John O'Brien - Reckoning

Lynn observes the change of expressions as she depresses the trigger. Rounds spit out of her suppressor, speeding toward a target on the other side of the table. She sees but barely notes as he crashes backward out of his chair. While continuing into the room, she switches her aim point to another soldier sitting next to him, who is grabbing for a weapon slung on a chair. He too is sent spiraling out of his seat.

Stepping farther into the room as she fires, making room for those sweeping in behind her, Lynn notes the four others fall before they can grab for their weapons. None of them even made it out of their chairs. She scans the rest of the room, paying attention to the bunks, but doesn’t see anyone else. The air is filled with the odor of spent gunpowder with an underlying smell of sweat and blood. Cards, spattered with blood, are scattered across the table. Six bodies lie on the floor amidst overturned chairs. Lynn and another of her team put rounds into the chests of those lying either dead or dying. It’s over in seconds. The first round has been played.

Looking at the bodies, Lynn feels a touch of remorse. These are, after all, just soldiers that were doing their thing before she and her team put an end to them. Lynn retrieves the ID cards from their bodies as they may need them in the next phase of their operation.

With the room clearing of the light smoke, the iron smell of blood, torn bodies, and bowels fills the room. Lynn takes a last look at the bodies to make sure they are, in fact, dead. She then gathers her team and, leaving the room, closes the door behind, shutting off the sight and smell of the devastation.

Lynn leaves the security room on her way to deal with the reaction squad currently whiling away their time playing cards. Looking to the screen, nothing has changed; the soldiers are still around the table. I’ll switch over to a playback function once I hear the signal that Lynn is stacked and ready. That way, if there is an alternate room or the screens are being displayed elsewhere, they won’t be alerted that we’re inside and commencing an attack.

A few minutes later, Lynn signals. I reach up to the playback function on the control panel only to see the monitor go dark. Switching back to the live feed, the video comes online. I try again with the same result. Placing it on the live feed once again, I am about to send someone to inform Lynn when I see her and her team sweep into the room. It’s messy but over quickly. I scan the other monitors to see if there is any response to the quick reaction force being taken down. Nothing on the monitors indicates that anything has changed. The control room people are going about their tasks as if nothing happened and the equipment bay remains empty. It becomes apparent that there isn’t a second security site or monitors being watched. If there was, they could hardly miss what just happened and there would be alarm bells ringing, or at least the phone.

Lynn returns to the security room and informs me that there were, in fact, seven.

“Seven? Really?”

“Yeah, there was apparently one in the bathroom. I don’t know whether he was with the reaction team or not, but there was someone in there who came out at the wrong time,” Lynn relates.

“In the bathroom? For this long? No one has come or gone from the room or showed up on any of the monitors. What the hell was he doing in there for so long?” I ask.

“I don’t really want to know,” Lynn answers.

“No, you’re probably right there. And, it’s not important unless he’ll be missed somewhere. At any rate, let’s cover the differences in the layout. We’ll have to change our plans…but not much,” I say. “And keep in mind that there are some blind spots from the cameras in the equipment bay.”

We lay the diagram on the table and go over the changes. The only real alteration is that there is another door leading from the equipment bay that seems to lead to other rooms that appear to be quarters. The original plan was for Lynn to have four teams hold the main security forces at bay and keep an eye on a fourth door leading to the maintenance areas. Now, in addition to the three doors leading to the barracks, she’ll have to designate one team to cover the other two. The rest of the plan stands as originally designed; Horace will take over the control room, Watkins will cover the tunnel, main entrance from above, and provide a reserve force, I will lead the four of Red Team to cover the doorway leading into another large set of rooms. Because the bay is so large and filled with vehicles, we won’t be able to maintain a visual with each other so we’ll be relying on squelches from the radios to indicate that everyone is in position.

“Are we ready?” I ask, following our brief.

“Give me ten minutes to brief the leads and for them to update their teams,” Lynn says.

“Okay, but we can’t afford to loiter here. That lone person is making me nervous. He’ll be missed somewhere if he wasn’t part of the reaction team. And, it’s only a matter of time before someone stumbles into us,” I state.

“I know, Jack. Ten minutes.”

Lynn exits into the hall with the diagram. I brief Red Team on the changes; which for us, there really aren’t any. The waiting and the time we’ve already spent inside is making me anxious. I wanted to flow from one action to the next but controlling multiple teams takes time. I note the lines of tension around the eyes of each member of Red and Black Team as we wait for Lynn to finish. We are on the verge of a firefight that could go sideways at any time. If we can hold the security forces inside of their quarters, we’ll stand a chance. If they break out, we’ll be outnumbered four-to-one on their home turf.

Lynn returns and gives a nod. We’re ready. Weapons are rechecked. Lips are drawn tight from tension and game faces are on. If the others are like me, their hearts are pounding in their ears. We head out into the concrete hallway where the teams are gathered, looking like a football team about to take the field.

Horace’s Blue Team will enter first to secure the doorway to the control room with Red Team right behind. Lynn will take her four teams to the first line of vehicles near the doorways leading to the maintenance rooms, security barracks, and other quarters. There, she will direct the placement of claymores just inside the halls, ensuring that they cover the halls before wedging the doors open. If the doors close, it will place the security forces behind protective cover and allow them space to react. By wedging the doors open it will give the teams clear lanes of fire down the halls, forcing the responding security forces to wade through gunfire pouring into the enclosed space.

Once she is finished with that, Horace will enter the control room and take it over. We’ll be hard-pressed to stop any alarm from being triggered at that point but, by then, it will be too late. The soldiers rushing out of their quarters will be met with hundreds of steel ball bearings rocketing down the corridor. From there, Lynn will keep the remaining soldiers pinned in the hall with directed fire. Red Team and I will then enter the door into what looks like the headquarters. If the leaders of this outfit aren’t in the control room, we’ll find them beyond our doors.

At the door leading to the equipment bay, we stack in order of entry. Each team lead has a key card courtesy of the security room guards and Lynn. Horace looks to me.

“Let’s do this,” I say, giving her a nod.

One of Horace’s teammates holds the card to the reader. The door unlocks with a loud click. Horace pushes it inward and flows inside with the rest of her team, going to the left along the inner wall. Red Team and I follow on her heels. Behind me, I hear Lynn and her four teams rush through the door and race toward their positions. The teams have entered like a fast moving fog.