Jacqueline Druga - Protocol One

“There has to be some way. Something. If we just put our heads together and think.” I said.

“If you two don’t mind.” Nelly struck a match and lit up another cigarette. “I have a plan.”

“This is so crazy,” Peter said. “This actually may work.”

While Peter was busying being the narrator of the video feed, and while we were engaged in a conversation, Nelly, puffed on her cigarette, looked at the situation and came up with a plan.

Everyone was involved.

It hinged, though, on the first part working.

That involved Nelly.

It also involved the fact that the two with Spencer believed wholeheartedly that she was feeble and not a threat.

There wasn’t time to argue, she spewed forth the plan like General Patton. We listened, nodded and agreed. It was the only plan we had.

Taking the .38 handgun from the switch room drawer, along with Tom’s hidden bottle of bourbon, Nelly, extinguished her half smoked cigarette, warned us not to throw it away and left the switch room.

She knew they were moving slowly up the stairwell.

We didn’t have audio on the feeds from the stairs and we could only hope that Nelly was doing what she said.

“If they hear a non threatening sound, they won’t shoot first or get violent,” she said.

Nelly’s plan was to sing in a drunken manner, while making her approach before they saw her. She held the bottle in her hand. The small handgun was in her other hand, concealed under the long sleeve of her over sized sweater.

Was she singing?

We guessed she was, because the woman and man who escorted Spencer stopped in the stairwell. They even looked like they were laughing.

Spencer however, was more diligent in watching them.

Finally, we saw Nelly come into view and as planned, she stumbled down the steps.

“Oh, they aren’t buying this,” Peter said.

But he was wrong.

Stationary on the steps, Nelly swayed back and forth. The woman near her reaching to grab her arm. Holding the bottle in her left hand, Nelly took a drink, then instead of lowering it like she pretended to do, she did a back handed swing of the bottle smashing it into the face of the woman.

The woman tumbled back and before the man could even rush forward in reaction, Nelly extended her other arm and fired a single shot.

“Holy crap.” Peter commented. “She’s an elderly female John Wayne.”

I wanted to scream with joy when I saw it. The woman was down, the man was shot, and in youthful enthusiasm, I high-fived Peter and then Joie.

She did it. Nelly did it. When she first told us she was a good shot, I wasn’t too keen on believing her. However, she had just proved it to us.

Part one.

Sound traveled and echoed in the bunker and we knew it. Immediately we watched those in the dining area for a reaction to the shot.

Peter and I had talked about it.

There were only three of them there and six of us in that room.

There was no way they were going to take a chance and send someone to follow a single shot. Not when, to the best of their knowledge, there were still three of their people in the bunker.

We wagered on only their acknowledgment of the shot, and we were right. It was time for part two of the plan.

Nelly and Spencer arrived back at the switch room.

The man was shot in the chest and they left him to bleed out, while they had locked the unconscious woman in a storage closet on the third floor.

“That was amazing planning,” Spencer said. “Thank you. I was waiting until they brought me to the others, but this is much better.” He watched the monitor and studied. “Have they moved much at all?”

“No,” I answered and the kids seemed to be staying with the baby on the far side of the room.”

“Good,” Spencer stated. “We know what to do.”

I held up three fingers to Peter. “Three seconds. That’s all. That’s all you need to do.”

“I got it.”

I took a deep breath.

Nelly was also the brainchild of the second part. She reminded us that the exterior stairwell wasn’t the only way to get from the lower level of Hive Two to the dining level. The spiral fire escape staircase, east of the artificial window was also an entrance.

It was a good plan.

There were only three of them.

“We all have one shot at this,” I stated. “One. If we each do our part, this should work.”

Spencer was armed, as was Nelly. Since I was deemed some sort of hand to hand combat Rambo because of Lenny, I had Peter’s pocket knife.

The plan was this. Spencer would take position, with his back flush, out of sight, against the exterior door, while Nelly and I made our way up the spiral stairs.

To get to the lower level, we had to use the exterior staircase. This meant sound. Feet on metal.

In order to pull it off we needed a distraction. We had two. One was Peter and the other was Joie.

I crouched down to be at her level. “If you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to do it.”

“I can do this. I want to save Daddy.”

I couldn’t believe I was putting a child in danger. Nelly was convinced that her theory of non threatening sound would hold true.

After giving Joie a kiss and quick embrace, we left Peter and all quietly made our way down the walkway.

Once we made it to the top of the stairs, Spencer rushed into position and we signaled Joie to begin.

She stared vocally at first. Steadily singing a children’s song. We hurried down the exterior steps into the lower level.

Joie was loud.

She clicked her feet against the floor as she skipped and sang.

Nelly and I moved across the lower level and to the spiral staircase.

“Hold it. It’s just a kid,” I heard one of the men say.

We inched our way up the stairs.

“Oh, hey Daddy.” Joie said happily. “What are you doing? Why are you bleeding?”

Please, be careful, Joie, I thought and placed the ear piece to my radio in my ear, while hooking the radio to my belt.

“Come… come here baby, come here. Stand by Daddy.” Tony said.

We were nearly at the top.

“Get the kid.” Meagan stated.

“No!” Tony yelled. “It’s my child. She can stand by me.”

“I want to be by Daddy.”

Finally we had made it. Eyes over the edge, Nelly and I stayed low. I held up my finger to Nelly and mouthed the word, “One shot.”

She winked, took aim and pointed out. Her way of conveying, she was good.

I couldn’t see Spencer at all. I hoped he was good, too.

Joie stood by Tony.

“Where… where’s Anna?” Tony asked.

“Oh.” Joie put her finger to her mouth. “She’s with some man. He was kissing and hugging her, “Joie sang her words with devilish sarcasm. “I let them go. It was yucky. They love each other. Does that bother you Daddy? Are you mad?”

Tony closed his eyes.

Meagan, Birthmark man and the other man laughed.

I lifted the radio and whispered. “Now.”

Peter was on. After only a slight hesitation, the sprinkler system was set off and the water sprayed down.

All three captors exposed their weakness when their attention was drawn up in surprise to the spraying water.

I sprinted forward at the same time Spencer emerged from the door way in SWAT Team fashion. They were waiting on me. It had to be timed. We couldn’t take a chance on Baby John. I arrived at the man who held him. Everything moved so fast, I didn’t even have time to comprehend what all was happening. My pocket knife sank into the flank of the man holding Baby John at the same time that Nelly fired at Meagan.

Down went Meagan and the second shot was a single bullet fired at the forehead of Birthmark man.

The sprinklers stopped, but the floor was slippery and as the man struggled with the wound I had inflicted, I lost my footing and slipped to the floor. The blood from his wound spurted out and Melissa charged forth, grabbing Baby John before he slipped from the hands of his captor.