!" I yelled into the headset, moving my hand back and forth quickly to the house, giving Will the signal.
The three of us started to run up the hallway at full speed. Will was in the rear covering our backs, when suddenly, I heard gunfire from a Krieg 552 rifle. I turnd quickly to see it, and three terrorists had popped out of a door that was in tunnel and were now shooting at Will.
"Iain, be Will's backup, I'll keep running!" I commanded.
Just as I turned my head back toward the house something whizzed by my helmet causing me to stumble. I looked back up and rolled over behind a crate in the hallway. I peeked behind me to see Will and Iain taking care with the three terrorists. Two were already dead, and the last one was starting to run away. I saw Will take out his USP 9mm Pistol and give one good shot and hit the terrorist in the back.
"Watch out! There are snipers from the house!" I yelled into the headset.
"Flashbang!" Iain crackled over the microphone.
"Good idea Iain," I replied.
"No! Cover your eyes! There's a flashbang!"
I turned back to the house when all of a sudden I was blinded by a bright white light. I heard gunfire, the whizzing of the bullets, and the sound of the bullets going into the crate in front of me. I thought that I was going to die right there, we were in a bad situation. We had been in worse situations, but this one didn't look good at all. I waited to feel the bullet tear through my kevlar or helmet at any time now, and I expected to still be alive when they find me. But all of a sudden, the bullets stopped, and the white light started to fade.
I saw two looming figures above me, and I knew that we were all in trouble.
Brad had taken the left route. They had five people in their squad, Brad and Ty were snipers, Rolando was front man, and Eric and Craig were second line men. They all ran down the street, getting ready for any surprise attacks. Brad always relied on his speed and his surprise and precision shooting. Up ahead was a large stairway that led upward, and then ther was a small bridge above a road that led to the right.
"We're going to split up," Brad said. "Rolando, I want you to go up the stairs into that house, Eric and Craig take the road to the left, Ty and I will climb up to the bridge right here, it's only about twelve feet high, and we'll go up on the roof of that house and look to take out some easy targets. Now go."
Rolando went up the stairs quickly. He had a Par 9456 Machine Gun in his arms. This was about $6000 dollars worth of artillery right there, and it had 100 bullets before its reload. It was a very heavy gun, and was very big, but it was a very deadly gun, its bullets being 8.46 mm long. When he got to the door of the house, he slowed down and came to a complete stop. Put his Para on the ground and took out his NightHawk pistol. He grabbed a flashbang as well, unhooked it and got ready for anything that was behind that door. He kicked it open and threw the flashbang in, he heard it explode and he jumped into the room. There was a terrorist in the corner, Rolando put a bullet through his right eye. All that was there was a stairway leading down.
He turned and picked up his Para and put his pistol at his side. He continued down the stairs and found himself in a wine cellar. He didn't hear anything yet. He kept walking through when he came upon a stack of papers in the corner.
"Brad, I found a stack of papers, I'm going to look at them real quickly, there might be something useful in them," Rolando said into his headset.
Brad got on Ty's shoulders to reach the bridge. He lifted himself up and put his large AWP gun down. He reached down over the edge of the bridge. Ty was ten feet away from the wall that the bridge was against. Ty started to run full speed at the wall, and when he got there he jumped as high as he could, took two steps up the wall and jumped off to grab Brad's hands. Brad lifted Ty up, and Ty grabbed to the edge of the bridge. He holstered himself up, and the two of them then looked at a barrel that was next to a door to where the bridge led to. Brad quickly opened the door.
"Check this out," he said into the headset to Ty.
Brad jumped onto the barrel, and then jumped onto the top of the door, standing on the very top of the door, trying to keep his balance. He then jumped up to the shingles that were on the edge of the roof, and lifted himself up. Ty did the same, it looked harder than it really was. Brad was surveying the area, when he saw two terrorists run into a crevace.
"Ty, two targets acquired, lock and load," Brad said.
The two of them brought their scopes to the crevace, when all of a sudden they saw four people in black run out from the corner near the crevace. It was Tom's squad. The terrorists jumped out of the crevace and Brad and Ty both fired their rifles. The explosion from the muzzle of the AWPs was like thunder, louder than any other gun they had ever handled. Brad and Ty gave Tom a thumbs up.
Eric and Craig went underneath the bridge, and kept going down the alley. They took a left, and ahead of them was a door on the left side, and a set of stairs up ahead that cornered and went to the right.
"Go through the door," Craig said.
Eric nodded and the two of them walked forward and opened the door. It was nothing but a bunch of crates and papers, it was a long hallway that bended to the left. They followed the hallway, when suddenly they came to a large room full of wines. It was a wine cellar, and in the corner was Rolando crouching down reading something. And behind him was a Terrorist holding a knife.
"Rolando!" Eric yelled into his headset. "Behind you!"
They saw Rolando turn around quickly and look up at the terrorist holding the blade. Rolo got on his back and kicked the terrorist in the knee caps. The terrorist dove on Rolando with the blade in hand, going down for the kill. Rolando grabbed the arm and punched the terrorist in the face. The terrorist dropped the blade, and then Eric and Craig ran forward. The terrorist grabbed something at Rolando's waist, and then all of a sudden the room went white. The terrorist had activated a flashbang.
"Nobody can catch Anthony Antonio!" The terrorist yelled.
When the white spots were gone, the terrorist was gone too, and the three of them had failed to capture Anthony, their terrorist target.
"Are you okay Rolando?" Eric and Craig asked.
There was suddenly gunfire from outside the wine cellar where Eric and Craig had come from. The three counter-terrorists took spots in the corners, and behind wine shelves to wait for whatever may be coming.
Ryan walked through the wine cellar.
"Iain, make sure to take cover when running through the tunnel. Snipers may be shooting at us. And Ryan, why did you run into the cellar? Where are you now?" Tom said over the headset.
"I'm in the wine cellar, I don't see any movement. It looks like this is a safe haven. Permission to stay here?" Ryan asked.
"Yes, permission to stay there, but if you see Brad's squad going by at all, you are to warn them and accompany them out of there," Tom replied.
Ryan looked around the cellar. He trekked on down the hallway, when he came to a large room full of wines. Three counter-terrorists jumped out at him, when they suddenly stopped seeing that it was one of their own. They all took of their helmets to talk.
"Ryan? Where's the rest of your squad?" Craig asked.
"We got separated in a gun fight. Nobody was injured, and they are all in the tunnel right now heading toward the hostage house. We haven't found Anthony yet," Ryan replied.
"Yeah, Anthony just got away, we almost had him," Rolando mumbled, angry they didn't catch him.
"We should head toward the house though, let Will and all of them go to the tunnel, and we'll go up the stairs we were just fired upon. We already killed a few of them just then, so they should be weak in that spot," Ryan told them.
Craig, Rolando, and Eric nodded and followed Ryan back to the stairs to go to the hostage house.
Brad and Ty jumped down from the roof and went down the alley that the bridge was connected to. It turned right, and they both peeked around the corner. It was the hostage house.
"Get ready, let's see if we can pick anybody off from here," Brad spoke quietly.
They took their aim and looked at the windows and balconys of the house. There were two terrorists patroling the balcony. Ty and Brad took careful aim and took them out. They sat there for another minute, and nothing moved. The ran toward the house.
"Sector clear," Brad said to Ty.
They ran forward, and to their left was a stairway that was leading up. They saw four counter-terrorists running up it.
"Eric, Craig, Rolando, who's with you?" Brad asked.
"Ryan, they got separated," Craig replied.
There was suddenly a huge chain of gunfire that didn't cease for a few seconds.
"Go to the house! Me and Ty will check it out!" Brad commanded. "Go! Go! Go!"
Brad and Ty ran to the tunnel where the gunfire was coming from. Brad threw in a flashbang and let it explode. They turned into the hallway and saw a figure go to the wall. They started to fire their pistols, but only hit the walls and crates. They stopped and ran to the crates and looked down.
I looked up, and looked at their helmets. It was Brad and Ty. I let out a sigh of relief and spoke into my headset, "It's okay guys, it's just Brad and Ty. Iain, make sure you tell Will that."
They helped me to my feet as Will and Iain ran up from the end of the tunnel.
Rolando kicked the door down to the house. He ran down the first hallway, Eric, Ryan, and Craig following. He came to the end of the hallway, it went to the right, he jumped onto the wall and pushed off. He landed on his stomach and looked up to see two terrorists guarding two of the hostages. He unloaded his Para on the first one as Craig came around the corner and unloaded a clip into he other one.
Ryan ran toward the two hostages, as Eric ran up the stairs. There was Italian music playing. Once he got to the top, he saw a sniper crouching in the corner. Eric shot him in the chest and continued down the hall. He came to a balcony where two terrorists were lying dead. Two bullet wounds from an AWP, these were the terrorists Brad and Ty took out. There were two more hostages where the sniper just was. Eric got them, and ran down the stairs with the rest of the group. Brad, Ty, and Tom's squad were there now.
"Now let's get these hostages back to base," Brad said. "Just watch eachothers backs, nice job guys."
Will, Brad, Ryan, Craig, and I were sitting down at the bar in this local Irish pub. There was loud music playing, neon beer advertisment signs all around, and groups of people gathered around the TVs in the corners of the room. The room was pretty silent, only the TVs could be heard. Everybody had been watching the Baltimore Ravens game against the Tennessee Titans for the first playoff game. But the game was suddenly stopped, and Chris Berman came on and started to talk.
"There have been reported Terrorist attacks coming into America today. San Fransisco, Boston, Miami, and Dallas were all swarmed by giant explosions. There had been as many as four hundred terrorists who had bombed local hotels with large amounts of a new bomb they have developed. It was enough to blow up a radius of three hundred feet around each building. They had filled suitcases full of the bombs, checked into their hotel and left the baggage there. They would leave the hotel and set off the bombs. President Bush has set the Terrorist alert to the Highest. We are not sure who is behind the bombings as of right now, we have reason to believe it was Iraq, but there have been leaks of a new Terrorist organization in the making, not only comprised of Iraqis but of many other countries."
I looked to Craig real quickly. He was just staring at the TV blankly, Brad had the same expression on his face. Ryan must had gotten up to go to the bathroom or for some other reason, because he wasn't sitting next to Will anymore. Will had his cell phone out, probably dialing the Pentagon to see more confidential information about the bombings. I didn't know what would happen next, we had to find out who the terrorists were.
"Brad, what do you want to do?" I asked.
"Wait for Will to finish on the phone," he replied, taking a sip of his beer.
Will ended the call on the cell phone and looked at all of us, "Grab Ryan, we're leaving tonight. All of us, so Brad, call Ty, Eric, Rolando, and Iain."
Will and I were sitting in the briefing room, the Boss sitting across from us. Will and I were fully dressed in our equipment.The room was painted with a light tan, the chairs all leather and comfortable, the wood table with a large pane of glass on the top. The room was dead silent except for the ruffling of the papers as the Boss went through the folder that was lying on the table.
The door opened and Brad, Iain, and Craig walked in, fully suited in their S.W.A.T. equipment. Completely black outfits except for their nicknames on the side of the helmets which were labeled in dark green. The visor was tinted black, and their chests were busting with kevlar. All types of grenades and flashbangs were strung around their belts, and pistols on the sides of their thighs. It was really very impressive to see a team of S.W.A.T. fully geared up.
They all sat down, and about a minute later Rolando, Ryan, Eric, and Ty all came in. All of them suited up as well.
"Okay, new mission, this should be a quickie, but it's majorly important. We have heard from various sources that there were Brazilians down in a small village in Brazil. You are to board a private jet to Rio Branco, it's a city near the border of Peru and Bolivia on the western side of Brazil. From there you will go by helicoptor to a small area outside of the village. We have had scouts check out the area, and we have a crew who will be waiting for you. Jordan should be there again, he'll make sure your equipment is all set this time. You remember him right? From Italy?"
We all nodded. He finished his little speech, and we all left to board our plane.