Chapter Twenty Three- Shootout on God's Doorstep
Duma growled as he saw every mammal get behind cover, this wasn't how it was supposed to go but he wasn't one to back down from a hard fight.
He also got behind a wall, bracing to be shot at but the moment didn't come, instead there was a constant fizzing sound and as he popped out, Duma knew why.
"Damnit! Cheeky bastards" he cursed as he aimed at the large cloud of smoke that obstructed his view.
He fired his 50 caliber rifle into the smoke and watched about 15 mammals come out from it, three of them fired as they ran, making the cheetah duck and bare his fangs in anger.
Though the church Duma was in was a good distance away from the SWAT team, and he knew they were trying to get closer to him.
He fired again at the wall some of them were hiding behind, pulling the bolt back and repeating the process once more, before jolting back into cover.
He took a deep breath and began to concentrate, popping back out and firing again, and missing again, he cursed out loud as he reloaded.
He ranted to himself in his head, How did that grizzly see him? He wasn't even lined up with a shot yet, he hadn't even aimed, it made him angry that he didn't have the element of surprise anymore.
He continued firing potshots at the advancing mammals, every time either hitting a wall or missing just barely.
Though in his anger and precise aiming, he failed to notice another thing, and he realized it's presence at the last possible second. A loud crack came from somewhere in front of him and a 50 caliber bullet whizzed right past his head, Duma jumped back behind the wall with his fur puffed up.
"How the hell did those bastards get a 50 cal?!" He yelled at himself as he peeped out from his nest. There was no glint, no movement, no nothing, he was deeply troubled by that but didn't show it.
He took another shot at the mammals, hearing a loud yell in response, but before he could confirm he had hit one there was another crack followed by yet another in quick succession "two of them!? You've gotta be fucking me right now!" he yelled as he ducked and fired a round randomly at where he thought the shots came from, there was no response.
What was worse was he was now being suppressed by every one of the mammals moving toward him, there were chips of wood flying at him as they shot up the bell tower, with the large metal bell ringing as it was riddled with lead.
Making the conclusion he wasn't winning, Duma slid down the ladder of the church tower and ran down the stairs into the building.
"Hey dumbasses! They're coming!" He yelled at about a dozen mammals he had picked for this, all of them grabbed their weapons and quickly ran out while Duma tried to think of a strategy.
With two snipers on him, there was no way he could efficiently pick them off one by one, so he was forced to either ditch his rifle or find a better spot.
He chose both options and grabbed an Ak-47 from the floor, bursting the door open with his rifle and running to find another vantage point, something that there were many of.
. . .
Sergeant Charlie Redbone laid on his stomach as he looked through his binoculars and at the belltower, he and Catherine had very quickly shooed the sniper off, now they only waited for the teams to get to the church.
"Looks like the bugger went inside . . ." He mumbled as he pulled the bolt back and chambered his brass "Echo 4-3 to Bravo Six, the sniper buggered off and went into the church" he said as Catherine knelt beside him.
"Copy that, Charlie, keep us posted" Grizzoli's voice came through the other end of the radio.
"You think Mchorn'll use his gun yet?" Catherine asked quietly beside him "there's no telling, it wouldn't be very accurate at the distance they're at" Redbone said in full concentration.
"Well you don't really need to be accurate with a minigun Charlie" the snow leopard added, speaking the truth.
"Mmm, fair enough . . ." He said, peering through his sniper scope.
. . .
Officers Leonard Grizzoli, Fangmeyer and Mchorn rushed from one wall to the other as they advanced towards yet another church with another sniper.
"You see that sniper yet, John?" He whispered hastily to Fangmeyer, who shook his head "no, the bastard must still be up there" the wolf responded with an angry face.
"Ya think it's another 50 cal?" Mchorn asked gripping his minigun, "I'm not sure, but it sounded a lot like it" Grizzoli answered as he looked behind them.
"I can suppress 'em if ya want . . ." The rhino offered as his gun began to spin "there's no need, Mchorn, the sniper went inside" the sudden British accent of Price spoke.
"Besides, it would give our position away to every mammal for miles, and if that sniper went inside then we should move" Grizzoli added earnestly before standing up and poking his head out from cover.
He could see the bell tower clear as day, in his mind he reckoned it was less than a mile away, and that as long as they kept their heads down they should be fine.
Grizzoli saw the hulking figure of Price rush past him as he thought, followed by Nick and Delgato, he quickly followed as the SWAT team grew closer and closer to the church.
"There isn't any way we can just go around these guys?" Nick asked as they ran in a tight formation "no, just like that last tower, I bet it has a view for miles" Grizzoli answered.
"At least we've got two snipers this time around" Mchorn added, looking back for a second "yeah, let's just hope it doesn't end up the same way it did last time though . . ." Nick said with pessimism and some worry.
"Nah, it won't . . ." Price said as they continued moving "Rouen's pulling his men back, which means there should only be a few of 'em if we don't allow them to call anybody" he said confidently.
As they got closer, Grizzoli could hear yelling and shouting from the building "well it doesn't sound like that sniper's alone in there" he said, interrupting the silence as he watched Price and Fangmeyer nod.
"Didn't think he would be . . ." Price said with a cigar in his mouth and stopped suddenly "Fangmeyer, Wilde, come with me, we're going for that sniper. Grizzoli, they probably have more coming, cover our ass" the grizzly ordered.
"Why are we splitting up?" Grizzoli questioned "because we can't take any chances this time, they'll surround us if they get the chance" Price explained giving him an earnest expression.
Grizzoli seemed to understand as the three mammals separated from the formation.
. . .
Officer Johnathan Fangmeyer hugged the wall of the church beside Nick and Price, they had a visual of yet another church yard but there was no one there.
He looked at Price and nodded before very quietly moving toward the front doors and putting his ear up against the wall "I hear movement" he advised as the two mammals ran up to him.
"What do you think we'll be dealing with?" Nick asked in response "no time to think about it, Wilde" Price answered, reaching to his side and grabbing a flashbang.
He saw the grizzly look at them both before pulling the pin, quickly opening the large door and throwing the grenade into the church and closing it, they all got on the ground as the door was riddled with bullets.
When the small explosion sounded behind the doors, they all got up and breached, almost immediately killing several mammals.
They returned fire very quickly and Fangmeyer ducked for cover, reloading his M4 and straightening up as he was shot at. He saw Nick and Price behind cover as well, but he was the only one reloading.
He watched Price pop out from cover and fire five loud bursts with his M16, downing multiple hostiles before moving up in quick succession, shooting each body he passed another time, and that was it, the firefight was over. Fang and Nick quickly followed him as the grizzly stood still in the middle of the hall.
"That's some good work" Price said, taking out a cigar and quickly lighting it as they stood there "Charlie said that sniper buggered off . . . They probably didn't get very far" the grizzly said with the cigar wedged in his mouth. Fangmeyer nodded "right, where do you think he went?" He asked as Price shook his head "I'm not sure, there's a lot of cover in a shithole like this . . ." Price said, blowing smoke from his muzzle.
"This is Bravo Six, the church is clear" Price said after searching the bell tower and coming back down, Grizzoli's voice called back from the radio "copy that Price, we're headed to you then" Fang watched the bear nod his head before holstering his radio again.
"SAS to team 1, how copy?" Diego's voice asked over the radio "contact at the church, hostiles have been dispatched but be advised there's a sniper hiding somewhere, stay frosty" Price said without even gripping his radio "rog, we'll keep an eye out then" Diego said as the doors to the church slowly opened to reveal Grizzoli, Team 1 and Redbone.
He watched Price take the initiative "we need to find that damn sniper before we move any further . . . Fengmeyer, Wilde, Grizzoli and Charlie, you're with me" he said as he walked over and stood next to the door.
Before Fang could say anything he heard Charlie speak first "on it captain" the gray wolf said standing next to the grizzly "Delgato, stay here and make sure those bastards don't come back, if you don't hear from us in a half hour get your ass over there" Fangmeyer watched the lion nod.
As the five mammals exited the church slowly, they were led towards the area surrounding the building.
The sniper could be anywhere around them, and they took very noticeable caution as they advanced.
Fangmeyer's ears moved erratically as he listened to every single sound he could possibly hear, but he heard nothing but the sound of their own feet.
"What are you planning, Price?" Grizzoli whispered as they continued "to kill that damn sniper, if we don't he'll screw us over" he responded patiently.
"He couldn't've gone far . . ." Redbone added as that deafening silence began to kick in yet again, although this time it was only for a short while as they searched for the sniper.
The silence was interrupted by the sudden stop of Price, who put his hand up "what?" Grizzoli asked as Price turned around "we're getting close, Redbone and I will fall back a little and cover your six, notify us if you find him" Fangmeyer watched Grizzoli nod at this, followed with Price and Redbone slowly disappearing behind them.
"Alright guys, let's find this bastard," Grizzoli said as they pressed on.
AN: Sorry for the very late upload here, but I'll try to be more consistent this June, any apologies for the short AN this time around, kinda tired while writing this. Anywho, hope your enjoying the story so far, and again, it is VERY appreciated if you could leave a comment or review, it motivates me lots.
Until next time, chao. A Laughing Wolf