THIRTY-THREE

Leora

"Titan, take the ladder out," Zarek's voice was barely audible but the earpiece amplified the sound a fraction.

Dylan slid one strap of his backpack out, reached into it and revealed a ladder that was collapsed into a small cylindrical shape. He opened it up and assembled it within a few seconds.

Sebastian bent down and propped Delara over his shoulders. Delara was now sufficiently close to the ceiling of the tunnel and was silently pushing the manhole cover upwards. The short screeching sound of metal against concrete made me wince. We couldn't afford to be heard.

"Hold on, folks," Delara said in her signature British accent.

She finally propped the cover up enough that light streamed in the darkness of the tunnel. Carefully sliding it off, she poked her head out of the hole and looked around.

"Team, we're clear to head up. We'd be in an aisle of goods spanning east to west. I don't see any mercenaries," she said.

Dylan handed over the ladder to Delara and she temporarily fixed it over the rim of the manhole.

It was go-time.

Sebastian and Zarek were the first to disappear into the light. Then Kabir and Delara followed them. This was team 1. They were supposed to clear the internal space and hide demolition charges throughout the warehouse.

Logan climbed up shortly after, followed by Dylan. Team 2. They were going to head upstairs and extract Jerome Tyson, preferably alive.

Then there was me and Amelia, manning the rally point, aka the manhole. Amelia settled down with her tablet in her hand. She reached for something in one of the pockets of her pants and slapped it on the wall. The small square glowed a faint yellow giving us a visible range of at least ten meters across.

Amelia's drones were ready for takeoff. She had them concealed in her backpack. It took her a few seconds to assemble and then she was ready to support the team. She handed them to me to place the small drones on the ground level through the manhole. The body of the drones was as big as my palm and each had four small propellers.

I climbed the ladder and out of curiosity poked my head out to see what entailed above the darkness. There was a long aisle packed with boxes, going high up to almost twenty feet. The manhole was right in the middle of this aisle. I placed the drones on the ground, and proceeded to put the manhole cover back in place as planned.

"This is Falcon. Hawk and Eagle are now active," Amelia said, "Team 2, confirm assistance."

"Confirming assistance for the second floor," Dylan uttered.

I propped my rifle up, keeping myself on alert and ready. I realized I could be needed at any moment.

"Eagle inbound," Amelia tapped and slid her fingers on the screen, "I've got heat signatures spanning the whole lobby of the second floor. Approximately ten to fifteen, Titan."

"Copy," Dylan responded.

Then I heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire. Shit . My chest tightened. We were hoping to stay covert for longer. What if this was Zarek in a firefight?

"This is Ghost. Demolition charges to the south wall, complete. Team 1, report," Zarek's voice came through.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Zarek was fine. For now.

"This is Cipher, held up, north wall charges half-way through," Kabir said. His voice had a little strain in it and I saw Amelia stare blankly toward the wall in front of her. It was only for a second and then she focused back on her tablet.

"This is Ranger. West wall complete," Sebastian's rough voice came through.

"This is Shadow. East wall half-way through," Delara .

Minutes ticked by. More gunfire sounded.

Suddenly there was a faint thud. It came from the manhole. Was the rally point compromised?

"This is Doc. Is anyone at the rally point?"

‘Negative's came through rapidly and I shared a look with Amelia. She promptly adjusted one of her drones' location.

"There are two mercs right above us."

Shit .

Before I could think of what to do, the cover started sliding.

"Stay back, Falcon," I whispered to Amelia and nodded at the wall light. She turned it off and we were shrouded in darkness.

A rifle barrel poked inside the half open manhole and bullets peppered the ground.

I ignored the drumming of my heart in my throat and shook my head.

Now is not the time to panic, Leora.

I could no longer see Amelia's silhouette but I saw her rifle's barrel prodding out of the edge of the light from the manhole, aiming directly at anyone who dared enter the tunnel.

I swiftly jumped and grabbed the barrel of the rifle poking in and let it drop to the ground. The cover opened fully and another set of bullets came. I dodged the rain of bullets and returned fire, followed by a strangled grunt.

Good, it hit someone.

"Doc, is the rally point compromised?" Zarek asked as I was still returning fire.

"We have two mercs," I fired more without using too much ammo, "Converged. Falcon, are there more coming?"

"Negative," Amelia said.

Phew .

The gunfire ceased for a few seconds and I slowly and silently walked towards the manhole. As soon as I saw a pair of legs, I fired again and the merc fell to the ground. I waited for a beat and climbed up slowly. I pushed the gun barrel out and fired in both directions, hearing groans and gurgling sounds in response.

I finally climbed up fully to see the aftermath. Two men were sprawled near the hole, one of them unconscious. Whipping out the zip ties from my pocket, I tied their hands behind their backs. I dragged them away from the manhole so as to not give the location away.

I stayed on the ground level of the warehouse, leaving Amelia in the tunnel, staring at the now covered up manhole.

Then I climbed up five rows of the shelves to stay out of sight. Cooped up between two large brown boxes, I blanketed myself using a brown empty bag I had snagged from the lowest row.

"This is Doc. I'm on the ground, covering the manhole," I whispered low enough.

"Doc, get back down to the tunnel," Zarek's frustration was evident.

"We were almost outed and killed. I'm not taking chances."

"Dammit, Doc. Get back down, this is an—"

Zarek's order was interrupted by a loud roar followed by a massive sequence of gunfire. I heard it came from the second floor where Dylan and Logan were supposed to be.

"Gunner, Titan, come in?" I asked.

Silence.

"Gunner, Titan, sitrep," Zarek urged.

Silence followed for another few seconds. But those seconds seemed so damn long. My mind went back to the last time I had a conversation with either Logan or Dylan. A lump formed in my throat at the thought of either of them hurt.

"This is Titan. Gunner is trapped in one of the rooms," Dylan strangled message left goosebumps through my entire body, "Icarus is on the move."

"Titan, proceed extraction without me," Logan said. He didn't sound too bad.

"On it, Gunner," Dylan responded.

"I can't locate Gunner," Amelia said calmly but a hint of terror broke through.

"I'm in the third room from the stairs, towards east. It looks like a metal cage in here," Logan growled.

"Gunner, hold your position. Oscar Mike for rescue," Zarek said panting and then, "Fuck! I'm taking fire. There's mercs converging on the south wall."

My heart sank.

"Mercs converging on the east wall. There's two loaded cars," Delara added.

"We have incoming on the north wall. Two SUVs," Kabir said.

No. No. No.

"Fuck. I think they have us surrounded. I have ten more mercs on the west wall," Sebastian said, "Ghost, Shadow and Cipher, hold position and cover. Do not let them inside. I repeat, do not let them inside."

A string of ‘ Copy's sounded.

I held my breath for a few seconds and let out a heavy sigh. My heart was pounding in my ears and I couldn't think of anyone but Logan.

‘I can't lose you.'

Logan.

I had to get him out before the demolition happens.

I cleared my throat of the lump that was inevitable and rasped, "This is Doc. Permission to rescue Gunner."

There was no response.

I repeated my message, "This is Doc. I'm in pursuit to rescue Gunner, over."

Silence. A moment later a loud static noise sounded in my earpiece and I flinched. Fuck . Our comms are down.

I looked frantically at my surroundings. I was sure what I had to do, rescue Logan. But I knew I didn't have explicit permission.

Fuck it.

I climbed down from the five shelves and landed on the ground with a faint thud. I gave a last look at the manhole and willed it to stay undiscovered. With my rifle in tow, I strode towards the stairs.

When the aisle ended, I surveyed my path to the stairs and saw two guards surveying their surroundings. I knelt and tactfully shot the first guard, unfortunately alerting the other one. He stiffened. When I learnt he hadn't narrowed my position, I aimed at his collarbone and fired.

Two down.

I sprinted to the stairs and started my cautious climb. Once on the upper level, I noticed there were no guards watching the entry point. A few guards were incapacitated and had their wrists tied.

Thank you, Logan and Dylan.

I walked past them and headed east towards Logan. The lobby had a path going straight from the third door. Where Logan was. A guard walked out from the path, with his back towards me, and I aimed for his chest.

Another down.

I ran towards the guard and stopped at the corner awaiting any other mercs that could be manning Logan's door.

I peeked around the corner and saw no one.

The room where Logan was supposedly held had a modern lock on it. I searched the fallen guard and retrieved a key card from his front pocket.

Praying that this was the card, I swiped it. As the door made sounds and unlocked, I kept an eye out for the corridors.

The door finally opened and I saw an unarmed man dressed in Blackthorn clothing, with a tag ‘Gunner'. I couldn't see his face.

Being wary of the situation, I carefully stepped closer, my rifle still aimed at him. As he raised his hands in defeat, I saw his mask move slightly.

"It's me, Leo," his voice was severely muffled and I couldn't confirm whether it really was Logan.

I tucked my rifle and raised my left hand to his forehead while my right hand clutched my rifle.

His hand mimicked mine and when it reached my forehead, we both did the same thing. We flicked each other's forehead over the helmet.

That's my Logan.

I hugged him and armed him with my M18, walking towards the stairs.

"—omms are back up," Amelia's relieved voice said.

"This is Shadow, back at rally point," Delara said.

"This is Ranger, back at rally point," Sebastian added.

"This is Cipher, back at rally," Kabir panted .

I waited for Zarek to chime in. I paused near the stairs and waited for what felt like hours.

"This is Ghost. Four mikes to detonation. Heading to rally," Zarek finally said.

I felt the familiar large presence on my back, "We need to move, Doc."

Logan's voice was ragged. I could hear the terror in his voice. I realized if we didn't make it back to the tunnel, we'd be as good as a burnt chicken wing in an oven.

As we ran back down the stairs, more mercenaries had taken charge of the locations inside the warehouse. Team 1 was gone and ready with their position, and I realized that Jerome's team didn't have a clue about the demolition.

"Icarus extracted, Titan at rally," Dylan sighed.

I figured it was time to ping the team.

"Gunner rescued. Heading to rally," I said.

"Doc, what's your position, I'll come to you," Zarek's worried voice sounded.

"Hold your position, Ghost. We're almost there."

With a heavy sigh, both Logan and I jutted out of the stairwell into the ground floor skirmish. Once we were in the visual range of the guards, we were showered with bullets from all directions.

We ducked and rolled to avoid them. I heard Logan returning fire with my gun. I did the same and hit three guards aiming our way.

With our backs touching each other, we tactfully walked towards the manhole. As we rounded the corner of the aisle, I spotted two mercenaries firing into the hole and one lying flat on the ground. I fired, taking them down, but not before Logan jerked against my back, momentarily colliding with me .

"I'm fine, keep moving," he grunted, his voice pained. More guards streamed through the other end of the aisle and I returned fire, keeping them away.

As timings go, it was horrible, when my clip emptied and I had to pause for three seconds.

Three seconds and the whole atmosphere changed.

Three seconds and suddenly, we were no longer closing in on the rally point.

Three seconds then bled into the longest minute of my life.

I was sure I heard the shot, because in that moment, I couldn't hear much else, I reckoned. A ripple of pain shot through my arm. With a slightly blurred vision, I continued switching magazines and finally had myself armed.

It was all happening so damn fast. The merc in front of me shot one more time, hitting my bulletproof vest straight in the middle and I swore all the air rushed out of my lungs. Logan's back collided with mine again, but this time it was me who jerked.

"I'm black on ammo," Logan panted.

Fuck .

I shook my head and gained control of my rifle, firing back at the bastard who shot at me twice.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Logan fighting hand-to-hand with two mercs.

"Go, go, go ," he shouted.

If it wasn't already chaos, bullets started flying through the aisle. A few mercenaries were firing blind from behind the boxes towards us. Hearing movement, I kicked the box hard, sending it crashing into someone in the next aisle. I fired quickly, aiming to incapacitate. I turned around and shot at the one of the mercs Logan was fighting with. I constantly watched my back as I walked closer to the manhole.

"Gunner, fall back," I yelled.

He didn't respond and kept grappling. I couldn't get a good shot of the merc and risked hurting Logan. The merc was suddenly behind Logan, his arm quickly snaking Logan's neck. Merc's head was right above Logan's and I froze. I had a clear shot but it was way too familiar.

Just a bottle on his head.

Just a bottle on his head.

Just a bottle on his fucking head.

I breathed out and fired once. The merc went limp.

"Doc, Gunner, get back down," Zarek's voice was frantic.

Just as I turned a box came flying at me from the side and pinned me to the ground. Correction, a heavy box. Logan ran to me and lifted it off me, as he took more fire. I prayed the bulletproof vest held on.

I hastily ran towards the manhole, Logan behind me.

When more mercs started rolling into the aisle, he grabbed my rifle.

"I'll cover, go," he howled.

He pushed me into the hole and I was shrouded in darkness. Gunfire echoed in the tunnel and my eyes adjusted to see the team taking fire inside the tunnel as well.

Fucking fuck.

I had no gun, and was empty. I was bleeding from my arm and had a throbbing pain in my chest from the bullet that hit my vest. The adrenaline rush wasn't going to last. My ears couldn't take any more gunfire .

No, you're not going to panic.

Oh, but I was.

Strong familiar arms grabbed me and pulled me down.

"You're okay," Zarek whispered.

And then my haze broke. I frantically started chanting Logan's name. He wasn't back. The firefight in the tunnel had ceased but Logan wasn't back.

"Clear the rally point, we're going boom in T minus ten seconds," Sebastian said.

No, no no .

"Gunner, return to RP," Zarek shouted.

Two legs finally emerged from the manhole and I ran to it. Just as Logan was about to jump, he was pulled back ruthlessly by someone and I heard faint muffles of struggle.

Zarek grabbed my waist from behind and pulled me back away from the manhole. Arms flailing I shouted Logan's name. My chant was interrupted.

Boom .

I was thrown back from the explosions above and landed on the tunnel's ragged floor with Zarek's body covering mine. It felt as though my ear drums had burst. I couldn't hear anything but a loud beep.

I couldn't—