"Lewis," Hansen snapped, "how many minutes?"
"Six minutes, thirteen seconds."
Hansen shook his head, and reached for a button.
Russ stopped him, "What are you doing? Oscar's just helping an old man...."
Hansen stared deeply into the young man's eyes. "Are you willing to stake Goldman's life on that assumption?" When Russ didn't answer, Jack said, "I thought not."
Hansen pressed the button.
"All units, this is Stepmother, we are at code zulu, alpha, charlie, four. I repeat, we are at code zulu, alpha, charlie, four. All units move in!" Hansen unholstered his weapon and turned to Russ, indicating the younger man's gun, "You know how to use that thing?"
"Yes."
"Then let's go."
Russ followed Hansen out of the van and they ran with agents in tow toward Oscar's building.
As the sound of running footsteps filled the corridors, the terrorists moved their two hostages out into the hallway, quickly shoving them toward the stairwell leading to the roof. OSI and NSB agents appeared as they made their way up the rooftop stairs. The terrorists open-fire, and the Federal agents took cover, holding their own gunfire, for fear that they might hit Oscar or Jaime. Sommers watched in horror as Oscar collapsed to the ground.
"Oscar!"
The man gruffly moved her up the stairs, and turned to the one behind him, as he moved in Goldman's direction.
"Leave him, he's dead already."
Jaime's heart stopped for a second as the words registered in her mind. She tried to turn back to look, but the man kept shoving her along. Hansen and Russ reached the stairwell just as the agents cautiously moved upward. Russ bent down to check Oscar, and Hansen moved his teams up to the roof. The terrorists turned and fired as the agents tried to storm the roof. Hansen looked at his second in command.
"Set up teams on all adjacent rooftops and seal the area. They've got themselves into a corner, there's nowhere for them to go. The can't go down, and with the airspace restricted, they sure as hell aren't going up."
"Yes sir!"
The man headed back down the stairs just as they all heard the impossible: it was the sound of rotor blades. Hansen peered out through the door of the roof, and saw a helicopter rise above the people on the roof, tossing lines down for them to climb up.
Hansen yelled, "Damnit, no! How is this happening...."
The largest of the men grabbed Jaime from behind, but using her bionics, she broke away. Another man went for her, but she knocked him down as well. Hansen and his team burst through the door and onto the roof. The two terrorists still standing opened-fire at them, causing the men to dive behind anything for cover. Jaime took off at bionic speed toward Hansen and his men, only to be cut down by a machine gun a moment later. The terrorist picked up her body, grabbed a line, and started to be pulled toward the helicopter.
Hansen screamed to be heard above the noise, "Go, go, go......"
The men moved out and for several minutes, there was only the sound of a heated battle. As the Feds dropped the remaining terrorists, the helicopter pulled away, and out of range. Hansen could only standby, as Goldman's bionic woman fell into the hands of terrorists, and it had happened on Jack's watch. He shook his head in defeat. Whether Jaime Sommers was dead or alive, he could not say. For that matter, Jack wasn't even sure if Goldman had survived. He holstered his gun and silently headed for the access door.