Holding his side, Alec grimaced as he made his way down to the street. The recoil from the shot, caused a sharp pain to shoot through his side. Fortunately, it had not started bleeding again. He could deal with pain. Block it out. By the time he'd stepped onto the street his face showed no sign of any problem or pain.
Mole and the others had pulled the downed X4 out of the line of fire and were in the process of checking her wound.
"How is she?" Alec inquired, looking down at the X4 whose face resembled a bird of prey. Her look was one that Alec would describe as exotic.
"Not good. She took one high in the chest. If we can get her out, she might live."
Alec squatted down next to her. Her breathing was labored and in her eyes he saw fear.
"Looks like you're out of it, 5."
"I…can…still…fight, sir," she struggled, her hand reaching out.
Alec took her hand in his and squeezed lightly. "I know you can, but I'm ordering you out. Besides I might need you later. What's your name?"
"Chick Girl. Not…very original…is it, sir?" Her eyes closed as obvious pain seem to try and overwhelm her. He ran his hand through her hair, settling it on her cheek in an effort to try and help her through it. Her eyes opened at his touch and she saw real concern and caring in his eyes. No one had ever cared before. It seemed to give her strength.
"I like it," Alec smiled, "Let's get you ready to go." Reaching under her knees and shoulders, Alec lifted her as carefully as he could. Cradling her to his chest he set off toward HQ.
Chick shuddered at the warmth she felt and relaxed. She decided then, she would live. She would not disappoint her Commander.
~ ~ ~
Clemente pulled up to Command post, just as a Special Ops team exited the building across from the Command Post. They were half dragging a man out of the building. Colonel Foster was standing waiting for them to reach him. Clemente approached him, but stayed back a bit to see what was going on.
Gamble signaled his men to take the prisoner inside, as he stepped up to the Colonel. Lifting the sniper rifle, he presented it to him.
Wide eyed, Colonel Foster took the rifle in his hands and examined it closely. He raised his eyes and looked at the building where the shot had come from.
"Son of a Bitch!" Foster exclaimed.
"You took the words right out of my mouth, Colonel." Gamble said, a crude smile on his face.
Not realizing what was going on, Clemente spoke up. "I don't understand, what happened?"
"A Sniper, sir, in this building," Gamble answered, as he waved a hand in the direction from which they came, "It looks like he's been up there waiting for a chance to take a shot at the transgenics. He got his chance and from what we could see, took one down."
"I'm sure the shooter didn't count on this," the Colonel continued, handing the rifle to Clemente.
Clemente looked at the rifle stock, confusion still on his face. The Colonel elaborated for him.
"We've been given a message Lieutenant, a very important one. It tells us something about what we're up against."
"And that is?" Clemente asked.
"Snipers are used in all branches of Law Enforcement. I'm sure you have some of your own, but a Sniper, trained in the military is different. We've used them to strike terror in the hearts of our enemies. They're a special breed of men. They almost always work alone. Solo missions, assassinations. Their ability to sneak in and out of enemy territory, in order to hit a target is legendary. Their motto being 'one bullet, one kill.'
"But he didn't kill the shooter."
"No, but he let us know he's there, what he is and what his capabilities are."
"His capabilities?" Clemente inquired.
Gamble spoke up, "Only a handful of men in the world could make a shot like that. The easy shot would have been to kill. He chose not to."
Realization dawned on Clemente and he looked from the rifle to Terminal City, to the building the shooter was in.
"Son of a Bitch!"
~ ~ ~
White stood back, just inside the door of the Command Post. His eyes narrowed in anger, as he watched his man being dragged toward him. White stepped aside, not looking at the shooter, disgust evident on his face for the failure.
Colonel Foster, Gamble and Clemente returned to the command center. Foster merely looked at White for an explanation.
"You weren't here Colonel. You haven't had to deal with these freaks. Besides I have full authority to do whatever I deemed necessary to protect the citizen's of Seattle."
"You had full authority. Not anymore." With that said, Colonel stepped past him.
White turned and spoke, "I still have that authority Colonel, until it's taken from me by my superiors. The Governor of Seattle also gave me that authority."
The Colonel stopped in his tracks turned. He looked at Gamble and gave him a slight nod. Gamble reached inside his flack jacket and handed White some papers.
"Well Mr. White as you can see, your authority has been taken from you. These orders are from your Commander and Chief. This is no longer an NSA operation. The moment I stepped into town, it became a Military operation. More troops are moving into the City as we speak. What you get to do or not do is left to my discretion." Foster stepped a little closer, shook his head slightly and smiled, "And I can tell you now, that from my standpoint thus far, it won't be much."
"You're making a mistake," White sneered.
Colonel Foster ignored him and looked at Clemente, "Do you have those reports I asked for?"
"Yes sir, I do."
"Good. Oh and White? Get your man out of here. He seems to need some doctoring."
~ ~ ~
Thomas Brooks had been in law enforcement for 15 years. He had seen a lot in that time. All manner of crimes and violence to the point where he'd become desensitized to it over the years. Nothing surprised him anymore, until today. But more than surprise, he began to feel something he hadn't felt in years, fear. What he was looking at on the computer screen scared the hell out of him. Oh, he'd found a connection alright. More than that, he'd found a school with an alumni that was very impressive. People in different areas of power were graduates of this school, be it political or industrial. Ramon would want to see all this, so he began copying the information.
~ ~ ~
Max couldn't believe they'd made it this far without incident. They were now just below Sketchy's place. It had been decided that OC would stay with Sketchy for the time being, since they're apartment might be under surveillance now. It was possible that they didn't find out where Max lived, since OC had removed their files from Jam Pony, but she still was not sure where Normal stood. He could've easily told the sector police that OC was her roommate. Her gut instincts told her that Normal didn't do this, but it might not stop one of the other messengers from telling the police. Better safe than sorry later or so she'd thought.
They waited patiently for Logan and Biggs to give the all clear and then OC and Sketchy would return to some semblance of the life they had before. At least that's what they hoped. Gem, Dalton and Sketchy had taken up a position opposite to Max and Cindy. Joshua was not far from them holding the baby. Max stared at his face, as he rocked her back and forth. He had a look of pure wonderment, as he reached a finger down and she grabbed it.
"Hey boo," Cindy had stepped up to Max, "who would have thought dog boy would make such a good nanny."
"Not me," Max laughed, "You doing okay?"
"No, I'm not. I don't want to stay. I want to go with you."
Max sighed and reached out to her. They held each other tight, not wanting to let go. Saying goodbye was not something she wanted to do.
"I know you want to go with us, but I need to know you're safe. I can't worry about you now."
Cindy pushed away and turned, "I know that, sister girl. You explained all that ta me before, but I don't have ta like it. I just feel like I need ta help."
Max reached up and turned her back to face her. "You will be a help. I need a way to keep up with what's happening here. We will be essentially cutoff for a while and whatever you might be able to tell us, may save a life."
"I hadn't thought of that," a melancholy smile on her face, "That's somethin' I can do…but I still don't want ta stay."
"I know. I wish things were different. I keep wondering what I could have done different that might have had a better outcome."
"Does no good to second guess yourself now. There was too much goin' on in the mix to know what was right. You just have ta keep movin' forward."
"I just don't want anyone else to get hurt, because of my choices."
"Especially a certain 'pain in the ass?" Cindy smiled as she spoke.
It was Max who turned away this time. "They say you don't appreciate what you have until you don't have it anymore. I don't want to wait until then. I want…I want to show him…" Turning back to Cindy, tears in her eyes, Max leaned against the wall and slid down to a sitting position.
Cindy sat down next to Max and put her arm around her shoulder, leaning her head on her shoulder and listened.
"That night I got him out of jail, was the first time I saw Alec. I mean really saw Alec. It was the first time I could look at him and not see Ben."
"He's always been there, Boo. You just didn't want to see him."
"God, Cindy, I was such a bitch to him. I don't understand why he stayed around."
"How long you gonna stay in denial? You know why your boy stayed." Cindy lifted her head and looked at Max. "And don't even try to tell me he ain't your boy."
Max's tears came more freely as she lowered herself into Cindy's arms
"I've wasted so much time. I don't want to lose him, OC," she sobbed, "I can't lose him."
OC's tears joined hers, "I know, Boo. I know."
~ ~ ~
Chick had been treated as best they could and sent on with two other X4, one to carry her and the other to provide protection. This would leave them short handed, but it couldn't be helped. Alec refused to sacrifice Chick in order to better their chances. Alec knew the time was getting close. Delta Force had sent in a recon team in, less than 30 minutes earlier. It had been expected. Their purpose was to try gather as much intel as they could, and ascertain what they would be up against. So they allowed them to come in and gather information, but only what they wanted them to know. When the time came, Alec encouraged their retreat with a few well placed shots. So now they were going over their plans making sure everything was in place.
"The only strategy that they could use is to come in from three different angles. Here, here and here," Alec pointed to all three areas on the map.
"This has been confirmed by our own intel," Mole interjected, as he held up a com link, smiling.
"They'll stick close together, by coming in from these three sides they'll attempt to corner us. If anything goes wrong they've essentially surrounded us. Except we'll be anything but surrounded."
"You want my team here?" Mole asked.
"Yeah, they should encounter you immediately. Once you engage them, you'll start to retreat slowly. At the same time you'll change positions often, causing them to think there are more of you than just the six. When they reach this point, you'll engage them more heavily to keep their attention focused on you until they pass my team's position. Once past we'll start to pick them off one at a time from behind. We'll gather com links and weapons from them for our use."
"Oh! Oh! Can you get me one of those Delta Force T-shirts? I love those," Mole asked excitedly.
Alec stared at him blankly, "I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks, man," Mole replied, slapping him on the back.
"Anybody else have a request?" Alec looked around from one to the other. They all looked away, except for one. "Yeah, what?" Alec asked him.
"Well um…a pair of boots would be nice."
"Really?" Alec asked, just to be sure.
"Um…yeah."
Alec looked down at his feet and noted that he didn't have anything on them. Alec closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Boots it is," he announced laughing, "Can we get back to the mission now?"
"Yes sir."
"Uh huh."
"Yeah."
"Sure that would be good."
"Absolutely."
"Oh, good idea."
"Go on," Mole encouraged last.
Alec shut his eyes again and pinched the bridge of his nose in contemplation. 'My God, what was I thinking letting Mole pick the team?'
"Okay," Alec paused and looked around, just in case, before continuing, "It's very important that when you engage Delta Force, you are to incapacitate only, as in 'walking wounded', he emphasized this, "No fatalities, is that clear. It's important these guys can walk away from this."
"Oh come on, just one."
Alec sighed, "Mole, no fatalities."
"We'll see," Mole replied, a sly look on his face.
"Okay," Alec glared at Mole, "a special ops knife to go with the T-shirt."
Alec watched as Mole chewed on his cigar, considering the deal. A smile broke his face and he nodded.
"Deal."
Alec raised his eyebrows and waved his hand over the map in a gesture to continue. Mole shrugged.
"Okay, when your team reaches this point, Delta Force will be well aware that we are on both sides. At this point I'll set off the first set of charges, forcing them forward. Things will really begin to heat up. While I know Delta Force is specially trained for Close Quarters Battle, your training exceeds theirs, so that shouldn't pose a real problem. However, because things will intensify, they will no longer be trying to subdue us, they've been trained to double tap. One shot to bring you down, a second shot to make sure you don't get back up. Stay out of their line of fire, if possible."
Mole continued, "From here Alec will go high and cover our retreat to the sewer entrance. Once there, I'll set off the last set of explosives. You will proceed into the sewers and not stop until you reach the rendezvous point. Understood?"
Alec's head snapped up, his hand going to his earpiece. "They're coming. Take your positions."
~ ~ ~
Bigg's, Logan and Max turned into an alley that led back the sewers after escorting OC and Sketch to his apartment building. It had been a tough goodbye, but their journey was far from being over.
A black sedan pulled over a block from the alley. The darkened window slowly descended revealing an NSA agent with a heat sensor device. Lifting his phone he dialed his superior.
"White here."
"Sir, we've picked up two transgenics on the move in Sector 5. They're accompanied by a human male."
"We knew there would be some out and about. Keep track of their direction."
"Sir, you need to know that one of the transgenics is a female. Her description matches that of 452."
White, who had been walking toward the Command Post, stopped dead. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir."
A cruel smile crept up his face as he looked toward Terminal City, "They're already gone."
"Sir?"
"Could you identify the other transgenic? Was it 494?"
"Sir, it was not 494."
"Keep track of them," he ordered, "I'll be sending the tactical team as soon as possible."
"Yes Sir."
White snapped his phone shut. He turned toward TC with his hands on his hips contemplating who was there holding down the fort. The cruel smile back in place he reopened his phone.
"It looks like you're going to get that second chance after all. 452 was spotted in Sector 5…No I'll catch up. I need to confirm something here first." Shutting his phone once again he signaled for Otto to come over.
"Sir."
"452 has been spotted in Sector 5 entering the sewer system. I believe the shooter that took out our man is 494."
"If 452 is in Sector 5, then 494 has to be close. Whenever we've encountered her, he's not far away, watching her back."
"Oh he's still watching her back. He's doing it from here."
Otto frowned in confusion. "Are you going to inform the Colonel?"
"That arrogant ass! Not a chance. Let's go."
~ ~ ~
Colonel Foster sat back after reading the Police Reports. More than ever he realized how important it was to try to make contact with the transgenics and negotiate an amicable agreement. His orders, though, were to subdue them. Negotiating was not an option he'd been given. The information from the police reports would help to solidify his position and convince his superiors to seek what he considered a better way. But he was going to need more information. Engaging the transgenics would work in that direction. How they reacted to his men invading Terminal City
"So White's involvement escalated the situation?"
"It allowed him the justification he needed to send in the tactical team," Clemente replied, "I believe that if White hadn't taken over the operation, we could have avoided any casualties. White is a dangerous man."
"What is your take on this so called 'transgenic threat'?
"I don't believe they are a threat. I've talked with their leader, Max or 452. They had the upper hand over us, when we followed them into Terminal City. They chose to let us go. If they were the crazed killers that we've been told they are, I wouldn't be here talking to you. I think you know what they are and why they were created. Colonel, I'd like to see an amicable resolution to this problem."
The Colonel contemplated what Lt. Clemente said. "Manticore was a US government research project centered around using recombinant DNA to genetically develop the perfect solder. The X5 series were the result of that project. They're stronger, faster, more agile than you and I. My men will have to use night vision sights in order to see them in the dark, they have enhanced sight that allows them to not only see in the dark, but is telescopic as well. One X5 is the equivalent of several of my men."
"Then I don't understand. If you know they're better, why put your men at risk?"
"That's the paradox now isn't it? If the military was interested in negotiating at this point, they wouldn't have sent me and my teams in here. I will follow my orders, Lieutenant, but if what we are assessing is correct, then I don't think my men are in danger." Colonel Foster sighed before continuing, "If it was just up to me, I would initiate communications and negotiate. Unfortunately, that option is not there, yet."
At that moment Gamble came in and spoke in the Colonel's ear. Clemente's hand reached into his pocket and caressed the CD. He was torn between trusting this man to do what was right and worrying about what the consequences would be once this information reached his superiors. The same ones who refused to allow Colonel Foster to negotiate.
Clemente stood up and walked to the window, looking out toward TC. He just wasn't sure who he could trust or even what he needed to do yet. Movement caught his eye. Frowning, Clemente noted that White was leaving without giving them any word as to why or where he was going. Stepping quickly out of the Command Post, he walked over to some of his men.
"Johnson, I want you to contact Cooper at headquarters, I want you to coordinate with him. Follow White. I want to know where he is and what he's up to. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Get started before he's out of sight."
Turning around, Clemente re-entered the Command Post just as Colonel Foster gave the order for their teams to advance. Running a hand over his face, he couldn't stop the feeling of dread from coming up in his throat.
~ ~ ~
Alec settled himself just inside the third story window of what must have been a residential building. It afforded him good sight of what was happening and allowed him a close enough proximity to move quickly. Basically, he'd jump. The streets below were littered with enough debris so as to cause the teams to file in through certain sections. Leaving the last guy open to be taken down. His hope was that they could remove up to half their team before they realized what was happening. He and Seven would have to move quickly. It would have been much easier if he had a complete team, but that was no longer an option. So they would settle for what they could do and retreat.
He looked out toward the edge of Seattle and allowed his mind to go there for a moment. Max should have dropped off Sketchy and OC by now and be nearing the edge of town. He ran his fingers over his lips and closed his eyes for a moment. He could still feel her lips as they crushed his own. It had shocked him when she grabbed him like that. He didn't think it would affect her one way or the other if he didn't make it back. Deep inside he'd figured she would get over it fast and be glad. But he was wrong, she did care, more than he had ever dreamed. He smiled as he remembered the taste of her. All he wanted in life was for her to be alive and…what? Love him? Accept him? The smile left his face as he recalled his reply to her. He swore he'd be there, but inside his heart he knew that it might not be.
"I'll fight hard, Maxie," he whispered, knowing she couldn't hear him. It made him feel better to say it out loud. Now that he knew she cared, he'd try that much harder to get back to her. Taking a deep breath he pulled himself out of this reverie and put 494 back in place. He needed to be on the alert, not pining over Max. Setting himself back a bit from the window he once again scanned the area with his eyes. They were coming and he was ready.
~ ~ ~
End of chapter 6