| Subject: Sometimes the Dragons Are Real, Chapters 15 & 16 |
Author:
Jaron
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 16:38:45 12/13/01 Thu
In reply to:
Jaron
's message, "Sometimes the Dragons Are Real" on 18:37:45 12/12/01 Wed
Sometimes the Dragons Are Real, Chapter 15
Walter’s voice made Michael freeze. Nikita stopped also, waiting for Walter to
continue. “The targets have changed position. One of them is coming out to check
out the armored car that we moved into place.” Walter debated whether or not to tell
Michael everything, but decided Michael would want to know. Walter’s next sentence
caused Nikita to move up beside Michael in the darkness of the three foot crawlspace
they were moving through. She put her hand on Michael’s shoulder and squeezed.
Offering whatever support she could, as well as to try and keep Michael focused,
which was something that was becoming harder and harder to do, given the
circumstances of this day.
“Walter, tell me the rest!” Michael urged, not really wanting to hear it.
“Only one is coming out. He has a shield, Michael. It’s Rene. I’m sorry, Michael.”
Walter sounded worried.
“How does he look?” Michael asked, preparing himself for the answer.
“Michael, he has grown so much since I saw him last. He’s growing up. I ....”
“Walter!” Michael shouted through the com-link, “How does he look! Have they hurt
him?!”
“Michael, he looks okay, but he has the beginnings of a huge shiner. Looks like
somebody punched him recently. The guy is holding him tight against his chest.
There is no way we can get a clear shot.” Walter replied.
“Nobody tries for a shot!! Is that clear? We stay with the profile. Let them go back
inside. We will wait until everybody is back in the position that the mission profile
calls for. Okay?” Michael instructed. “Everybody got that?”
“Affirmative,” came the replies of the team members. Nikita felt Michael’s intensity
under her fingers as her hand glided from Michael’s shoulder to his upper arm.
“You okay?” she whispered. She knew what he must be feeling at this moment and
wished that there was something more she could do for him.
“I’m fine,” he told her, while looking down at his hand-held infrared detector. The
readout displayed for him an infrared image of the bodies down below them in the
bank. There was a huddle of about 15 bodies huddled together and across the
lobby, four more spots of body heat were detected. Two of the spots were very close
together with two more on either side of the pair.
“Michael,” Walter was back on the com-link. “Rene saw me. I am pretty sure he
recognized me. He smiled, Michael. The little guy is a real trooper. I don’t know that
I would be smiling in his situation.” Michael and Nikita could both hear the pride in
Walter’s voice.
“See, Michael, he’s okay.” Nikita whispered to Michael, while wiping a tear from her
cheek. “Like father, like son.”
Sometimes the Dragons Are Real, Chapter 16
Crying in relief, I watched as Nick lowered Rene to the floor as he came back inside
the bank from checking out the armored car. As soon as Rene’s feet touched the
floor, he bolted from Nick’s arms and sprinted across the bank lobby and buried
himself in my arms.
“Mom,” he whispered desperately into my ear as I clutched at him. “Mom, Daddy’s
here!! He’s here!! I saw Uncle Walter outside, so Daddy must be here, right?” Hope
flared in my heart, but I controlled my response to Rene’s words.
“Rene, if Uncle Walter is here, then perhaps your Daddy is here also. You didn’t see
him outside?” He shook his head, but said again, “he’s here.”
“Then let’s keep it a big secret. We don’t want the dragons to know that the
dragonslayer is here, do we?” Rene looked up at me with huge eyes and shook his
head slowly from side to side. That calmed him and he snuggled closely into my
grasp, and smiled Michael’s secret smile. Things were definitely looking up.
Speaking of looking up, I raised my eyes to the ceiling above us. I thought I heard a
brief shuffling there. I wondered......
***************
Unbeknownst to us, in the crawlspace above, Michael and Nikita were getting ready to
move.
“Walter, we are in position and ready to go. Do you read?” Michael said, starting the
sequence.
“Got you, Michael. I’ll set off the diversion on your mark.” Walter confirmed. Every
team member tensed, in anticipation of their part in the mission. No one wanted to
fail Michael. This was too important. Michael’s team was ready.
He checked the infrared sensor once more, seeing the cluster of hostages below and
the three solitary glowing spots standing away from the hostages at the front of the
bank. It was impossible to tell if they were watching the hostages or facing the front.
For his and Nikita’s sakes, he hoped they were facing the front of the bank. It was
Walter’s job to make sure that they watched the front windows for as long as
possible.
Michael turned to Nikita and pulled a winch and automatic pulley from her backpack
and started setting it up. She in turn, pulled Michael’s pack off of his back as he
released the straps that held it to his body. From it, she took a coil of nylon rope, and
two harnesses, one for Michael and one child-sized for Rene. When Michael had the
pulley attached to the steel beam above their heads, Nikita hooked the rope to it and
finished assembling the winch that would lower Michael into the bank and which
would also pull Rene up to Nikita and safety. Michael checked his weapons. He
carried two .45 automatics, one in a thigh holster and another inside his jacket in a
under-the-arm holster. He would carry a small machine gun secured to him by a
leather strap around his back that would keep the gun ready for his hands when
needed and would preclude his dropping it in a struggle. Michael hoped that it would
not come to a struggle.
Nikita had the same armaments at Michael. Her job was to get Rene up to her
position as fast as possible and make sure he was shielded from any gunfire should
there be any. If they were lucky, there would be no gunfire aimed at them. If there
was gunfire, Nikita was prepared to shield Rene with her body and the heavy tiles of
the ceiling would help. Anything for Michael and Rene, she told herself.
Michael strapped himself into the harness and hooked his arm through Rene’s
harness and he was ready. He looked at Nikita and nodded his readiness. She
returned his gaze and ran the fingers of one hand over his lips and smiled. “Good
luck.” she said and moved out of his way.
Michael used his prybar as quietly as possible. Slowly, very slowly, he pried the ceiling
tile out of its place in the metal framework. The tiles were recessed up into the
ceiling, so one had to be almost directly under the panels to see the actual tiles.
Michael counted on this design to aid in the rescue attempt.
He silently lifted the tile and laid it aside to give him access below. As he looked
down through the opening, he saw something dear to his heart. He saw Rene staring
up at him with wide-open eyes. He watched as Rene pulled on Grace’s jacket and in a
tiny movement opened the fist that clutched at her jacket lapel, uncurled his index
finger to point upwards. The three of them exchanged smiles. Michael put his index
finger to his lips and Rene nodded. Grace nervously pulled her eyes from Michael
and turned them to the front of the bank. She glanced back at Michael and nodded,
assuring him that the three men were facing away from the hostages.
Michael closed his eyes for a few seconds, opened them again to fix them on the spot
on the lobby floor where he wanted to land with this rubber soled shoes, signaled
Walter to set off the diversion, waited for the sound of the resulting explosion and
stepped through the hole in the ceiling.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 