Flying J's Arc

Staring into the Abyss Part 2

Timur stopped and listened a little closer, and hoped he was wrong. He heard it again and that confirmed it, Timur reached under his desk and grabbed his sidearm and moved out of his office. Once in the hallway he headed towards Duman's office and listened to the gunfire that was coming closer.

The door was open and you coul hear Duman cursing at someone and when Timur walked in he didn't stop.

…"Hold them dammit Henry, we are the only agency left that really knows whats been going on here lately. Just buy us another ten minutes to get past their jamming…no…dammit…alright…And Henry make it out if you can."

Duman looked up, and acknowledged Timur with a nod to come in further. Though there was an age difference between the two Timur and Duman had become friends in the multiple years they had worked together in the intelligence field.

After Duman had Timur inside he hit the lockdown and attack alarms.

"Whats going on Duman?"

Duman smiled slightly, "Well my old friend…the shit has hit the fan for us. The situation in Greece and the rest of the Middle East was apparently a foreshadowing for our own Nation."

Timur's eyes widened…'so that was what the gunfire was.' "But how?…why?…who?"

Duman frowned this time and steepled his hands in front of him. As he opened his mouth there was an explosion a few floors above Duman's office, the rafters shook. "I used all my contacts in the military to find out what I could, as far as I can tell its Nod. They've riled up one of the dissident generals in the eastern half of the country, Halan Berk." Another explosion punctuated the statement.

"Apparently he was able to gather enough support in the government that he's almost completely unopposed, well except for us here in intelligence." He said this while looking up towards the noise of gunfire.

"So what do we do sir?" Duman smiled at this, "I sent off the rest of your squad, and was fixing to call you here. I'm sending you out with orders to contact the most senior Army officer I know not to be in league with Berk. You'll fill him in on the information that he's now at war with a corrupted government."

Timur grimaced. "But sir that's treason!"

Duman stood and handed him a small disc, "No it isnt, because the Government that is now taking over is not the government I took an oath to protect. And the same goes for you, find General Cahil and give him that disk. Good luck, now get the hell out of here and dodge Berk's forces at all costs. Your now a wanted man."

Timur, mulled over what he'd been told for a second and then holstered his sidearm and responded. "Alright then sir, you make a potent argument. Ill do my best to get this to General Cahil."

With that done Timur charged out of his old friends office and headed for the nearest Air duct to the surface.

It had been a total of four hours since he'd left Duman's office and he had managed to make it up through the upper 14 levels without getting caught. He was lucky and he knew it. There were soldiers on every level 'mopping up' the few remaining armed intelligence personnel.

Timur tried to steady his breathing as several of Berk's seperatist guards walked by the air vent he was looking through. And after they rounded the corner he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. And through much trouble pushed out the air conditioning grate and plopped down into a cubicle with gray matter splattered from its previous owner. He felt sick.

Timur drew his sidearm and headed towards were he knew the staircase was. He moved as quietly as he could but as he came around the very last corner he came face to face with two separatists' guards.

Both of them were young, not over eighteen. Both were too slow, and they died for it. They were each armed with AK-47s and the closest one attempted to raise it and fire at Timur. He was too fast and moved to the side, grabbed the rifle by the top and flipped it upwards towards the mans head. It forced the boy to pull the trigger with the gun pointing towards his jaw,

It blasted the soldiers skull apart and Timur shoved the body into the other man as he jumped to the side, pulled his sidearm out and fired a single round into the other mans chest. As the dying man flew back he involuntarily squeezed his rifles trigger and sprayed the ceiling with bullets.

Rolling Timur holstered his sidearm and then stood and kept moving, entering the staircase to this last obstacle in his path to transmit the intelligence information. He took a second and breathed, he hadnt killed anyone before...and his heart was beating, he was sweating, and his hands were clammy. He pushed on.

After a ten-minute climb Timur reached ground level and peaked out the door. Too see only three guards holding the entrance, one was absentmindedly smoking, another had started towards the restroom and the third was asleep.

Timur smiled and moved out the door and ducked behind a desk. He moved stealthily, using the destroyed lobby area's furniture for cover. Till he was finally close to the guard that was smoking., he finally popped up behind him, covered his mouth and jerked the mans neck around hard, with an audible crack.

The sleeper awoke and tiredly noticed his friend's body dropping away from Timur who drew his sidearm and fired once, hitting the still drowsy man in the neck and blasting out the left half of his neck. He fell gurgling blood.

Hearing the shouts behind him Timur turned and ran out the door of the Intelligence complex with bullets whizzing by his head. He hit the street and blended in…

Lightning Counts Arc

United States.

In the small Midwestern town of Hamden Sheriff Crant took a deep draught of coffee before turning to his donut. The small café was almost empty with only himself, a couple of truckers and a bored waitress standing idly around.
He looked out of the window as he ate, past his parked car and toward the group of plainly dressed men leaving the hardware store opposite. Each of those men carried two huge bags full of bulky items and were calmly walking to their truck at the corner of the street.
"Religious nuts." The waitress said as she topped up the Sheriffs mug. "Never speak to anyone."
"There's no law saying they gotta be nice now Sally." Sheriff Crant chided.
"Wouldn't kill them to say hello though would it."
"Can't blame 'em for being quiet can we?"
The Sheriff had seen them around a few times, new age cultists of some sort but he wasn't sure exactly which religion they belonged to.
"Looks like they're stocking up for winter." Sally the waitress pointed to the bags as they walked along.
"Yeah, guess so." Crant narrowed his eyes. "Lots of people out there?"
"Someone said they had about half a dozen families out there in that house."
"So why did they go to the hard ware store and not the grocery store?" the Sheriff mused. "Keep the coffee hot." He stood and headed outside.

"Hello there."
Brother Lucien turned at the voice, his three comrades also halted and looked at the Sheriff in his khaki uniform and wide brimmed hat.
"What can we do for you officer?" Lucien smiled, eager to get this over with.
"Just seeing how you guys are doing." The man smiled, "We don't see you much in town."
"We are a self sufficient community." Lucien said. "We need only a few supplies."
"Really?" he halted close to them. "Like what?"
"I believe that is our business Sheriff." Lucien kept smiling falsely.
"Well of course, just curious." Crant stepped back, he decided he'd just ask the shop owner instead. "Drive safely now."
"We will officer." The turned and walked on.
One of the men quickly walked up to Lucien "Brother, when he walks into…"
"Silence, act normal we are almost there."
The man looked behind him and saw the Sheriff stood watching them go, he gave a little wave.
It was then that the man tripped, falling behind Lucien with a whelp and spilling his bags. They split and scattered hundreds of rounds of ammunition across the street. Sheriff Crant stopped waving and rushed forward.
"Incompetent fool!" Lucien snarled, quickly taking a hand gun from under his jacket. In a sharp professional move he aimed and fired at Crant before he could unholster his own weapon, dropping the law man.
Shouts of alarm came from the town as news of the shooting spread quickly, within minutes other police would come.
"You have endangered our duty to Kane." Lucien said coldly raising the gun to his fallen comrade. "I show you his mercy." And fired.

Within a day the area around the cults home was swarming with police and federal agents, the house was a large building surrounded by a simple fence which would do little to halt the forces around the building. While most regular army and national guard units were busy with more pressing matters the police and FBI led groups were still well armed and professional.
Special Agent Andrews was given the job of resolving this situation, and while he preferred negotiation he had a dark feeling that this would end in bloodshed.
"We've identified sixteen males, ten females and around ten children." The blue clad figure of Lieutenant Rosco reported, he was head of a SWAT team from a nearby city and had set up snipers across the local countryside.
"Do we know which ones murdered the Sheriff and the shop owner?" Andrews asked.
"No sir, so we have to consider them all hostile."
"Weapons?"
Rosco handed Andrews a report. "Its all in there, a selection of assault rifles and semi auto's. Tough crowd."
"The three shots fired into Sheriff Crant were all within two inches of each other." Andrews said. "At least one of these guys is a marksman of the highest order, so keep your people low."
The SWAT officer nodded.
"Well, better go say hello." Andrews shrugged.
"After all that about marksmen you're going out there?"
"Gotta show no fear." Andrews said. "Besides, I'm prepared." He tapped his chest, the thud of body armour sounding as he stepped forward.
"Unless they shoot him in the head." Rosco muttered.

Agent Andrews took a megaphone and stood at the gates.
"Attention." He said, his voice booming. "This is the FBI. We only want the men who murdered the two people in town yesterday. We have no interest in anybody else."
There was no answer.
"These man will stand trial in court and face whatever punishment they are found deserving off, all we ask is that you surrender the killers, and we will all leave."
There was still no response, Andrews glanced at Rosco who shrugged.
"FBI!" a voice shouted from the house.
"I hear you." Andrews replied.
"Leave our land or we will begin killing!"
"We cannot leave without the murderers."
A bullet ricocheted in front of Andrews feet.
"You have been warned!"
Andrews turned and went to join Rosco.
"Bring in the armoured vehicles." He said. "Then start jamming phone signals, cut their power, water, everything. This isn't going to be pretty."

"We will be judged." Lucien said to his followers. "we have been given a holy cause, our master has spoken to us and provided us with meaning."

The group looked on, each armed with assault rifles.

"Kane has commanded, we will obey, and this continent will know his power and glory."

They murmured their support.

"Life and death are irrelevant, Kane has shown us the way, he who defeats death does not fear it, and whoever follows him need not fear it either. We do his will."

"By his will." The group said.

"To your places, let nothing interfere." Lucien stood. "Do not fear death, just use it."

Agent Andrews had been stood staring at the two storey wooden house for hours, examining it from every angle to see signs of what was happening inside. The building was in the middle of a field with clear fields of fire on all sides, approaching it unseen would be virtually impossible. Since the news got out a number of TV crews had shown up with the extra police officers and some local townspeople as spectators.

"Can we keep those guys out of the way?" Andrews asked.

"We try, but the last time I shifted some journalists there was a law suit." Lieutenant Rosco of the local Swat team shuddered.

"Sometimes I wonder about the legal system." The agent sighed. "Any communication?"

"Not a thing sir."

As Andrews looked on he heard a steady rumble behind him, turning he saw dust rising from the road behind leading through the expansive crop fields that marked the area.

"Here's something." Rosco looked through his binoculars. "Military trucks, two of them, and a jeep."

"What could the army want here?" Andrews frowned.

The convoy drove up through the civilian spectators and crossed the police lines, thundering to a halt beside the operations tent, a green clad bulldog of a man leapt from the jeep and pounded over.

"You in charge here?" he asked gruffly.

"I am, Special Agent Andrews, FBI."

"Not anymore, I'm Colonel Durning, Iowa National Guard, I'm assuming control of this matter."

"Colonel, the FBI has…"

"These orders are direct from the Governor, you wanna argue jurisdiction talk with him." The man snapped. "Situation report."

"Approximately thirty combatants inside, along with an undetermined number of children." Rosco said.

"Alright, reconnaissance first, we'll send in a team and scout the area and certify how many hostiles there are." Durning said.

"Wait a minute Colonel," Rosco said, "My guys are trained for this, if you want a recon team just send my team in."

"This is a military matter now thank you, I'll handle it. The governor wants a fast solution, and we're it."

Andrews grimaced as the Colonel moved away to the troops debarking from his trucks.

"I don't like this," Rosco said. "I mean I don't want to be all sympathetic to murderers but if they go in there like that they'll think its an attack."

"It could make them kill the children like they threatened." Andrews agreed. "This is ridiculous."

"I'm going to get on the line to the Governor, see what the hell this is about."

"Maybe the Attorney General can get us our Jurisdiction back." Andrews offered. "I'll see what these guys do."

Andrews stared as the soldiers moved across the open ground, something was very wrong here, all twenty of them were advancing steadily with a jeep following close behind, it was the least subtle recon mission Andrews had ever heard of. It was obvious the people in the house would see them and likely open fire.

"No, the Governor!" Rosco shouted on the phone behind him. "I don't care, get him here, this is an emergency!"

Andrews turned his attention back to the house, the twenty troops were within fifty metres now and making no effort to hide, it was a shockingly amateur like performance. Even so, no fire came from the house.

"They put me on hold." Rosco growled.

"Look at these guys." Andrews pointed. "That's no way to check out a place."

Rosco went white. "They're walking right into a trap!" he scrambled for a radio. "What frequency are they on!"

"He didn't say, just try them all!" Andrews found his own radio and flicked it on, but something caught his eye before he spoke.

"Colonel Durning, come in." Rosco yelled. "Colonel?"

Andrews had seen something on one of the army trucks which had brought the soldiers in, a scratch on the paintwork beside the door. He moved closer and examined it, scratching away at the green paint to find red paint underneath it, some of the green still stuck to his fingers.

"Rosco, what sort of trucks do the National guard use?"

"Standard GMC's just like those, why?"

"Can you get them on the civilian market?" Andrews asked.

"Yeah, you can get them surplus."

Andrews swore, cursing himself. "Get your guys together right now!"

"What? Why?"

"Those guys aren't real soldiers!"

Andrews ran out of the tent for a clear view of the house, just in time to see the doors open and a tall thin man step out and shake hands with the bogus Colonel Durning.

"Dammit! Snipers?"

"Out of position!" Rosco called back.

Andrews could only watch as the twenty well armed men dashed into the house and joined the others.

"Washington isn't going to like this."

"Brother Lucien!" Durning grinned. "Kane sends his blessing and these warriors to aid your defence until the task is done."

"Excellent, and did you bring the other items?"

Durning gestured to two men running from the jeep with two large well wrapped bundles.

"He did, the final pieces are in place."

"And with all the worlds media watching we shall strike a blow for our great leader, and change the face of the world."