Taking the sniper down
Brenda's viewpoint
The Murder Room was bedlam; nothing like the usual Monday morning, it seemed every phone was ringing, everyone trying to talk over everyone else, as we moved around each other getting ready.
We'd had another convenience store broken into overnight, not too far from the others, with a camera on another building showing someone with a limp in the vicinity. I'd been dragged, complaining bitterly, out of Sharon's bed at four in the morning to join the team on site as we'd coordinated a search of the surrounding area which had turned up nothing.
We'd just got back to headquarters around nine when a uniform on a canvas of the area reported that a homeless guy had reported someone with a limp moving into an abandoned old bakery less than eight blocks from the store.
The officer's report confirmed that the person the homeless guy had seen was wearing the same clothes and carrying the same backpack as the person in the video seen leaving the convenience store, which was enough for us to roll out with Tactical Response and full support.
Given Tactical Response had four members still recovering after the bombing at the Ritz Carlton, Major Crimes would be providing back up. I didn't like it; it wasn't what we were trained for but really we had no other choice.
The team was in the armoury, drawing weapons, tactical vests and radios, most of them had automatic rifles though I was going to stick with a pistol, hopefully it wouldn't come to a shooting match.
Finally we were ready to go, as I looked around the room, gathering everyone in. I was about to speak when Anastasia bustled into the room, spilling apologies.
"Sorry I'm late" I took a moment to look her over, barely noticing Natalie trailing behind.
She was dressed in a tactical vest over an urban camouflage pattern uniform and boots, with tactical webbing liberally festooned with gear and her hair tied back in a severe braid. She looked like the star of an action movie, not helped by the M16 hanging from her shoulder complete with underslung grenade launcher and sniper scope and the helmet and radio gear slung from her webbing. Though it was patently obvious I had to ask the question.
"What are you doing here Agent Romanov?" She stopped and looked at me, with a 'what the hell' look on her face.
"I got the word you were moving in on Weaver and given you're short handed you need the help. Besides, I've been involved on this case since day one, so might as well help wrap it up" I thought about it for a moment before she spoke again. "Besides, I'm the urban combat specialist here" I considered her words for a moment and came to a decision.
"Are your superiors aware you are planning on rolling out on this operation?" She stood a fraction straighter and nodded once.
"They are Ma'am" I nodded and smiled, 'you can take the girl out of the army…'. Besides, she was right, we were short of people and she'd done this before.
"Good to have you with us" I turned and took in the rest of the team.
"Hopefully Tactical Response will handle this, we're just along to hold the perimeter of the building while they go in and take Weaver down, if she's in there" I noted the dubious looks being shared round; I couldn't blame them really.
"No heroics mind, that's Tactical Response's job" I looked around at everyone. "No matter what happens, your safety is the primary concern" There were nods all round. "I don't care if she gets away, as long as everyone here is ok, you understand me" There was a moment of silence before Julio spoke.
"Loud and clear Chief" I nodded.
"Take care of anything you need to do, we meet in the basement in ten minutes" They nodded and turned for the door.
As I stood there, watching them flow out, I saw Natalie and Ana having a quiet but intense discussion in the corner. I could only imagine what they were saying, before Ana swept Natalie into a tight hug. I turned and walked out, giving them some privacy.
I stood near the elevators for a moment, my hand hovering on the down button, before I realised I had something I had to do. I pushed the up button and rode up to Sharon's floor.
I felt terribly out of place, wearing a tactical vest over a blouse, skirt and heels, but I had to see Sharon before I left. I could feel the eyes following me as I walked through FID to Sharon's office, where she was sitting at her desk, working through paperwork. At my knock she looked up, her eyes taking me in, as her face tightened.
"Sorry to bother you Commander, do you have a moment?" Sharon stood, realising I'd spoke for the benefit of her team.
"Of course Chief, come in please" I stepped in and moved to her desk, stopping close enough to her so I could speak quietly.
"Hey sweetie" She smiled, a small and wan thing really.
"Hey you" I wasn't really sure where I should be looking; it was hard looking at her.
"We got a lead on Weaver, Tactical Response is handling it but we're backing them up as they're down people after the bombing" I glanced up to see Sharon had paled a bit at my words.
"Oh, ok" I had a hundred things I wanted to say, but I wanted to hang on to normality.
"Can I come over tonight?" Sharon seemed to be at a loss for words too, finally falling back into normality as well.
"Course you can, just don't mess up that skirt, it's brand new and I don't want you wrecking it, ok?" I smiled, but it was an effort.
"Ok…well" I wanted to pull her into a hug and never let her go, but I could tell everyone in FID was watching us. I settled for a quick touch of the fingers as her hand and mine brushed. "I better get going, everyone's waiting"
"I guess I'll see you later then" I tried to smile, then turned away, but not before I realised I wanted to say something else, but now wasn't the time or the place.
I walked out into the main office and watched the FID squad suddenly find lots of work to bury themselves in as I passed them on the way through. I turned at the door to see Sharon still standing there, watching me leave, her face a frozen mask.
With a nod I turned and left, I had a job to do.
The area around the old bakery was a combination of old residential buildings and commercial premises. A discreet cordon had been set up out of line of sight of the building, with uniformed police moving everyone out of the nearby buildings via the rear entrances and spiriting them away. It was almost noon before we were ready to move. I stood in the midday heat with Anastasia and Tactical Response's Captain Peter Collins as we went over a set of old blueprints for the building spread out on the hood of a car.
"Well, there's good news and bad news" Peter was staring at the plans. "The walls are damned thick, old style double brick and steel core construction; they may well stop a 50 cal, if we're real lucky. The bad news is that there's a rabbit warren of offices and narrow corridors on this side of the building" Anastasia nodded.
"They have a view over the front; I'll bet that's where we'll find her. The rear doesn't have the same outside coverage, plus there's only one door in the back. I make it at least three doors in here at the front, plus the loading bay" I looked down at the blueprints then back up at Peter. He was the one going in, it was his call.
"How do you want to do this?" He nodded at me, obviously understanding I was ceding command to him.
"We'll go in the same door the report said she used, less likely to be booby trapped. I wouldn't be surprised if the others have a few surprises set up, she was attached to a bomb disposal unit so she may have learned a few tricks" He tapped the blueprints. "Put several uniforms on the rear door in case she tries to escape that way. I'll lead my team in and start a sweep through. Your job's to hold the front in case she tries to bolt out that way" I nodded as Ana spoke.
"Gonna be a bitch in there, few windows and no power means most of it will be as dark as the inside of a black cat on a moonless night" He nodded.
"We'll be using low light and IR, but it'll be slow going" He looked up at me. "Brenda, we'll try and be as quiet as possible, but if Weaver is in there and she works out what's happening, there's a good chance she may start looking for targets out here" I understood what he was saying.
"Well, we'll try and keep our heads down" He nodded, looking down at the blueprints for a moment before lifting his eyes to look me in the face.
"A 50 cal will go through a normal brick wall and the only part of a car that will stop a Barrett is the engine block, remember that" I smiled tightly.
"Good advice" Leaving him to brief his team, I walked back to talk to the boys, with Ana trailing me. I looked across at her. She had more experience at this than any of us.
"What do you think will happen Ana?"
"Hard to tell Chief, the Barrett's a damned heavy piece of kit. Not the sort of thing you'd use in a fire fight unless you had too, she probably has another weapon, maybe a rifle, plus almost certainly a pistol or two. If we keep our heads down then we should be all right"
"I hope you're right" She nodded.
"You and me both"
I briefed the rest of the squad on what Tactical Response was going to do. As agreed, they would sneak up on the building in a delivery van which would park a few houses down; they would then sneak up and into the building from there.
"What about us Chief?" It was Andy. "How do we get there?" I'd been thinking about that, remembering Peter's comment's about what might stop a 50 calibre bullet.
"Normally I'd say we just roll up and take cover behind our cars, but this time…" Ana nodded slowly.
"In Iraq we'd take cover behind armoured vehicles, too bad the LAPD doesn't run to those" There were quietly concerned looks shared all round, before Michael smiled.
"Maybe we can do something almost as good" He pointed out a dump truck parked up the street with a full load of scrap metal in the back. I nodded, that would do. Gabriel looked over at Ana.
"What would the army do in Iraq in a situation like this?" She shrugged.
"If they didn't surrender and had serious firepower, send in a tank to blow the building down around them" Jane nodded once, hefting her rifle.
"Good plan"
30 minutes later we were ready to move in, the Tactical Response guys were in position at the door and we were just out of sight, ready to move when needed. It was funny seeing how they had paired off. Flynn and Provenza were sitting in the front seat of the cruiser, talking quietly while David and Julio had found some cards from somewhere and were playing some game on the bonnet of their car.
Michael and Buzz were talking camera gear while Jane and Ana were leaning back against a building wall, legs stretched out in front of them, talking quietly.
With nothing to do I was talking to Peter Collins on the radio.
'Good luck Peter' His voice was clipped and short, the voice of a man about to head into real danger.
'Thanks Brenda, hopefully it'll go down easy. We're heading in now' I relayed everything to the team and we waited.
'Ok, we're in, moving forward' There was nothing for the next few minutes before he came up again. 'Looks like we're in the right place, the whole place is wired with booby-traps'. I felt the tension twist inside my stomach.
'Be careful' I realised how stupid that must have sounded as soon as I said it but he was cool.
'You got it' I relayed the news to the squad, seeing everyone get even tenser as we realised this was the right place.
"Ok everyone; we do our job, no heroics. She's killed at least eight people; I don't want her adding any more today, right" There were nods all round.
We waited for another few minutes, before a dull boom, soft with distance, echoed through the streets. Everyone's head swung.
"Oh crap" It was Flynn.
'Shit, Brenda, we just triggered a booby trap, one of my people is hurt, not too bad but Weaver definitely knows we're here' I nodded, even though Peter couldn't see it.
'We're moving' I turned to Ana, Jane and the boys. "Let's go people"
Buzz looked around at us.
"Be careful, all of you" We nodded, before moving to the vehicles as he ran into a building to set up his cameras to cover the front of the old bakery.
David jumped into the commandeered dump truck with Michael in the passenger seat, as the rest of us piled into two cars and followed it into the street in front of the bakery.
Pulling to a halt out the front of the building, the boys got out of the truck and took cover behind it, as the rest of us scurried out of the cars and took cover behind them.
'We're in position, what's happening in there?' Peter's stressed voice came back after a delay.
'Moving forward, she's in here, but we have to be careful, the place is filled with traps. Commercial explosives, not military thank god but still…'
'Understood' I turned to relay the message to the team when I heard the sound of bullets impacting the bonnet of the car as everyone hit the ground.
'Peter, we're taking fire here, automatic weapons fire' I looked around. "Is everyone ok? Is anyone hit?" There was a chorus of 'no's' and 'I'm ok's' as I looked around.
Risking a short glance I could see none of the windows were shattered, so where was she shooting from? Another round of fire hit against the bonnet of the truck, driving everyone back under cover. I could imagine the truck owner was counting the claim against the LAPD over this.
Stupid the things your mind thinks of under stress, it wasn't even an old truck, Will Pope would be so pissed, not that I particularly cared.
I chanced another look but couldn't see anything, but Ana must have spotted something; I saw her rise from behind the other car, peering out from under her helmet, then let off a burst of fire through a second floor window before ducking back. She looked over at me.
"Only window with a piece missing, she was shooting from in there" I nodded. Taking another look I focussed on the shattered window, when a burst of fire from inside shattered all the windows across a 20 foot section of the second floor. So much for that idea.
I chanced another look over the bonnet of the car, as a burst of fire swept over the car that Flynn, Provenza and Ana were taking cover behind. They dropped even lower to avoid the fire as Jane popped up next to me and took several shots into one of the windows before dropping back.
"Get her?" Jane shook her head.
"Saw a muzzle flash, but all I did was make her duck" I nodded, then cringed as the car vibrated from a series of hits, I could feel the shocks through where I was huddled against it. I looked at Jane.
"I think we got her attention" She just looked at me and shook her head.
"You reckon?"
A burst of fire from Gabriel and Tao caused Weaver to stop firing long enough to let me take another look. I couldn't see anything from inside the darkened windows. Dropping back I looked around to see Julio and Jane with me, Gabriel and Tao behind the truck and Flynn, Provenza and Ana behind another car beyond the truck.
As I watched Ana brought her weapon up and with a dull thump a grenade sailed into a window, followed by a loud bang. Seconds' later white-green smoke started billowing from the windows. Ana looked back at me and grinned before calling out.
"Tear gas, hopefully enough to slow her down" I nodded and thumbed the radio in my hand.
'Peter, we've fired tear gas into the second floor, it may drive her your way' His voice came back, clipped and tense.
'Roger that'
For at least 30 seconds the street was quiet, before another burst of fire rattled out, hitting the other car, sending them ducking as a spray of broken glass hit the road.
"Maybe Weaver's got a gas mask" It was Sanchez. Jane shrugged.
"Why not, she's got almost everything else in there but the kitchen sink" I grinned, typical Jane. Over the sound of firing I could also hear another dull boom from inside the building.
'How you doing in there Peter?' His voice came back, a bit strained.
'Two people down from booby trapped doors, not major but it's slowing us down'
Another burst of fire rang out, with bullets ricocheting off the scrap metal in the back of the truck, as Michael and David took cover.
'Understood, we'll try and keep her occupied'.
'Thanks'
There was silence for a few seconds, then a few more. As the silence stretched out David looked over at me.
"Figure she's out of ammo?" I shrugged as Sanchez snorted.
"We couldn't be that lucky"
I turned to look around as a loud crack sounded; the car actually shook from the impact.
"Holy fuck!" The shout came from Jane. I turned to see a large hole in the side of the car only inches from where she was backed up against it. The bullet had ended up digging a divot in the road before coming to rest embedded deep in the road. I looked at Jane, who was damned scared, not that I blamed her, not with 50 clibre bullets flying.
"On three run for the truck" Jane just looked at me, eyes wide.
"No shit Chief!"
One, two, three" I rolled to my knees, resting my arms on the cruiser's hood and let off half a clip from my pistol into the windows as Jane bolted for the truck. Another loud crack signalled I hadn't distracted Weaver, but the shot hit behind a racing Jane and she made it into cover.
"Shot came from the fourth window from the left!" It was Flynn, who had popped up and was firing into the window. Ana leapt up and fired another tear gas round into that window, followed by a volley of shots as Provenza scampered across to the bulk of the truck. For his age he could move when he had too.
Another crack sounded, driving Ana and Flynn flat onto the ground. Ana was burrowing in behind the engine bay, but Andy was exposed, lying down behind the car's rear. Another shot followed as he flinched, then another as Weaver peppered the car, it was only a matter of time before she hit him.
"Flynn, get ready to run for the truck!" I looked to the group taking cover behind the truck. "Cover him" I swapped clips as Julio looked at me.
"Chief, what are you doing?" I looked up at him. "Someone's got to provide a distraction, otherwise she'll get lucky and hit him" He nodded as another shot smashed through the other car, missing Andy by inches.
I jumped to my feet and started placing shots through each window firing as fast as I could. The others started firing as well, hopefully driving Weaver back.
"Now Andy, now!" He needed no encouragement, scrambling across the ten feet or so between the car and the truck, as Provenza dragged him into cover.
Seeing him in cover, I fell back to my knees just in time, as a shot slammed straight through the cruiser's roof and door, missing me by less than a foot. I flinched and moved further away from the entry point.
Another shot hit, closer this time. Before I could move Sanchez flung himself bodily at me, slamming me flat on the road with his body on top of mine, partly knocking the wind out of me. Before I could recover he was bodily dragging me towards the front of the car, putting the engine between Weaver and both of us.
"C'mon Chief, move it" I scrambled after him till we huddled next to the wheel, flat on our stomachs.
I heard another shot smack into the car; the engine must have stopped it, as nothing came though, though the car shook. Then another, this one higher up, missing the engine and ripping through the fender and into the road next to us, as we burrowed closer to the car.
For a moment all I could think of was Sharon, how much more I should have said, but didn't. What we should have done, what we wanted to do together, things I needed to say to her…
Another shot hit, digging into the road even closer. Then I heard a fusillade of shots as everyone else laid down covering fire, driving Weaver deeper into cover and buying us some time.
I remembered the radio I had still attached to the vest.
'Peter, how are you doing in there?' There was silence for a few seconds 'Tell me you're close'
'Approaching the door, we can hear the Barrett on the other side'
'As I'm on the receiving end, sometime today would be greatly appreciated Peter' I could hear the ghost of a smile in his voice, dreadful man.
'Gotcha, hang on Brenda'
Another loud crack sounded, god I hated that sound. It hit the other car, up near where Ana had ducked behind it, then another.
I looked up to see if I could pinpoint the shot, just in time to see a long barrel swing my way, with a face behind it hidden by a gas mask. I started to duck, hoping I was quick enough, when I was smashed to the ground. I barely had time to think 'Goodbye Sharon' when the ground came up and hit me.
For a few seconds I lay there stunned, as debris rained down on us, broken glass and bits of brick and concrete before I opened my eyes to see Julio looking down at me.
"Wake up Chief, wake up" I looked around, before realising that the pall of smoke drifting out of the second floor of the building was from an explosion, the room had exploded.
Sanchez helped me to my feet, as I picked up my pistol and holstered it, before I turned back to look up at the building which was partially wrecked. I suddenly remembered that we had people in there. I grabbed the radio.
'Peter, you ok in there?' There was silence for a second before his voice came back, sounding exhausted.
'Yeah, we're ok; we're on our way out. We're going to need busses for two of my guys'
I nodded, as I heard Michael Tao calling for ambulances to be sent forward, plus the LAFD. I called out to the squad.
"Is everyone ok?"
"Flynn and Gabriel have a few scratches, nothing major"
"Good job everyone" Hearing a low whistle, I turned to see Michael staring at the cruiser Julio and I had been sheltering behind.
"Holy crap" I walked over to see the mess Weaver had made of it, over half a dozen 50 calibre shots plus all the other hits had turned it into a wreck, the only place it was going was to the junk yard.
I turned to look over the other cruiser, to see it was almost as badly wrecked. Shaking my head, I wandered back to see Flynn and Provenza pointing out the shots into the truck. It wasn't as bad but it was going to be a while getting repaired.
As I looked around, I saw uniformed police arriving; the place was filling up with black and white's, uniforms taking charge.
Jane and Anastasia were standing only a few feet away. Both slumped against the wrecked Crown Vic. Both looked exhausted, something I could completely understand, I could feel my limbs threatening to give out at any time.
An ambulance arrived, then another, then a third. I turned to watch as the Tactical Response team emerged, supporting two of their team mates who were carrying injuries. Additional cops moved to help them carry them to waiting ambulances. After a quick check up they were loaded into one ambulance each and transported off. I caught Peter Collins' eye and we shared a nod and a moment, before he wandered over.
He smiled up at me, before pulling off his glove and holding his hand out; I smiled back as we shook hands.
"Thanks for the assist Brenda" I nodded.
"Glad to help. How are your people?"
"They should be fine, with some medical attention. What about yours?"
"A few close shaves, but no one hit" He nodded.
"Good"
"What happened in there?"
"We blew the door open, which set off the explosives stored in the room, thankfully the internal walls soaked up most of the blast and shrapnel, the armour stopped the rest"
"So Weaver decided not to be taken"
"You got that right; part of the explosion was an explosive vest she was wearing, filled with shrapnel, so she obviously had no intention of ever being captured" I shook my head, then looked back at him.
"Can't say I'm sorry; is it wrong to say I didn't want some lawyer getting her off death row on an insanity plea?" He shook his head.
'No, not wrong at all" I took in his appearance, he was covered in dirt and dust, his armour was pock-marked with shrapnel impacts, he looked like shit.
"You ok?" He nodded.
"Yeah, I'm good, armour did it's job"
I watched as the first fire units arrived and started setting up. Peter called the Fire Chief over and explained that the building was wired with explosives so no one could go in until the bomb squad had been through and rendered everything safe. The Fire Chief nodded and turned to warn his men as I turned away, feeling exhaustion washing over me. Fighting it off I straightened up, pushing it away, the job wasn't over yet.
I turned and called everyone together, as David and Andy had finished getting their cuts and abrasions looked at by the EMTs.
"Good job everyone, really good job. Tactical Response will get the credit, but they only got Weaver because we held her here, so you all had a part of this"
"Does this mean we get the rest of the day off Chief" It was Provenza, naturally.
"Why yes Lieutenant, it does, just as soon as we get our weapons and gear back to the armoury, give statements and finalise all the paperwork" Flynn eyed the wrecked Crown Vics and sighed, resignation obvious in the tone.
"So not today"
"Well Lieutenant, that depends on how fast you can complete the paperwork"
"Oh shit" I looked up at Jane's fearful tone.
"What?" Ana groaned.
"We're in trouble" I followed their gaze to see three familiar figures walking towards us, Maura, Natalie and Sharon. My heart sank as I looked down and took in my scuffed shoes, dirty blouse and filthy, torn skirt.
"Oh no" Realising we didn't have much time I turned to take in the team.
"Gentlemen; we three…" I indicated Jane and Ana and then myself "…would take it as a deep personal favour if you didn't discuss what's happened here today in too much detail with Doctor Isles, Ms Dearing or Commander Raydor. There's no need to unduly concern them, as I'm sure you'd all agree"
I could see puzzled looks all round, before Jane leaned in.
"Guys, if they find out how close it came, our lives will be for shit, understand?" I nodded.
"And if they give us grief, well, misery loves company, got it?" At my glower there were nods and agreement all round.
"Thanks guys" It was Ana. "We'll make it up to you, promise" Jane shot her a glance.
"We will?" Ana gave her a filthy look.
"Yes. We. Will" Jane shot a glance up the street at our approaching lovers, her face turning apprehensive.
"Ok, fine. Yes we'll make it up to you" I looked at the others, some of whom were amused and others perplexed. Gabriel caught my eye, a curious look on his face.
"Chief, you want us to keep Commander Raydor in the dark about this?" I nodded.
"Yes Sergeant, that's exactly what I want. Do you have a problem with that?" Noticing the glares from Ana and Jane and my hard look he swallowed.
"No Chief, not a one" I smiled.
"Well then, that's settled" Hearing the click of approaching heels behind us I turned around to face the music.
All three stopped a few feet from us, obviously taking us in. I could see the worry and sorrow and concern in Sharon's eyes as she took in my wrecked clothes, the messed up hair and no doubt the dirt on my face.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Natalie drag Ana into a hug as she started gently sobbing while Maura had stepped up, flung her arms around Jane and buried her head in Jane's neck, maybe she was crying, I couldn't tell.
Sharon just looked me up and down, her arms crossed, as she shook her head, those piercing green eyes taking in the wrecked cars, the smoke from the ruined buildings, missing nothing.
"I thought I told you not to mess up that skirt" I felt myself blushing in embarrassment. I looked down at the wrecked skirt for a moment, then looked back up.
"I'm sorry" Sharon just stepped closer.
"Oh you will be young lady, later" Before I could react she'd grabbed me by the vest and yanked me close. "But right now, I'm just happy you're ok" Before I could react her mouth was on mine and she was kissing me right there, in front of everyone, one hand fisting in my hair and holding me to her.
For a moment I was stunned, Sharon was kissing me, in front of everyone. Everyone! We were being outed in front of the squad, Peter Collins and the Tactical Response guys, the EMTs, the fire guys, they were all watching.
But then I realised I was alive, I was unhurt and I had her, I didn't care about anything else, I had Sharon and everything else was unimportant.
I just wanted to be here, happy in her arms. The rest of the world, for just a moment, could go to hell.