Chapter Eight: Jill's Partner
"Come on, Spike, anything else?" The longer it took to figure out who Claire was after, the more likely they would lose another life to the grieving, raging woman.
"The Brenton people Claire had meetings with in the weeks before her husband's death- three of them are still in the building," Spike immediately reported, his fingers flying across his keyboard even as he spoke.
"Okay, I want phone numbers," Parker ordered, but Spike had already anticipated the order.
"Phone numbers from the company directory coming at you."
Greg stood long enough to rip the printed page away from the printer, then set the page between them and pointed to a number. "Let's find these three people before Claire does. You get that one."
"Yeah."
The beeping and blipping of their phones joined the background hum of the Command Truck and its computers as they raced against the clock to prevent more deaths.
Greg kept his eyes on Jill's as he explained, "There were three targeted people still inside the building. All three gave me their location via text message."
"And?" Her anger was still there, but she'd restrained it for the moment.
"We told them to stay concealed and that we were coming to get them."
"Removing the targets to stop the killing," Jill concluded.
A quick nod. "That's right. We broke off into three teams for the retrieval."
Jill frowned. "From what Detective Onasi implied, the entire reason for sticking with two teams up to this point was to…take advantage of his and Inspector Simmons' unique talents. Why drop that?"
The SRU Sergeant kept his face calm. "At that point, retrieving the three targets was more important that taking advantage of those talents." Plus, by then, the two Aurors had encircled Claire with their magical perimeter and the time for relying on magic was past.
With a brief tap of her pen against the page, Jill asked, in a completely innocent voice, "And what were those talents again?"
Not a bad try, Greg had to admit, but Jill had a ways to go before she could trick a negotiator that easily. "As I'm sure Commander Holleran and various members of my team have already told you, that's classified under the Official Secrets Act," he replied, polite, but with an undercurrent of steel in his voice and gaze.
Jill's eyes narrowed. "You do understand that withholding this information does not reflect well on you or your team, don't you, Sergeant Parker?"
"I – and my team – made a commitment to keep everything covered under the Official Secrets Act classified and that's exactly what we're doing, Jill." Having said his piece on that, Greg moved on. "Now, while Alpha Team remained the same, Bravo Team sent Onasi to myself and Spike. Each team took one location and we knew that Claire would be in one of these three places."
Bravo Team entered the exhibit, maneuvering through the displays, ignoring the pottery and other ancient artifacts, and with weapons up. A woman's voice rang out from nearby. "She's not here."
"Please come out slowly," Lou called, "Keep your hands where we can see them."
The woman stepped out from her hiding spot, hands in the air. She wore a black, sleeveless, backless dress with sequins and glittery fabric all over. Blonde hair was cut short and hung around her face, which held both fear and relief that the team had found her before Claire could.
"What's your name?" Jules asked.
"Nora. Nora Pullan."
"She's a target," Jules hissed to her two teammates.
Sam made the call on the radio. "All right, we need a civilian escort."
"You're going to be just fine, ma'am," Lou reassured the woman. "We have an officer coming who will escort you out of the building."
On the team's comm, Sam reported, "Okay, Bravo Team complete."
In the older part of the building, Sarge, Spike, and Giles moved along a balcony right next to where a domed ceiling could be seen. Giles, though he kept alert, took a few seconds to glance over at the ceiling, impressed by the architecture and intricate design built decades earlier. Spike snuck a look at the Auror and decided to bring him back to the museum another time…maybe bring his Boss's kids too.
In the meantime, at Sam's report, Sarge ordered, "Sam, Lewis, join up with Ed, Wordy, and Nathan. Jules, you come find me."
Bravo Team acknowledged, even as they split up and joined their teammates.
Claire entered the next exhibit, uncaring that it was almost pitch black in the room. She advanced carefully, slowly, searching for her next target. She had bought some time by trapping the cops, but she knew she was running out of time to extract the only justice her husband would ever get. As she reached the lighted area, she scanned again and spotted him…hiding like the coward he was behind a wall crafted to look like the stonework walls of civilizations long dead…dead like her husband.
As their eyes locked, he moved away, begging already. "No. No."
"Scott Williams?" she asked, even though she already knew who he was.
"No," the white-haired man in a tux and a ridiculous black bow tie pleaded, "Please. You don't need to do this."
Ice calm marked her voice. "I do. No one would listen to me." As she took aim, she shouted, "Now maybe they will!"
"I have a family."
She saw red. "So did I!"
Greg had his hearing up and he was very grateful for the grounding his 'team sense' gave him as a shot rang out, close by. "Shots fired. Northeast direction."
The quartet burst into the next gallery, searching frantically; Onasi hissed under his breath and cast a quick, "Homenum Revelio." A bluish light illuminated a nearby area, but it was already fading away.
The team bolted for that area regardless, Spike in the lead. Spike took one look and lowered his weapon, calling a quiet, "Boss?" over his shoulder. Auror and Sergeant halted at the doorway as Spike knelt and checked for a pulse. Jules scanned the area, hoping to catch a glimpse of Claire, but she was long gone. Spike looked up with a quick headshake and a single word. "No."
"Eddie, Text Two is down. We're headed your way. You got the ball."
Sam and Lou intercepted Wordy, Ed, and Simmons as the latter three came up the green stairwell. The combined Alpha Team ascended a short flight of steps to enter an animal exhibit, complete with a large rhinoceros facing the stairs they'd just used. Not far away from them, they heard a woman's voice, ranting angrily.
"Blood…in his lungs. He was literally drowning…"
"We got a visual on the shooter," Ed reported, "Her gun is down."
"…every time he took a breath." Claire was pacing back and forth in front of a terrified couple, waving her free hand as she shouted at them. Her gun was down, but it would be all-too-easy for her to bring it up and shoot the innocent civilians. Both wore black clothing, the man in a tux and the woman in a black, backless dress, and both had dark hair. The woman clung to her husband's arm; the projection of the world's population on the wall behind Claire almost a sick joke with what Claire planned for at least one of the couple.
"She's talking with our Text Three," the team leader added.
His Boss's response was rather predictable. "That's a good sign. If Claire's talking to him, maybe she'll talk to us." He paused a moment. "Simmons, can you disarm her?"
Ed glanced back to see Simmons' regretful headshake. "Not without violating the Statute," the Auror replied. "If it were just her, I'd do it, but with those two…"
"Copy that." A trace of frustration, but both Ed and Greg had known that would be the likely response. "What about Apparition coordinates?"
"That I can do," Simmons replied as he quickly fell back with a nod to the rest of Alpha Team. "I'll get to where they can't hear it and let you know."
Ed shifted back to the confrontation. "Sam, hold cover. Wordy, Lou, and I will move in."
"Team One, do not engage until I get there," Sarge ordered as the trio moved up and found better spots. Sam braced himself at the end of a display behind his teammates, ready if Claire escalated.
"Tell me again, how much is a life worth?" Claire demanded of the man she was facing.
"I-I don't know," he stammered. "I'll give you as much as you want."
"Wrong answer!" she shrieked. "I don't…want…your money!"
"She's escalating," Sam hissed.
"I want you to pay," Claire howled, about to bring her gun up.
The man's wife threw herself in front of her husband with a cry of, "Don't hurt him!"
Claire let out a shriek of frustration and whirled to the wall behind her, slamming her palm and her gun against it in her grieving agony.
Simmons looked around for a moment, then cautiously tapped at the 'raydeo' on his waist. "Auror Onasi, stand by for Apparition coordinates," he ordered.
"Standing by," Onasi acknowledged.
Simmons reeled them off, then took three steps forward and turned; Charlie Team appeared a moment later, the three Muggles reeling a bit from the effects of Side-Along Apparition, but they recovered quickly. The Senior Auror hid his smile…a bit of harmless enjoyment wasn't a crime, after all. And it was nice to see that, no matter how good Team One was, there were still things magic was better at…and always would be.
Author note: Well, it's the end of another week and we are down to 15 people. I thank you all for your continued support as I trek my way through this coding boot camp.
Specific Prayer Needs:
1. Please pray that I would be able to keep up with my studying this weekend, even as the weather turns temptingly good. I need to keep my nose to the grind stone and make sure I learn this stuff, 'cause I'm probably going to be using it for a good chunk of my working life.
2. Please also pray for those of my coworkers who are struggling with this material. I've no idea if it's lack of study or just general struggling, but pray for my coworkers nonetheless.
3. One of my roommates moved out this week, heading for an eventual new job in Connecticut. Please pray for her during this transition and pray for a good new roommate for those of us who remain.
4. Lastly, we may be loosing another roommate very soon as she has finished her training and now moves into the next phase here at my company: getting her certifications, studying, and interviewing for jobs. Pray for her and for whatever future roommate we will get when she moves to a new job.
I am thankful for both the response I'm getting to this story as well as the advent of the weekend, where I may legitimately sleep in for a few hours. I look forward to any reviews and have a great weekend all!
sunstarunicorn