Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from GI Joe.
Author's note: Okay, this chapter has some Action in it, which seemed to be very difficult to write. I tried to be accurate. This is my first attempt at writing action/fight scenes, but I felt it was necessary to the story. Scarlett is Blaze and Beach Head is Rebel. Final chapter coming in the near future.
The Rescue – Chapter 12
The trip to Derry went surprisingly fast. Everyone had their game faces on. Olive had explained to Scarlett how the communication devices work. "This sits on one of your back molars, and this one slides down your ear canal. You will be in constant contact with the entire team at all times."
Hotshot parked the van in a hidden spot, and the team departed the van. Hotshot would stay behind to monitor their situation and be the get-a-way driver if need be. Halfway towards their final destination, Silver and Olive split from the team. Just in case something went awry, they were half the distance away then Hotshot and the remaining team's outside eyes. Hardtop, Dante, Beach Head, and Scarlett continued along the rough terrain. As they approached the building that the team believed to hold Bear and Vee, they once again split. Dante and Beach Head veered left, and Hardtop and Scarlett veered right.
As Scarlett and Hardtop rounded a blind corner, she pulled him back against the wall. "Booby trap," she said and pointed to the infrared sensors located about five feet high. If that beam were to be separated, a high-powered rifle would automatically fire a rather ugly hole through one's chest.
"Good eye, Blaze. Shall we hit the ground?"
"After you."
The two of them crawled down the hallway for about 15 feet before the infrared trap was safely behind them.
Beach Head and Dante had run into their own booby trap of electrical tripwire. Not only would the trespasser receive a nasty electrical shock from it, if the tripwire moved at all, it would unleash a magnitude of throwing knives aimed anywhere from 4 to 5 feet high, high enough to stab an intruder's torso and more. "Be careful," Beach Head warned everyone, "this guy has more traps set than the Viet Cong did during the war."
Further, down the hallway that Scarlett and Hardtop occupied, Scarlett ran into a spider's web that she immediately recoiled from. "Ew, I loathe spiders and their webs," she said as she wiped at her face.
This time it was Hardtop to the rescue. He yanked her to the ground just seconds before a stone block came sailing across from the sidewall of the hallway. It went from one side to the other and collided with the opposite wall. It was supposed to have collided with the trespasser's head, but lucky for her that her partner was watching her back.
"Thanks," she said after regaining her feet.
"Anytime."
Beach Head and Dante had come across the first pair of guards that the team had seen all night. They quickly silenced them and continued on their way. There was still no sign of Bear or Vee. Dante told Beach Head that he thought that maybe they were in the wrong place. The place was empty. Beach Head disagreed, noting that the presence of guards and traps made him sure they were in the right place.
"I agree. Tamar is protecting something here. What that something is though, is yet to be determined." Hardtop informed the team through his communicator. He directed a question to the two teammates who had stayed outside. "Silver, how is your position? Do you guys see anything?"
"Nada here," and "Quiet as a church mouse," were the responses from Silver and Olive.
Scarlett had ceased her scan of the empty hallways. They had come to another hallway crossing the one that they were on.
"Which way?" Hardtop asked.
"Guys, have you came to a crossing hallway yet?" she ask the rest of the team.
"Negative," Dante responded.
"Hotshot, do you have any clue where we are, and which way we should go?" Hardtop asked.
"Hang on a second. I'm zeroing in on you two," came his reply. "Okay, that cross hallway looks like it dead ends if you go left. It never connects to the hallway that Rebel and Dante occupy. If you go right, the hallway will eventually 'T' into another hallway running parallel to the one that you are currently on. I can't make out where the one that you are currently on will go."
"So what is your recommendation?" Hardtop asked impatiently.
"Wait, Beach...uh...Rebel, do you think a dead end hallway could house prisoners?" Scarlett asked his advise. Her past working relationship with him on the Joe team made her respect his judgment.
"Roger. I would say go left. Be on the lookout for booby traps though."
"Good thinking," she replied.
"Be careful, and let us know if you find anything," Beach Head instructed.
Scarlett and Hardtop went left, as Beach Head had suggested. Many doors lined the hallway, but of course, none of them were unlocked. "We can't try each one. That would take too long." Scarlett huffed.
"We won't have to. Check this out. This little machine can sense body temperatures. All I have to do is slide it under the door and take the room's temperature. Pretty neat huh?" Hardtop explained with pride.
"Fantastic. Do your thing. I'll keep an eye out for trouble."
Hardtop had checked four doors with no luck when voices began to echo from the hall. "Up. On top of the ducts." Scarlett ordered.
Hardtop had barely gotten himself swung on top of the large air duct when two men rounded the corner. "I don't understand why the boss keeps testing this man. I say we just kill him and be done with it," one man said to the other.
"Yeah, well he has no choice. The woman was of no use to us. She is still unconscious. I think we ought to use the woman as bait. If this one doesn't talk, we kill her in front of him. Simple as that."
"Boss doesn't want to kill her though."
Scarlett glanced at Hardtop with an alarmed look on her face. One of her fears as to why, this time, Tamar had taken captives just came true. He wanted information, and no doubt, it had to do with why the hell Angel was so adamant on taking him down. Bear was going in for another interrogation party.
Angel's obsession with tracking and eliminating Tamar was obvious, at least to Angel. Ten years ago, Angel, then known only as General Richardson, and his family were enjoying a nice family vacation. They were strolling around the streets of Scotland when out of nowhere an out of control car squealed through the intersection and ran up onto the pedestrian walkways. This car hit a mob of people standing on the sidewalks, ready to cross the busy street. Angel and his family were in the crowd of people. Angel's wife died in his arms, and his three children died on impact along with most of the innocent bystanders. Angel wanted revenge, and being an Army Ranger Wing, he had multiple options and a great deal of information at his disposal. He defected from ARW and took the law into his own hands. The owner of the car was Tamar, and the car was being chased by the Scottish Police.
Scarlett tried to sign to Hardtop a plan, but he could not read sign language. She had almost forgotten that she was not on the Joe team anymore, where everyone could read sign language because of Snake Eyes. It was a great way to communicate in situations like this. Instead, she resorted to other hand signals to communicate her plan. 'When the two men walked back by with Bear, the two of them need to jump down and take out the guards.' Hardtop nodded his understanding of her plan, and the two of them waited for the guards to return.
They could here a door and voices bellowing orders. A shuffling sound started to come closer to the perched Scarlett and Hardtop. The shuffling sound came from the shackled legs of Bear as he walked under the ducts, closely followed by the two guards, one resting the point of his sword on Bear's back. Hardtop and Scarlett sprang into action and connected with the two guardsmen. Scarlett had knocked her guard out immediately, but Hardtop had to be slightly more careful. His guard had the sword pointed at Bear's back. The guards and Bear didn't know what was happening, and foolishly the guard with the sword whirled around to face Hardtop. A quick roundhouse kick from Hardtop knocked the sword from the guard's hand, and the guard collided with the wall and slumped to the floor unconscious.
Scarlett faced Bear, who was shocked to see his former teammate and friend standing in front of him. "Blaze, is that ye? Really ye?" She nodded, and they hugged. "Ye two are a sight for sore eyes. How, where...?"
"Later, big guy." Hardtop interrupted. "We need to find Vee and get out of here."
Scarlett knelt down to remove the shackles from Bear's ankles, and Hardtop finished checking the multiple doors for any signs of human life behind them. Scarlett successfully picked the lock to the shackles, but Hardtop found no warm bodies behind the remaining doors. The threesome started down the hall. "Rebel, Dante, we have found Bear. Any sign of Vee?" Hardtop asked.
"Not yet. You guys okay? We wondered what happened." Dante answered.
"Yeah, we are fine. Listen, if you find her, she will likely be unconscious, at least that is what Blaze and I learned from eavesdropping on the two now unconscious guards."
"Ten four." Rebel and Dante echoed their understanding.
"Bear, do you know where they may be holding Vee?" Scarlett asked. She was now getting very worried for her friend.
"Nah. I haven't seen her since the day they brought us here. They have kept us separated, but if they..."
Just then, a loud noise could be heard coming from outside. Olive's voice echoed over the communicator, "Everyone, heads up. Black chopper headed your way. You may want to exit – pronto."
Hardtop had repeated Olive's information so that Bear knew what was going on. "No way, we can't leave without Vee." Bear growled back at him. "I know she is still alive."
"Hey settle down, Bear. We aren't leaving yet." Scarlett reassured him. "We've come this far. Come on, but be careful and on the look out for traps. This place is loaded with them."
"Hardtop. You guys head out of the building. I think Rebel and I just found Vee." Dante's voice echoed in their ears.
"You did?" Hardtop and Scarlett asked.
"Out – now! We'll explain later." Dante repeated.
The trio turned to head down the hall that they had entered through, but again voices broke the silence. "Trapped. Hotshot, how do we get the hell out of here?" Hardtop demanded in a low, forceful voice.
"Okay, the hall that you were on, opposite the dead end where you found Bear takes you to that hallway that 'T's into a parallel hallway. Take to the right. You'll come to another crossing hallway. Go left, and that should lead you to an outside door."
"Copy, over and out." Hardtop said.
The trio followed Hotshot's directions and found the outside door. All that stood in their way of freedom was a locked door. Scarlett set to work to pick the lock as Hardtop kept watch. The lock was very stubborn and took much longer than she expected. Finally, the tumblers rolled, and the lock clicked open. She slowly opened the door to be sure that the escape was clear. Staying in the shadows of the building, they hurried around to the side from which they had entered.
They nervously waited for Dante and Rebel who hopefully had Vee. Suddenly, the communicator crackled to life, and Dante radioed the news that yes, they did indeed have Vee but were having trouble exiting the building. "We're trapped."
"Look, Hardtop, take Bear back to Silver and Olive. I'll go in after Rebel and Dante." She had been growing increasingly more and more worried about Bear's health. He had seemed to drift in and out of coherent conversation, and at times, seemed a million miles away.
"Are you sure? I can't let you go in alone." Hardtop argued.
"I'll be okay. I do this for a living remember. Besides, if worse comes to worse, you can be the Calvary rescuing us." She smirked at him.
"Anybody ever tell you that you are a smart-ass?" He asked.
"Every chance they get."
Bear tried to interrupt, but Scarlett hushed him. "You are in no condition to tag-a-long. Now you two get. I've got work to do. Wish me luck."
Scarlett disappeared down the hallway that Dante and Rebel had traveled down a little while ago.
Dante's voice echoed in her earpiece, "Blaze, there are at least two guards between you and us. There were two different sets of tripwire booby traps rigged. The first one is approximately 100 feet down the hall, and the second is about 25 feet after that. Both wired with an electrical charge and throwing knives rigged on the wall. After that, it was pretty clear."
"On my way, boys. Hang tight."
She judged that she was almost 100 feet in. She started looking for the tripwire but could not find it. "Looking for something, beautiful," came a voice from behind her.
Suddenly a Manrika chain came around her throat. The guy had been up on the air ducts, as she and Hardtop had done earlier. The chain was starting to cut into her windpipe as she grabbed in her coat for a knife. With one swift back kick into her assailant's kneecap, he released his grip, and she plunged her knife into his throat.
"Blaze, you okay?" Beach Head asked hastily when he heard her gasp for air.
"Guys, I don't see the tripwire trap." Scarlett informed them not answering their question.
"Damn, they must have moved it." Dante replied.
Voices again. This time she would use the element of surprise. She grabbed a throwing star and positioned herself along the wall. As the two men rounded the corner and started to walk away from her, she flung the throwing star at one of the men. It lodged itself into the back of the victim's neck. As he fell, his partner whirled around to face the intruder. "You little..." he started to say.
"Watch what you call me. It's not very nice to call people names." Scarlett retorted as she flipped through the air and delivered a powerful kick into the man's chest. As he stumbled backward, she felt a sting on her calf. The man whom she had hit with the throwing star had not given up easily and had cut her with a knife down the length of her calf.
She kicked the knife out of the one guard's hand and delivered a final blow to her would-be assailant. The other guard that she had catapulted away from her had caught his breath and was fuming. "I'm going to make you wish you had never done that." He warned her with a flash of steel flickering in his hand.
As Scarlett prepared for his attack, she could hear a low whistle, the sound of a throwing knife in midair. She immediately ducked, and the knife landed in her would be attacker's chest. She dealt a final kick into the guard's chest, forcing the knife completely into the heart.
"Thanks for the diversion Blaze. Let's get out of here," Dante complimented as he, Beach Head, and Vee approached her.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Scarlett replied.
Beach Head, who had the unconscious Vee, eyed Scarlett. "You're hurt."
"Just a scratch. I'll be fine."
Dante took the lead. "Your handy work?" He asked Scarlett as they passed the first attacker that Scarlett had come across.
"The varmint tired to strangle me by jumping me from above."
He looked at her with approval, and Beach Head mumbled an 'I told you so'.
As they exited the building, Hardtop had informed them that he was on his way back. "It's okay. We're out." Dante replied.
The team started to make their way back towards the parked van and their way out. The rugged terrain was painful on Scarlett's injured calf. It was throbbing terribly, and she feared that a substantially amount of blood had been lost. Hardtop met up with them and assisted Scarlett across the rough ground. At first, she declined his help, but eventually, worn out by the loss of blood and the vigorous workout treading across the rough terrain, she conceded and allowed him to assist her back to the van.
Last chapter coming soon