Chapter 16.
TREACHERY
A couple of days later, Matt sat in the passenger seat of the semi-truck Juggernaut parked on the huge parking lot outside the Hilton Huntington Hotel in Long Island. In the driver seat next to him sat Bishop.
He had been surprised when arriving with the team to the J.F. Kennedy airport to learn that Colonel Wolf had moved the meeting from the UN building to Melville on Long Island, 36 miles east of New York. Wolf maintained that it was easier to guard the hotel than the UN building, and with its accommodations they wouldn't have to escort the meeting delegates from their hotel to the meeting complex. He had selected the Executive Meeting Room in the hotel since it had no windows, keeping the delegates safe from snipers. The hotel itself occupied a prime location in the very heart of Melville's business and entertainment district. It was surrounded by well-tended gardens, and in its immediate surroundings the guests could find golf tracks, driving ranges, tennis courts and other pleasures.
Matt was far from pleased with the Colonels change of plans. Contrary to what Wolf said, he believed that the hotel would be more difficult to guard with its open spaces, but as he watched all the military equipment stashed everywhere, he also realized why Wolf had chosen this spot. He was less interested in providing safety for the UN-delegates, then he was in vanquishing the Syndicate's forces. 'Mayhem' was preparing for war.
The two members of the Special Missions Force examined the front of the hotel where one street limo after the other arrived to drop of its passengers. The yard in front of the hotel entrance was completely open and there was a low alcove covering the entrance. Once the guests got inside an atrium lobby with running waterfalls greeted them.
From his position Matt could see Military Police officers' patrolling, there were also see some K-9 units walking around the direct area around the hotel, the dogs sniffing for hidden explosives.
"He's putting up quite a show, isn't he?" Bishop muttered. "The colonel really hasn't been thinking in defensive terms when he selected this building for the conference. It has so many windows that even with several sentries, defending the building efficiently is quite a hard task."
"Hypocrisy." Matt agreed. "He's putting on a show for the attendants, but all he really cares about is battling the Syndicate. Taking them out will mean quite a feather in his hat."
Colonel Lyman Wolf had not been pleased to learn about the presence of the Special Missions Force. Had they not been ordered there by the World Unification Alliance; Wolf would most probably had sent them back home. Still, he had refused to allow them to get better positions. Matt had argued that the camouflage would enable the agents to be in position without being spotted, while the easier to spot military forces could provoke possible terrorists to assault civilian targets instead. Stubborn as always, Colonel Wolf had insisted to go with a deterrent tactic.
The Special Missions Force had been strategically positioned around the hotel, all of them linked together via the tactical operations center in Juggernaut's mobile command base where Paul Knight was seated. Paul had linked up to the security network and had a view over the immediate area. If something were about to happen, he had a good chance to forewarn the others.
Bruce voice came over the com-net.
"Excuse me, Matt." He said. "Do we have anything solid regarding this attack or is it just hunches?"
"Just hunches." Matt replied. "Why?"
"I'm checking out the Colonel Wolf's troops. All of them are in full combat gear and they seem a little on the edge."
Matt threw a look on the guards on his side, and he noted the same thing. The soldiers appeared almost as if they knew that something was to happen.
"I see it also, Bruce. Good eyes. I wonder if old 'Mayhem' knows something we don't."
Paul Knight also came over com-net.
"There's more than that. I know that 'Mayhem' keeps things strict by the book, but what I find odd is that there is a complete radio silence."
Matt acknowledged this, then looked over at Bishop.
"What's going on over there?"
At the same time, a blue motorcycle with sidecar was speeding along the Broad Hollow Road. Its driver had short dark hair with bangs, a Da Vinci-beard and rectangular sunglasses.
Corey Barnes, dubbed 'Sly Rax' by his former gang, watched the clock on the panel in front of him.
"T-minus three minutes!" he thought to himself.
An armored attack vehicle had already made it into almost to Melville via The New York Interstate and was nearing the Hilton Huntington Hotel. Its driver was dressed in black leather. He had dark beard, long hair with a leather bandana tied around his head and wore black glasses.
Jaime Francisco Carrasco crept up behind Lightfoot, waiting for his signal.
Another motorcycle came up on the backside of the hotel. Its pilot was a younger man with short black hair, clean-shaven and with a dark complexion. Cesar Bonica checked his watch.
Just behind Juggernaut, a black SUV pulled up. Inside sat a man dressed in a black trench coat, a pale, ghostlike ghoul with a drooping, almost dead eye and a pallid, taut mask for a face.
Cliff Dagger also kept an eye on the watch. Waiting.
Matt saw the SUV in the reflection mirror. There was really nothing out of the ordinary with the car, but somehow it still attracted his attention, like if he had seen it before.
Bishop brought him out of his thoughts.
"The Governor has arrived." He pointed out as an important looking white street limo had parked at the entrance. The hotel manager had stepped out and welcomed his special guest. They talked for a while, words that the two agents could naturally not hear, then finally walked inside.
"The sheep is in their pen." Matt muttered. "Something's bound to happen soon."
Seated in Lightfoot on Carlin Ct on the northeastern side of the hotel, Gloria spotted the armored attack vehicle that had parked behind her. She found the drivers behavior a bit strange. He looked out of place in the surroundings, and why was he just sitting there?
She swiveled the side reflection mirror on the driver side to focus on his face, then with the help of the special video cameras that was mounted on the mirrors to enable the driver to see in the cars blind spot, she brought up his image on one of the screens on the dashboard. She snapped an image, then adjusted the headset she wore.
"Paul?" She spoke in the microphone as she got in contact with her husband. "I'm transmitting an image over to you. Run an ID check on this guy, please."
The image appeared on one of the screens in the tactical operations center in Juggernaut. Paul pressed a button that prompted the computer to zoom in and begun a facial matching program. Thousands of images blurred past in a split second, then stopped on a man's mug shot. A list of information appeared alongside.
"ID confirmed." Paul told her. "Your new playmate is Jaime Francisco Carrasco. He has a background with both Curt Harker and Alexander Osborne and is a suspected associate of the Syndicate."
"You better forward this information to Matt, and check with the other guys if they have picked up some company as well." She suggested.
"Copy that." Paul said.
He thumbed another button, and in the next moment he was in contact with Matt in the cab section.
"Carrasco is here?" Matt threw a quick glance out of the side mirror, taking a longer look on the SUV parked behind them. He recognized Cliff Dagger.
He turned the radio switch over, so he could now address the whole team.
"Engage your weapons systems and take defensive positions!" He ordered.
In the corner of his eye, he saw the SUV getting into position and start a modular transformation. It was as if it were a being unhappy with its present form, a being that simply decided to alter and adjust its façade. The hood slid up and back, obscuring the windscreen. The front grill lowered, and two machine guns were protruded forth. It was the very same vehicle Andy had presented as he had briefed Matt in Hugh Heyman's office so many months ago. The vehicle finished its metamorphosis by raising a turret behind the driver section, and it now resembled something like a tank. Matt also noted the now familiar logotype of the cobra coiled to strike. The word VENOM was emblazoned next to it.
The reciprocating cannons begun firing continuous rounds of projectiles against Juggernaut, who begun its own transformation. The cab disconnected itself from its trailer, before the front flipped backwards, revealing a set of cannons located just above the bumper. Its driver and copilot were protected by an armored command post. The aft set of wheels rotated up and inwards to give way to two sets of tank treads, giving the truck a better grip on the road. The trailer, which housed the mobile command base and its tactical operations center remained on the parking lot, but it split up sideways, and a tower and missile launcher were elevated into position. From his command station, Bishop traversed the remote-controlled gun tower and returned fire against Daggers tank.
The other vehicles attacked their targets as well.
"Maximum force, team." Dagger said in the radio. "Hit them fast, where it hurts, and don't give them time to think!"
Carrasco aimed his heavy cannons against Lightfoot, but Gloria was not intimidated. She pressed a button on the control panel and an armored shield sprang up from the rear. The bullets from the other vehicle were successfully reflected. She flicked another button.
"Rear rockets armed." The onboard computer reported and switched to rear view on the HUD on the control panel. Gloria targeted the engine on her adversary, then fired.
From the rear fender a rocket left its concealed launcher, but Jaime saw it coming and swerved hard to the right. The rocket flew by and demolished a parked jaguar.
Cesar Bonica had targeted Gator on the southern side of the hotel, but he was to secure in himself and his abilities and was to slow to react as a ball of crackling electricity launched itself from Gator's gun. Bonica was caught head on; a surge of electricity shocked his body, while his motorbike's electronics all short-circuited.
Soaring in from high altitude cloud cover came more crafts to join the ground forces - several Talon choppers came in over the area, appearing out of nowhere with the help of their advanced stealth-systems. Troopers in the black and brown uniforms, with the mirror visor helmets ran into position, threatening the Special Missions Force with their Grenade launchers.
Answering the challenge, the Special Missions Force team formed a defensive line, laying out cover fire to allow Thunderhawk and Phalanx to take off to give air support.
The two fliers dove in eagerly, dodging and jamming missiles, betting their reflexes against the enemy's.
"Watch out, Matt!" Paul's voice came over the net. "There's a fighter coming down, two o´clock!"
Matt reacted without thinking, kicking out with his foot and flinging the stick hard over. He dropped the jet on its wing in a tight turn, just in the nick of time. a jet flashed past, its tracers streaking through the spot where Thunderhawk should have been but was not. The jet resembled a F-22 Raptor, with its nose and fins painted in purple.
He put the nose of Thunderhawk down for an instant to gather speed, and then swinging around his axis zoomed upwards. When he got the other fighter in his sight, the machineguns in the wings begun their hacking sound and the entire plane rocked in rhythm.
His adversary climbed in an elegant arc, skillfully avoiding the shower of led that Matt had sent at him.
Matt made a turn to meet him, but before he had got into firing position, the fighter had somehow managed to tumble around and were suddenly behind him. A steady stream of bullets penetrated the wings on Thunderhawk.
Thunderhawk spun around and the other pilot climbed beyond range but turned and dove straight for him once more spitting out bullets at him. The VENOM-vehicle passed him, turned around during its dive and came back as a projectile. Matt were surprised at this maneuver and realized that he was battling it out with a deadly skilled opponent.
Below an intense volley of projectiles was launched against Rattler who punched up all the ECM systems to protect him from the worst of the onslaught.
Morten was relieved to see Ranger moving up to his side.
"What's your status, Morten?" Hondo asked.
"Small amount of damage so far." Morten replied.
Panic was everywhere around the two battling forces. People fled their cars and ran by foot away from the burning chaos. Cars that tried to escape the area jammed the streets in a total gridlock. This spelled even more trouble for the Special Missions Force who had to keep a close eye on what they were doing. It would only need one panic-stricken pedestrian to run out into the street at the wrong time, and they would have a serious accident on their hands.
Police cars alerted by the commotion approached with their sirens wailing. They began to seal off the roads, to prevent civilians from getting into the line of fire and hoping to be able to contain the fighting to that particular area while they waited for the military forces stationed around the hotel to break it up.
"All units, what's your status?" Matt demanded in the radio. He was still engaged in his duel with the purple finned hostile, and it was all he could to do to keep it of his tail. In the top of a loop, he made a half-roll and looked around for his opponent and gasped for air when his adversary swept past with only a few meters space between the two planes. He got a quick glance of the pilot as they passed one another, and he actually believed it to be a woman.
"We are taking fire from all directions." Bruce reported. "What I find really strange is that there have been no attempts at taking the hotel. They seem to focus solely on us!"
Matt threw a quick look over his shoulder towards the Hilton Hotel. There had indeed been no attempts from the hostile forces to enter the hotel. And Colonel Wolf's men was still standing at their posts, apparently obvious to the battle. It didn't make any sense. Wolf had enough troops stationed around the area to stop an army, so why weren't they doing their job?
As if on cue, in the midst of all the mayhem, the colonel's voice suddenly rang out clear and firm on the open channel of the radio.
"Cease!"
Immediately every one of the hostile forces ceased firing.
With his hands on his back, Colonel Wolf walked slowly out on the yard in front of the hotel. Four armed soldiers accompanied him. The colonel was an iceman, clearly showing who was in charge. He lifted his short-wave transmitter to his mouth once more.
"Let's not have a scene."
"Colonel Wolf," Matt said through the radio as he circled above the hotel. "Please explain this."
"I have the Governor and the UN delegates in custody and I will shoot them if you try anything stupid!" Wolf informed. "Order you men to cease fighting."
Matt ordered his men to stand down, then he addressed the colonel directly.
"What have you done?" He asked slowly.
"Only what I should have done from the beginning." Wolf replied. "I'm taking control, so we can whip our country back into shape. With your brother's brilliant vehicle plans my new organization VENOM will bring a new order to this country!"
Matt was unable to hold back his disgust.
"You know, I once believed you to a patriot, but I guess it's true what they say: Everybody has their price."
"It has nothing to do with being bought, Trakker!" Wolf barked. "I served in the Middle East to defend our glorious country from the foreigners, and how does America reward us for our struggle? By opening the door and let the filth into our country!"
"Your prejudice is sickening, Wolf." Matt explained. "The cold war are a thing of the past. We striver for peace now and it is better to reach out a hand of friendship instead of shooting at one another."
"Peace?" 'Mayhem' snorted. "The common people know nothing about peace. It is during the peace times that those animals plan their violent take-overs by pretending to be friends. How many of the foreigners the government has so foolishly let into important positions could happen to be spies? Now I want to see a fast bugout, or the state of New York will lose their top man! From this moment everyone in this building belong to the VENOM!"
The Talon choppers that had been part of the battle landed on the field outside the Hilton Huntington Hotel. Troopers in the black and brown uniforms, with the mirror visor helmets ran into position, leveling their weapons at the Special Missions Force. Facing the weapons and the inevitable, the Special Missions Force slowly evacuated from Long Island, although they were reluctant to leave.