Chapter 16 - Iscariot
Iscariot shifted uneasily from side to side. How the hell had this happened? He couldn't believe they had found out the Instructor had been taken. And how did they know where he was? And if they knew where he was, why didn't they know who had him? Not a word had been mentioned about Crusader in the briefingand he was certain they would have issued special instructions about him if they had known he was here. And what was he, Iscariot supposed to do? He'd just joined in on the raid because it was so unusual he was certain that whatever he learned about it would be information Crusader would want. If this raid succeeded... He swallowed a suddenly dry throat. Crusader would never believe he couldn't have done something to warn him.
He was waiting with just 3 other people to break into one of the bedrooms. The countdown to break in all at once should start any minute now. Suddenly he looked around. Everyone was concentrating on the room, maybe he could pull this off. He slowly reached into one of his belt pockets with his left hand, his right held a gun just as all the others did. He mentally crossed his fingers and then threw the flash popper in towards the balcony door, shutting his own eyes as he did so. As soon as it went off, he fired his gun sending a bullet through the balcony door. He then rushed into the room, passing the men jumping from their beds. "Its a rescue mission, kill the men outside the door!" he shouted as ran through the room. He knew that Crusader would want Ishikawa killed rather than rescued, if he could pull that off without anyone from the garrison finding out, maybe Crusader would forgive him and not order him killed.
Assault teams all over the house sprang into action. They weren't all in position and many scrambled to try and enter the house and reach men who should have been sleeping before they could gather their wits and grab their weapons. Iwase and his group burst into their assigned room, although there were no lights on the night goggles they all wore allowed to see that only two people in it. Iwase immediately knocked one out as two of his men took care of the other. With a muttered "Secure them!" Iwase ran out the door. He needed to figure out where Hanuka was and protect him. He could hear windows and door crashing every where, shots and yells and the occasional scream. Part of him wondered what had caused the screw up but most of his mind was concentrated on making his way into the center of the house. He knew they would have tried to put Ishikawa in a center room away from windows and the possibility of escape.
As Iwase moved silently towards the center area of the second floor, he saw a flicker of movement in front of him. A large, heavily built man was opening a door to a center room. He waited until the man entered the room before slipping through the door after him. Even with night vision goggles it was hard to see in the room, there was no ambient light at all. He could barely make out the other man feeling his way along the wall Then Iwase saw the manacled figure hanging on the side wall at the same time he started to understand what the man was saying.
"Hey there little bitch, are you awake? Sounds like someone's figured out where you are and come to rescue you. But Crusader said if he can't keep you no one can. Wish I had time for one last game with you but I'm here to kill you instead." Just as the man found the corner and moved towards Haruka, Iwase jumped him. It was an uneven fight. Even if Iwase hadn't heard enough to send him into a killing rage, he had far more training and strength than the brute he attacked. He didn't know how long the other man had been laying on the floor not moving before he finally came to himself enough to stop hitting him, and he really didn't care.
"Haruka?" There was no answer. "Haruka, its Iwase. I'm going to get you down from there, you're going to be alright."
Iwase moved to the wall and started feeling his way towards what was keeping Haruka tied to the wall. The first touch of skin frightened him. He could feel the heat of a high fever. His fingers drifted over the skin, not wanting to touch until he knew what was wrong and what he needed to do to release him from the wall. Next his fingers touched handcuffs and beyond that lay swollen, broken fingers. He sucked in his breath in rage, but concentrated on finding where the chains attached to the hand cuff went. He didn't want to even turn on a flashlight yet. He didn't want anyone to be attracted to the room until the entire house had been secured. Investigation proved that chains from the handcuffs went up and looped over nails in the wall before ending in bolts driven into studs in the walls. Iwase carefully lifted the chains off the nails and loosened them letting Hanuka slump to the floor. He bent down to make sure he was lying comfortably. Realizing Haruka was naked he pulled off his coat and laid it on the floor next to him. Haruka's skin radiated fever and his breathing was shallow. He had still made no noise so Iwase was guessing he was unconscious. He carefully moved the coat underneath Haruka and prepared to wrap him up in it. Behind him in the doorway a figure raised his gun.