CHAPTER 10: NERVE-POINT
Nadia Florence killed more terrorists as they stormed up to the second floor to find out what was with all the sound of helicopters. After dropping three terrorists, she ran out of ammo. Now what was she going to do? Nadia heard more men moving up the stairs. She decided to move back to one of the men she killed to take his Kalashnikov, but felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. He touched the spot where she felt pain on her head, and saw dark-red blood on her hands. She felt another strike, this time against her back. She stumbled onto the floor, but she was able to turn around, and saw three terrorists began to carry her down the stairs. She lost consciousness at that point.
Sam Fisher, still hiding in the shadows, planned on how to kill the terrorists, capture Fouad, and destroy the motion-sensitive mines all nearly at the same time. Fisher noticed movement to the far right of the lobby, and saw three terrorists carrying Nadia. They dropped her onto a chair, and tied her hands around her back. The poor young woman was unconscious. Fisher watched the terrorist leader move towards the terrorists that escorted her. He exchanged a few words in Dari language, and the terrorists moved back up the staircase to the second floor. Fouad returned to his post, watching the terrorists carefully. Another terrorist left his post, and moved to the other side of the room. He stood next to the unconscious Nadia, making sure that when she wakes up, she won't run. Fisher watched Fouad motion the terrorist, and the terrorist nodded, and dimmed the lights. Bad move. Sam could use the darkness as a tool. He could take out the terrorist, distract Fouad, and capture him, all at once.
Fisher moved slowly to the terrorist, until Sam was right next to him. The terrorist didn't know what hit him. Sam punched the man so hard, he could hear the man's nose break. The terrorist fell back against the wall, creating a loud thud. Fouad looked into the dim room, and saw Sam faintly. Fisher flipped the switch, and brightened the room back to its full luminescence. Fisher pointed his SC-20 pistol at Fouad Zillah. The other terrorists in the room pointed their AK-47s at Sam Fisher. Classical Mexican Standoff. Fouad stepped forward, and smiled.
"You must be the rescue team. Just one man?" Fouad said in a thick Middle Eastern accent.
"No, there's about seventy other guys outside waiting. You and your little squad of troops should surrender." Fisher said.
The hostages in the lobby were all watching the unfolding scenario, like watching a movie in a theater.
"No. I shall not surrender. Allah's Voice shall not surrender!" Fouad motioned one of his terrorists to shoot Fisher, but Fisher took him down with a few quick shots.
Fouad's face was angry.
"Mr. Zillah, I can take out all of your men at the speed of three seconds. You and your boys should really..." Fisher's voice was interrupted when he felt a sharp stab into his shoulder. Fisher collapsed and blacked out.
Back at Uganda, Angela Xaddur, and the rest of the Third Echelon team tried to figure out what happened to Fisher. The reconnaissance satellite shut down due to a power outage a few hours ago, but an hour elapsed, and Fisher did not speak, nor he was not responding to his OPSAT texts. Lambert feared Fisher may have been killed, but reconsidered that. Since he's known Fisher he has always survived, even if he should of been killed. Just a few minutes ago, Lambert radioed Colonel Vasnir Opalev, and ordered him to move his troops into the embassy ASAP. Opalev agreed, and is currently moving troops into the embassy.
Fisher had woken up from his unconsciousness. But he was being shaken frantically by someone. Fisher could feel his body violently moving, his head was in pain so much. When Fisher's eyes focused, he discovered Nadia was shaking him, and shouting at him. The room they were occupied was dim, but he knew it was Nadia's face.
"Please, Mr. Hiker, get up. Please! Wake up, get the fuck up!" The woman exclaimed.
"I'm up, I'm awake. What's going on?"
"We're locked inside a small closet. They've put something in here, and I don't know what is. It's beeping every five seconds." Fisher turned around, and saw the opaque outline of an object on the wall. Fisher immediately knew what it was: a claymore.
"It's a bomb. I've got to disarm it." Fisher felt for his K-BAR, but he felt nothing. In fact, he did not feel anything. He didn't feel his night-vision goggles on his head, nor did he feel any of his weapons. They've confiscated his tools.
"Shit. I need something sharp. You've got anything sharp? Anything pointy?" Nadia felt around her pockets, and paused when she felt something in her pocket. She pulled it out. It was a small brown hair clip.
"Is this good enough?" Nadia asked, presenting him the clip.
"Yeah." Sam stood up and went to the Claymore. Fisher remembered that a Claymore had three main wires than connected to the fuse, detonator, and detonator fluid. The detonator was the key part of the bomb, so Fisher had to "scoop" out the center wire, which connected to the detonator. Fisher used the hair clip to locate the middle wire, to "scoop" it out of the Claymore itself. It took Sam fifteen seconds to disarm the bomb.
"Got it. Bomb is off." Fisher said. Nadia reached over to Sam, and hugged him. Fisher felt that feeling again, the same feeling he got from Angela hugging him. It was a weird feeling.
"You're a hero. Now get us out of here." Nadia said trying the doorknob.
"No. Forget the door." Fisher moved to the other side of the closet, and reached up to the ceiling. He opened a grate, which led to the ventilation shaft. "Up here. We can go. You go up first, I'll follow behind." Fisher said. Nadia cautiously moved up to the shaft, Fisher hoisted her up until she was inside the shaft. Fisher followed behind.
Vasnir Opalev and his squad of seventy Spetsnaz commandos swiftly infiltrated the embassy, reaching and securing the first upper floors. The first floor was tough to secure. It took twenty minutes to flush out the terrorists, and eliminate them. The Spetsnaz were armed with silenced submachine guns, so it was easy to get away with killing, and not frightening the hostages. The motion-sensitive mines were destroyed, and hostages secure, but there was no sign of Fouad Zillah. There was also no sign of Sam Fisher, or the inside woman.
