by Tom Jones
Chapter 3
The Jade Cane
Arcades was driving down the street in Hong Kong, and he was looking all around for the target building. He was not used to driving on the left side of the road, and the fox found himself thinking he was on the wrong side of the road. The small roads made it hard for him to get around traffic as well. Despite it being nighttime, there were still quite a few other drivers out on the road. Arcades stopped, and he made a left turn down a different road. As he pressed on the accelerator pedal, his stealth gray Ford Mustang’s engine roared a bit louder than Arcades wanted. The fox let off the gas, and he remembered that this was a covert mission. When he approached a stoplight, he took a peek at the picture of the target building that he had sitting in his vehicle. He knew that he should be getting close, so he was keeping his eyes open for the building. The building he was looking for was a seemingly run down shop, but underneath was a secret vault that an organized mafia supposedly used to keep their stolen goods. Arcades was being paid to reclaim a special jade cane. He didn’t know why someone would pay $30 million dollars for a cane, but he figured that he would put the cash to good use.
The fox pulled up next to a building, and he matched it with the picture that he brought. “Bingo,” Arcades said to himself as he was looking for a place to move his vehicle to since he would go inside the building to look for the cane. He found a space adjacent to the building that he could enter with his car, so he parked his vehicle inside of the space. When he turned the ignition off on his car, the song Kimosabe by BT stopped playing right before the bass dropped. The fox got out, and he went around to the trunk of the car in order to don his equipment. The trunk popped open, and Arcades examined the contents of the trunk. He placed a black JPC over his black G4 Combat Shirt, and he turned the handheld radio on before sticking it back in the radio pouch. He then put on his black Oakley gloves, and he put his lightly equipped battle belt over his pants belt.
Arcades removed his customized Salient G17 from his holster, and he made sure that rounds were in the magazine. He then checked to make sure his chamber was empty before checking the pistol suppressor fit on the barrel. The fox inserted the magazine back into the handgun, and he holstered it in a Condor Outdoor universal handgun holster on his black battle belt. He was wearing an all black loadout to help him blend in with the night, and this also blended in with his black fur as well. He also was not wearing any patches, and he did not even wear his American flag patches. Arcades finished his loadout by plugging in his Code Red Headsets Tactical Bone Conduction Headset into his radio’s PTT. He then put the headset on and decided to test the radio. “Radio check, radio check. How copy? Over.” After a few seconds, he heard Johnny’s voice, “Radio checks out, Arcades. We’re on standby. Over.” The fox responded with, “Solid copy. I’ll call y’all up if I need you. Proceeding with the mission. Out.” Before Arcades continued with the mission, he placed his foot on the quarter panel of his car, and he made sure that his G4 Combat Pants were adjusted the way he wanted. Once he was finished, he turned, shut the trunk, and proceeded to the mission.
The fox moved in front of the target building, and he looked for signs of hostile patrol. He did not see any lights being emitted from the building, so he figured that guards were likely to be stationed near or within the underground vault. He moved to the front door and began to pick the lock. Once the door was unlocked, Arcades entered, and he examined the interior of the building. The building looked to be an old market, and there were several small aisles with empty stands. The interior was very dark, so Arcades drew his handgun and switched on the Surefire X300 pistol light mounted on the G17. He moved slowly, and Arcades noticed that his lack of footwear allowed him to move silently. Arcades scanned the interior with his flashlight, and he was looking for a way to get underground. He then decided that it would be best to start his search by examining the backroom first. The fox moved towards the end of the aisles, and he found another door. He holstered his handgun after turning off the light, and he attempted to open the door. As Arcades expected, the door was locked.
Arcades came prepared for a situation like this, however. The fox knelt down, and he opened one of the pouches that he had on his battle belt. The general purpose pouch held a few utility items, and the fox picked out a small lock picking device. Being familiar with lock picking, the fox knew that he wouldn’t have that hard of a time getting inside of the door. The fox inserted the device into the keyhole, and he began turning the device left and right. He picked the lock successfully, and he made his entry into the next room after returning the tools to their proper pouch. He looked to his right and there was a dead end that was filled with clutter. He then looked to his left and he noticed a small elevator. Arcades slowly stepped in the elevator, and he pressed the button to descend to a lower floor. The elevator closed and began to slowly descend down to the lower level.
Once the elevator reached its destination, Arcades took a quick peek at the output room before he crouched down to avoid detection by anybody that would be in visual range to see the fox. The underground was in much better condition than the storefront that he just came from. The fox moved silently out of the elevator, and he peeked around a corner. He saw a human that was equipped with black combat gear, and Arcades recognized the human’s weapon as being a Norinco QBZ-95. The human guard was not looking towards Arcades, but the fox decided that he should find another way to get further in the hidden vault. Arcades figured that security cameras would be operating nearby, so he disabled his radio and headset. He then turned on the ECM jammer that he brought with him. He switched the jammer on, and he also turned on the jammer’s battery pack to prevent it from burning through its own battery supply. The fox removed his headset, and he let it hang around his neck since it would not function with the jammer active.
He then proceeded down the other direction, and he peeked around the corner. He spotted a camera, and he was glad that he turned on his ECM jammer. While there was a camera down the corridor, there was no armed guard that appeared to be close. Arcades decided to use this opportunity to continue his stealth mission. The fox slowly crept up while using the wall for cover and he was being mindful of the noise that he was generating. Once he reached the corner of the wall, he used a corner mirror to look down the next corridor. The corridor was guarded by another security camera, and there was a door behind this one. The fox knew he had to make his entry fast since he knew that personnel would soon arrive to troubleshoot the camera system. The fox moved down the corridor, and he approached the door. This door was different, as it was opened using a keycard.
Arcades examined the door’s keycard lock, and he looked for screws around the receptor. However, he didn’t see any screws. What Arcades decided to do was take the knife-end of his multitool and use it to pry the plastic cover off of the receptor. After attempting for half of a minute, the fox was able to remove the plastic cover. Arcades examined the wiring of the keycard receptor, but he did not know how to open the door itself. The fox then heard footsteps coming from behind the door, and he quickly put the plastic cover back on before moving to take cover. Arcades went back to the corner of the wall he came from, and he waited for whoever was on the other side of the door to pass. As he waited, he heard the door open, and he could audibly hear somebody entering the room he was in. Arcades used his mirror to see who was in the room with him. He saw another human armed with a similar Norinco rifle that was moving towards the camera facing the keycard door. The man looked up at the camera, and he pulled out his radio. “This is D3, I’ve arrived at the location of the downed camera. I’m going to proceed with troubleshooting. Over.” The man said this in Chinese, but Arcades did not understand him. The man’s radio only outputted static back at him, and Arcades heard him give off an audible frustrated grunt. The fox’s ECM jammer was successfully preventing contact back to the command post.
However, Arcades figured that the radio operator was seated in an area that was out of his jammer
’s range due to the fact that the operator was able to alert somebody to attend to the camera. The fox watched as the human visually inspected the camera for damage, but he could not see anything wrong with the camera. He then looked at the wiring that was travelling to the wall, but there was nothing wrong with it as well. The guard removed his handheld radio again and said, “This is D3, I cannot find anything wrong with the CCTV system. Possible malfunction on your end? Over.” He still did not receive a response, and he let out another frustrated grunt. While the fox could not understand what the man was saying, he took a guess as to what he was saying. Arcades looked in his mirror again and saw that the guard was going to open the keycard door. He peeked around the corner and was prepared to move when the guard opened the door. The guard slid his keycard into the door, and he pushed the handle down once a green light appeared over the receptor. Arcades quietly followed behind the guard, and he made sure to stay out of the guard’s line of sight. He entered further into the vault.
“Load up, we’re dropping in five!” A human announced as he checked the chamber of his black FN SCAR-L. The seven other men in the helicopter made sure that their weapons were also ready. They were all humans, and they were wearing navy blue uniforms with black equipment and weaponry. The squad was flying in a custom Sikorsky S-70 helicopter that had been modified with a sleek, angular frame to cause it to not return radar signals. This helicopter was designated as the MH-60X Stealth Hawk and was lacking any identification markings. The helicopter flew over the water and was now closing in fast on the target building. To reduce the risk of being detected by radar systems, the helicopter flew low, and the doors were shut to further prevent radar detection.
As the helicopter was closing in on the abandoned store, the squad leader reminded his men of the plan, “Alpha fireteam, split off and find the jade cane. Omega fireteam, mop up the security detail. Kill everyone who is a human, but take anthros alive if you see them. However, that shouldn’t be a problem here. All hostile contacts are reported to be humans. If anybody sees the cane, notify the rest of the squad via radio. Remember, the Site Director said that he needs that cane to decode the secrets.” The pilot pulled the yoke aft and gave the helicopter some throttle to level it out. The squad leader felt this, and he stood up from his seat in order to open the door. Once the door was open, the human looked down at the target building, and he announced to his crew, “This is it. Go, go go!” Lines were deployed from the helicopter, and the human operatives began to exit the helicopter. Once they all landed on the roof of the building, the squad of eight split into two fireteams of four, and they both rappelled down opposite sides of the building. Fireteam Alpha touched the ground first, and they went around to the rear of the building. Omega went towards the front entrance, and they opened the front door after carefully checking their surroundings. The Omega fireteam leader spoke to another operative, “We’re in. Alert Alpha via radio.” The operatives stopped, and one operator said over the radio, “Fireteam Alpha, this is Omega 3, we have made entry. You’re cleared to move in. Over.” Alpha responded, “Copy, Omega. This is Alpha 2, we are moving inside the building.”
“They’re in, let’s go,” Alpha 1 said to his men as they stood up to move around to the front of the building. The fireteam of four split into two groups of two, but they combined back into the four man team once they reached the front of the building. The operatives entered the store, and they immediately looked through the sights of their Aimpoint and Trijicon optics as they cleared the store of hostiles. As they reunited with Omega, the squad leader spoke, “Split up and search the building. There is an entrance to the underground vault somewhere. We need to find it. Once you find the entrance, radio in for us. Let’s go.” The squad leader was designated as Omega 1, so he stayed with his fireteam. The squad split up into four groups of two again as they searched the interior of the building. They checked all of their corners for hostiles, and they were looking down their sights the entire time. A voice was then heard over the radio, “This is Alpha 4, I have found an elevator. Possible entrance to the vault. Over.” Omega 1 responded, “Solid copy. This is Omega 1, what is your location? Over.” Alpha 4 notified the squad of his location, “This is Alpha 4. Alpha 3 and I are in the backroom directly behind all of the aisles. Over.” As the remaining operatives began to make their way to the elevator, Omega 1 responded, “Roger. We are on our way. Out.”
As the duo was waiting for the rest of the squad to return, Alpha 4 kept his FN F2000’s sights trained on the elevator door. Alpha 3 was watching the hallway that they came through to get to the elevator, and he held his custom M4A1 in a ready position. The remaining operators started to make their way down the hallway. Omega 3 and 4 were the first to enter, and they were followed by Alpha 1 and 2. Omega 1 and 2 finally found the room soon after. Alpha 3 lowered his rifle, and Omega 1 walked up towards the elevator button. He pressed the call button, and the squad waited for the elevator to return while Omega 3 and 4 provided rear security. The elevator arrived, and Omega 1 looked inside. He shook his head, “It’s only big enough for two people to fit in. We’ll have four groups of two go one at a time I guess. Alpha 1 and 2, you’re up first. Wait right outside of the elevator and wait for all of us to get down there before proceeding. If there are any hostile forces that come around, you’re cleared to engage. Let’s go.” The two operatives silently acknowledged as they entered the elevator, and they pressed the button to go down into the vault.
Arcades was finally closer to where he needed to go. As he looked around the vault doors, he remembered what was said during the briefing. The jade cane was in Vault Three. Arcades saw a number three above one of the vault doors, and he knew that the cane had to be in there. However, he didn’t know how to get in there. The fox crouched down, and he knelt in the shadow of a crate that was on the ground. There were several guards walking by, and Arcades was waiting to see if they would move. The fox looked up, and he noticed what appeared to be a control room. ‘Maybe the vault controls are in there?’ Arcades thought to himself as he took another peek at the guards. However, he would need to get up into the control room, and that would prove to be difficult as the staircase leading to it had a guard standing in front of it.
As he was waiting, he was startled by the sound of gunfire coming from where he just came from. The fox jumped forwards and almost hit his head on the crate that he was using for cover. He saw that some of the guards were also caught off-guard by the noise, and they raised their weapons as their reflexes kicked in. A guard that was standing in front of Vault Three began to speak, “Gunshots are coming from the entrance zone! Let’s go!” Arcades could not understand the guard, but he assumed it had something to do with the gunfire. As he was crouched down behind the crate, he saw three guards rush past him with their Norinco rifles held at ready. He also saw that the control room guard traversed down the stairs, and he exited the area Arcades was in. The fox decided that an opportunity had presented itself. He hurried to the staircase that led to the control room, and he made sure to keep his head low. He also was hoping that his tail did not give his position away. He knew one anthro who met an unfortunate demise due to his tail revealing his location.
“Contact! Open fire!” A guard yelled in Chinese as he opened fire with his Norinco CQ. The rounds struck the walls of the entrance zone as a gunfight erupted. Six out of the eight operatives had successfully made it down the elevator before they were discovered by passing guards. Alpha 1 returned fire with his FN P90 and struck a guard three times in the chest. The guard fell backwards from the impact, and he dropped his weapon. However, his ballistic vest prevented him from sustaining lethal internal injuries. Omega 1 approached the downed guard, and he finished him off with his SCAR-L. Blood painted the floor and some even reached the wall that was several meters away. Another guard avoided a hail of gunfire before attempting to call for reinforcements. The guard opened the cover for the alarm button and was prepared to push the button. The guard was in the motion to
press the button, but he was shot in the back of the head by a 5.56mm round fired by Omega 2. The guard dropped dead, and his blood covered the alarm button. “Clear,” Omega 3 announced as he moved in after Omega 2. Omega 3 and 4 finally reached the bottom of the elevator, but they could only see the aftermath of the initial assault. They did not bother to question the actions of the rest of the squad, so they proceeded further into the entrance zone.
Arcades heard more gunfire behind the closed doors. ‘I hope that keycard door will buy me some time,’ The fox thought as he turned to face the direction of the gunfire. He looked back at the control panel, and he was struggling to make out the control that would open Vault Three. He saw a switch with a three next to it, and he flipped it. Nothing happened. He scratched his head with his gloved hand, and he then remembered that his ECM jammer was still enabled. The fox flipped the switch on the jammer to disable it, and he pressed the vault door’s switch again after the jammer was inactive. The vault door began to slowly creep its way open. After the door opened, the fox switched his ECM jammer back on to prevent somebody else from closing the door on him. He turned around, but he unknowingly walked past a security camera that had seen him when he turned the ECM off.
