Robert Thomas - The Bear - Red Star Rising

Sasha waved his hand as Anya wrapped her arm around his and she guided him toward the door. Sasha slid his hands inside his pockets, pulling the flaps of his coat around to the front. It would be cold outside. He turned and smiled as Anya pushed through the door while he held it open an extra second. The next sound was as unexpected as it was distinct, and everyone in the club knew what it was.

The round slammed into the big Russian who grabbed his chest as he fell to the side, his knees buckling instantly. He was dead before he hit the floor. Ivan and Polina crashed through the doors as the Russians scattered. They dove behind the bar and beneath tables, any place to avoid the bullets. Polina rolled to the right and shot off a burst at the table. Their targets cleared like rats. The spray was enough to tear the cheap wood trim to shards as Danil rushed through the door. Sasha and Anya grabbed the assault rifles Danil left on the sidewalk and followed him in, ducking off to the left with Ivan. Danil ran straight ahead, making for a half-wall near the dance floor. They were in!

Ivan peered around a booth as the first shots were returned. He ducked as Polina returned covering fire. Danil made the bar and slid behind it, surprising the Russian hiding there. A single slug meant two down. The bar was the most solid wall to be behind, but it was open at the end. He looked up just as a large, blond Russian raised a pistol in his direction. A blistering salvo cut him down, throwing him against a column to his right, his blood a smeared streak as his body slid down the white plaster. Anya appeared in his place and waved Danil forward.

“Up the stairs!” Sasha yelled, his first words in English in over a week. He cursed himself for his stupidity. Their prime target had fled to the second story.

A few stray rounds made their way back into the bar as three of the Russians crashed through the rear doors of the kitchen and out into the alley. Sasha was sure they were headed for the warehouse behind. ‘Three down’, he thought.

Polina crouched at the bottom of the stairs around the corner by the kitchen. Commotion from the second floor froze her. She tucked the assault rifle close against her ribs and took a deep breath. She turned quickly as a burst came down the stairs obliterating the railing beside her. She felt a sting on her right arm and knew what it meant. Ivan slid to the floor beside her.

“You okay?”

He received a nod in reply. She pointed up the stairs and then to the ceiling. People were up there. Another burst peppered the stair treads causing them to turn away. They couldn’t sit here. Ivan leaned back and pulled Polina with him. She flinched as he grabbed her arm but said nothing. She could hear herself breathing heavily, could feel the sweat running beneath her clothing. Sasha stepped over the dead blond Russian and leaned against the blood-stained column.

“We aren’t equipped to go up a stair. We don’t know who’s up there.”

“Boris is up there,” Polina replied. “I saw him.”

“I did too. That’s where we need to focus.”

“We can’t just leave the others behind. They need to be taken out.”

Sasha nodded. It was outside of the prime mission objective, but he didn’t want to leave loose ends. He waved Anya and Danil over. No one else seemed to be left on the main floor of the club. The Russians were caught off guard and fled. Anya leaned into the wall, sighing heavily.

“Everyone okay?” Sasha looked over his team. Danil stayed behind the bar keeping his rifle trained on the door. He didn’t want any surprises from that direction. “Ivan, you, Polina and I will go after the three. If we don’t engage them in five minutes, we’ll come back here.” The mission commander looked up to Anya. “Can you and Danil get up to the second floor?”

“Piece of cake,” Anya replied. “Done it a hundred times in training exercises.”

“Let’s do it.”

Sasha nodded toward the kitchen door, hiked his rifle and rolled off the bloodied column. Ivan and Polina followed closely, keeping low between the kitchen counters. No surprises. They reached the open door and stopped, peering into the darkness. The alley was nearly as black as charcoal, the strip unlit in the early morning hours. Polina looked around the kitchen as she held her rifle against her chest. The place was a disgusting mess.

“Christ, I’m glad we didn’t order any food in this dump.”

“Clear,” Sasha whispered.

They slid silently into the alley, the light from the kitchen throwing their shadows before them like specters. The path they needed was easy to follow, the door in front of them into the warehouse, wide open. They fell against the cold exterior walls with their weapons up. Sasha cocked his head, peering inside. He stepped in and slid to the floor behind the first thing he could find. Ivan and Polina jumped to his left, coming to rest behind a backhoe. They were quickly greeted with bullets ricocheting off the thick metal. Ivan’s eyes went wide at the sound.

“Damn!”

“Is our five minutes up?” Polina asked with a smirk.

Sasha replied with a salvo directed toward the oncoming fire. The short burst echoed in the low light. The warehouse sounded nearly empty. He counted the seconds to himself. Ten, twenty. He would move on twenty-five. He stood only to be greeted with a cascade of bullets. He ducked quickly behind his shield. Polina pointed her rifle through an opening and squeezed off several rounds. Sasha jumped at the opportunity to move up the side to the next object. Their movement went on for several minutes as each laid down covering fire for the other to jump ahead. It was a classic army tactic.

They were half-way across the warehouse when Ivan slid down behind a pile of burlap sacks, next to a door. A burst from above forced him to duck as the rounds thumped into the sacks. He was breathing heavily, the sweat now rolling down his forehead. Footsteps from above were quickly silenced as Polina returned fire. The body hit the concrete floor with a dull crack, the bones splintering as the lifeless body landed awkwardly. She slid in beside him and leaned her head against the sacks.

“I don’t know what is in these bags, but I’m glad as hell they’re here.”

The sound of metal raking across metal brought their attention back to their situation. A door; an overhead door sliding along its rails echoed through the warehouse followed by running footsteps. A burst of light blazed into the darkness before being extinguished by the closing door. Twenty seconds passed without a sound.

“It’s over.” Sasha’s voice broke the silence. “They’re gone. We need to get back to the club. Let’s go.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure, Ivan. Let’s go help the others before reinforcements arrive.”

“You want to go up first?”

“Me? You’d probably put a bullet up my butt,” Danil chuckled.

“Only if I wanted to, Danil.” Anya waved her hand toward the stairs. “I’ll lay up a burst and you need to move as fast as you can and get your ass up there. There’s a lot of steps. You’ve got to hustle.”

Danil nodded as he took a deep breath. Air Force life was nothing like this. This was Army crap. He should be cruising above the clouds in the wild blue yonder or sitting behind a desk pushing papers. He let his lungs slowly deflate, turned toward Anya and nodded. She pointed her rifle directly up and flooded the ceiling with bullets. The sound of scampering feet told her there was more than one up there. She leveled her sights and sprayed the upper platform of the stairs, the bullets ripping through the drywall until there was nothing left. Danil took his cue and sprinted up, his feet feeling like lead as he struggled to make the top. He landed on the last step falling short of the floor, tucked his rifle around the corner and shot off a burst. Anya was standing at his feet seconds later.