Leverage characters are not mine. Please leave a review.
Chapter 6
The Swan Song
After breakfast, Eliot tapped on Josie's door. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. "It's best to wear this under your shirt." He held up the vest.
Removing the t-shirt, revealed a spandex chamois. Stepping into Preacher's room she took the vest from Eliot. She looked at Preacher. "Ephesians 6: 10-20?"
Preacher smiled. "That would be a good one for the group before we leave." He helped her put it on, securing the Velcro at the sides.
"I didn't realize it was so heavy."
Eliot checked the vest once on her. "Military grade." He nodded his approval of the fit.
Going back to her room, she put the t-shirt back on. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Ready."
Preacher glanced at Eliot. "Give us a minute?"
Eliot nodded. He closed the door behind him.
Preacher looked at Josie, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You don't have to do this. The teams could go in and flush the shooter out."
She shook her head. "He or she won't expose themselves if I am not there. You know that."
He took a deep breath, his blue eyes were looking directly into hers. "I can't lose you."
Josie set her mid sized bag on the ground before she tapped the glass auditorium door to get the woman's attention. The woman smiled at Josie as she unlocked the door. "You're Josie?"
"Yes ma'am. You're Charlene?"
"That I am. Follow me." The woman led the way to the stage of the auditorium. "This place has an interesting past." The woman stopped. "But you're not here for a history lesson." She smiled.
Walking up to the stage, Josie marveled at the wood on and surrounding the stage. "It's beautiful."
Charlene smiled. "That it is. "You're going to be here for about two hours?"
"Yes. Has anyone else come into the building?"
"No, just you. We normally don't open during the week, but I love your music and wanted to meet with you." She pulled a small notebook and pen from her pocket. "Would you sign this?"
Josie smiled. "I would be glad to." Taking the items, Josie quickly signed the book.
"Thank you!" Placing them back in her pocket, she gave it light pat. "I will leave you to your work. Oh, and you can leave by the back door, it automatically locks. I have a luncheon date with my bridge club and will be leaving around 11:30."
Josie nodded. "Thank you." She set her bag on the edge of the stage and pulled herself up. She watched as the woman left the room. Going to the back door, she opened it finding the teams waiting. "The door automatically locks behind you. Charlene said no one else has been let in."
Eliot nodded. "Everyone, you know your stations." He looked around. "Where's Parker?"
A loud whisper came from up above. "Up here." He looked up and saw she was already on the catwalk placing cameras around the area. "How's that Hardison?"
Alec heard her voice in his ear. Viewing the video stream on his monitor. "Could you move it to the left and point that one more towards the left of the stage?"
Parker made the adjustment. "That's perfect Parker." She leaned over in front of the camera and smiled.
Repelling down, she moved to the back of the stage to set sensors up, careful not to allow the indicator light to be too obvious. She looked towards the stage when she heard the DVD player started playing music and Josie's voice filled the auditorium. "Oooh, pretzels."
Preacher put his hand to his ear. "Pretzels? Is that code?"
Hardison swiped his face with his hand. "Ah, not for this mission."
With the lights, Josie couldn't see very far into the auditorium and with the curtains, anyone could hide in the dark. She suddenly felt vulnerable. Stopping the CD player, she exchanged her songs for another CD. The song, All Is Well filled the auditorium. Preacher stood in the dark, watching her sing one of his favorite songs.
He caught a flicker of movement on the other side of the stage. He whispered. "Guys got some movement to the left of the stage."
Alec switched camera views. "I'm not seeing it. Wait, there it is."
From his perch up above, Eliot quietly waited, but his angle was wrong. He glanced down and caught a slight bounce of light. "Might have something up here, near the front of the balcony, right side.
Picking the camera, he made it full screen. There was a slight hint of a human form in the dark. "Got him."
Eliot quietly moved to the balcony. Within a few seconds, Eliot was pouncing on the shooter. All could hear the contact sound from the punches.
Alec saw several lights flickering. "Okay guys, we have confirmation of a second person, left side of the stage."
Josie turned towards the left...four shots were fired, only stopping as Josie crumbled on the stage. Preacher drew in a sharp breath.
A final punch and the shooter in the balcony laid still. "I got mine."
As the words reached Preacher's ears, he was about to step out into the light when he saw a woman walk towards the fallen Josie. Preacher stepped out, aiming his weapon at her. "Drop your weapon." His voice came out as a command. The woman took aim.
Just as he was about to fire, a scene weight came down directly on top of the woman's head. Preacher looked up and saw Ron sitting on the beam that the weight was tied to. Keeping his weapon trained on the woman, he walked over to the woman, kicking her weapon away from her.
Walking quickly back Josie, he knelt down next to her. "Josie?"
The second she fell to the floor, her world became quiet. Light from above was shining on the stage. She raised herself up and realized that she was not alone. "What happened?"
The elderly man extended a hand to her and helped her up. "You fell."
She studied the man carefully. "You could pass as Burt Lancaster's double."
He chuckled softly. "Everyone has a double somewhere." He leaned on a cane, smiling gently. "Do you know that this auditorium was built where a church once stood?"
She shook her head.
"In fact, most of this stage was from wood that was in the church. Except that part." He pointed to the left side of the stage.
She walked over to the left side. The wood was not as rich as the wood that she had been lying on. "It's not as beautiful."
The man nodded. "It hasn't been stressed or worked as hard as the other. It's wood and it's nice looking, but this wood..." He walked back to where they began. "is solid. People are like wood. Some are pretty, but haven't faced the stress of life and are weak. Other's," He paused and smiled at her. "not only faced the stress, but have overcome many obstacles and are strong and beautiful."
"Father, time to go." A voice from the right stage from behind the curtain.
"Yes dear." He spoke loud. He winked at Josie. "Don't give up, Josie. You're good wood."
She looked away only a moment, but when she looked back to where he had been standing he was gone. The light was fading from the stage and Josie grasped her chest as the throbbing increased, so much so it brought her to her knees. She felt as though her breath was being squeezed out of her.