Lothar now went to call his father for help. While he still had superior numbers and his men knew the inside of the warehouse well, most of his army consisted of ordinary working men who just happened to believe in the cause. Many of his men just had hunting rifles. The jihadists were hardened fighters with machine guns who had killed before. His men were no match for the aggressive jihadists.
Lothar became frustrated when his father didn’t answer his phone. Neither did any of his brothers. He quickly texted them and then placed a call to the local head of the Effort. The man had clearly been sleeping.
“This is Lothar Keidel,” he yelled into the phone. “I need as many men as you can muster. Bring them to the warehouse immediately. We are under attack and won’t be able to hold out for long,” he bellowed into the phone.
“Did you call your father?” the man asked calmly.
“I’m not getting an answer from him or my brothers. We are minutes away from being overrun.”
The man quickly realized that the entire Keidel family could possibly die in minutes. A smile crossed his face. With the Keidel’s out of the way, he knew he would become the new leader of the Effort.
“I’ll bring as many men as I can find,” the man replied sharply. He hung up the phone and went back to sleep.
Once Lothar was satisfied that he had reinforcement coming, he tossed aside his phone and picked up a machine gun. “Let’s go boys,” he ordered to the remaining men in the office. “We’ll kill them from the balcony out front. We’ll use the metal plates out there for cover.”
As the Jihadists surged into the opening, several of them were cut down by the remaining Effort men still on the floor. They had taken up positions behind the equipment and debris that was scattered all around the inside.
The jihadists quickly realize that they were in the open and rushed to cover on the east side of the building. The way to the super structure and the Switches was through the men on the west side of the warehouse.
More Effort men from the outside poured into the building and took cover. Two of the Effort men mistakenly headed for the east side to hide, but were immediately cut down by the jihadists on that side.
Soon, it had become eerily silent in the big warehouse. Only a few lights gave a weak glow to the interior. Both sides tried to remain quiet as they searched for targets. It was a Mexican standoff, with neither side willing to expose their positions. A shot rang out on occasion and was immediately followed by several machine guns blasting away at where the shot had come from.
Lothar stood on the third floor balcony believing that he had everything under control.
***
“Should we move this along?” Sergeant Pepper asked his captain. “This is right out of a movie I saw about Stalingrad during World War II,” he added. “Snipers on both the German and the Russian sides spent days searching out the enemy and shooting them inside warehouses and factories just like this one. This could take forever.”
“Does everyone have their night vision glasses?” Captain Kane asked.
“Standard issue,” his subordinate responded.
“If we shot out the remaining lights, the only ones who would be able to see would be our guys,” the captain calculated in his head.
“We could storm the place and get them all,” the fearless Sergeant Pepper said.
“But some of our men could get shot by cross-fire,” the captain also noted. “Let’s wait,” he said after thinking about it.
“Okay but what should we do right now?” Sergeant Pepper inquired.
“How long until sun rise?” the captain asked.
“About four hours,” came the reply.
“Let’s wait a little longer before we go in. There are still something like fifty-five live shooters inside.”
“Roger,” the sergeant replied reluctantly.
***
The Effort men were not real militia, but they all knew how to fire a rifle. Every Fall they traveled up to Wisconsin and bagged their share of deer. They knew how to wait patiently and how to flush out their prey.
One of the men on the right flank picked up a metal bar and tossed it towards the jihadist side of the warehouse. It clanked against an old metal machine. Two jihadists stepped toward it and reacted. They began shooting where the noise originated. They were immediately picked off like stag deer.
Soon after that, four Effort men snuck out a side door and attempted to go around the building and outflank the enemy. They had gone about thirty feet when the man in the lead suddenly stopped. He saw a red dot on his chest.
“That red dot means you and the rest of your men are dead in five seconds if you don’t drop your guns and lay down on the ground with your hands on your head,” he heard in a whisper from somewhere.
They immediately dropped their guns to the ground and complied with the order. Two TACP men slid out of the inky darkness and began cuffing them.
“Just caught four men sneaking around outside,” a TACP sniper reported.
“Copy,” Captain Kane responded.
“How many men are left?” Sergeant Pepper inquired as he looked out the small window in the shed where they had set up headquarters.
Captain Kane stared at one of the monitors. It showed the heat signatures of the men inside the building.
“It looks like there are over forty fighters left alive inside,” he replied. “There are fourteen jihadists left.”
“This is taking way too long,” Sergeant Pepper said with annoyance.
Chapter Seventy
About that time the MAD team entered the now crowded command post. They were battered, bruised and limping, but were still ready to fight.
“Take those four prisoners outside and guard them,” the captain ordered. “We are running out of room in here.”
Suddenly, everyone heard sirens in the distance.
“Crap,” Captain Kane uttered. “I thought we could get this skirmish over before the police arrived. I can’t have them tramping around an active battlefield.”
“Want me to take care of that?” General Stone asked.
“Please do,” the captain responded without looking up.
The general whipped out his cellphone and dialed a number. It took eight minutes before the sirens stopped wailing.
“How many men are still alive inside,” Malcolm reasonably asked.
“I’m counting thirty-eight,” the captain responded and pointed to the heat signatures on the monitor. “Three are up in the third floor. We’re losing about three an hour.”
“Why is this taking so long, captain?” the usually impatient Kaley blurted out.
“We’re waiting for them to kill off each other before we go in,” he answered.
“Well, I’m done waiting,” Kaley shouted like a mother who was mad at her children. “I’m going in there and speed things up a bit. I’m going to kick some ass.”
“No, you’re not,” the stress-filled captain screamed back. “This is a military operation.
“Well do something then,” the feisty Kaley ordered.
“Sir, I think that it’s time to implement plan B,” sergeant Pepper pleaded.
“Okay, I guess that it is time,” his superior muttered. He pressed the intercom that connected him with all his men. “We will execute plan B in five minutes. Get to your stations.”
The snipers began to come down from the water tower. The men manning the perimeter threw off their camouflage and headed to the front. Sergeant Pepper and the captain picked up guns. They all went to meet outside the big doorway to the warehouse. The MAD team followed.
The plan had been one of those that had been setup before the attack. There were also plans C, D and E. Everybody knew their part.
***
The first part of the plan was the most dangerous for the men assigned the task. They slipped into the warehouse and on the captain’s signal. They shot out the remaining lights, putting the entire facility in complete blackness. Gun blasts immediately were aim
ed at their positions, but they had already left and returned to the outside. Phase one of the plan was complete.
“Fire them up boys,” Sergeant Pepper yelled for all the TACP team members to turn on their night vision glasses.
When everybody was ready, Captain Kane spoke into a bull horn.
“You fighters inside,” he yelled. “We are soldiers from the United States Air Force. We have you surrounded. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to give you three minutes to come out through the garage door unarmed. If you fail to do that, we will go inside and you will die. Is that clear enough for you?”
When no one answered, the captain continued. “Time starts now.”
Almost immediately men came running out the big door. They were told to drop to their knees with their hands on their heads and were quickly cuffed by the TACP men. They were made to sit in a guarded detention area off to the side. At the end of the grace period, fifteen Effort men had been captured.
“None of the jihadists have come out,” Sergeant Pepper reported. “And there are still over twenty Effort men inside.”
“That’s about what I expected,” the captain replied sadly.
“What do we do now?” Kaley demanded.
“Now we go in,” the captain replied in a gritty voice. “We’ll clean out the jihadist side first.”
Sergeant Pepper ordered the “Allah” team into position. It consisted of eight men. They lined up by the door. At the same time the captain called for the drone to come down from the sky and enter the warehouse. He wanted to pinpoint where all the fighters were located. He would relay targets for his men.
“Attack,” the captain said into he’s earpiece.
It was as dark as a cave when the TACP men stealthily slipped around the corner and headed down the wall inside the warehouse. Three men stopped as soon as they could see the jihadists in their night vision goggles. Two men stopped when they were behind the nervous fighters and the remaining three men continued around until they occupied the opposite flank. All of them carried a silenced sniper rifle and a standard issue machine gun in case things got out of hand. While they were getting into position, Captain Kane spoke over the bullhorn to cover their movements.
“I’ve given you fair warning. If you don’t drop your guns and come outside you will begin dying in exactly one minute,” the captain said.
“In position,” the TACP member on the far side of the warehouse confirmed. After a minute and a half, the captain gave the order.
“Execute,” he said clearly.
The jihadists were spread out behind what they thought was good cover. There were one or two men behind each barrier spread across the floor. They were swiveling their heads back and forth, looking for someone to shoot, but didn’t understand that they were already targeted.
Muffled pops from silenced rifle shots suddenly sounded in the noise voided interior. Some jihadists screamed as they went down praising Allah. Others pressed the trigger on their machine guns, but they all began to be eliminated. In the end, the jihadists were good at one thing — dying.
Outside the building, a stream of Effort men came running out of the building with their hands up. When they started seeing the muzzle flashes and the sound of men being killed, they decided that they had enough. They were anticipated and were quickly subdued.
“Jihadists are all down,” a TACP officer inside the building reported.
“Confirm deaths and then return outside,” Captain Kane ordered.
“Roger.”
“We picked up another sixteen Effort men,” Sergeant Pepper told the captain.
“How many are left inside?” Kaley asked.
“There are four men still on the floor and three men up on a balcony,” the officer replied as he scanned the screen of the hand held monitor he carried.
“Can I go in now?” Kaley pestered the captain. “I can get them all.”
“No. Not until we’ve cleared the building,” he replied hotly. He ordered the next team to get ready. They were called the “Neo team”.
“Attack,” he ordered.
Eight more men went into the dark building. It took them less than four minutes to knock down the four men who decided to fight.
“We’re clear,” the officer inside reported. “We’ll head up to the balcony and get the other three Effort people.”
“Roger,” the captain replied.
***
Up in the balcony, Lothar Keidel and his two men looked out over the big warehouse. They had remained quiet and hidden behind some metal plates.
“I think that everyone else is dead,” the frightened man who had welded the dumber waiter said.
“What are we going to do?” the other man whispered. “I’m sure they are heading up here to kill us too.”
“I’m going to escape,” Lothar replied. “You guys hold them off for as long as you can. Then I don’t care if you surrender, that is if they let you,” Lothar said to scare his men into fighting.
“But —,” one man croaked.
“You have sworn to protect me,” Lothar hissed. “Do your job.” He got up and headed back into the office. Once inside he ran to the back exit of the office and threw open a door.
The old metal fire escape was in bad shape, but held his weight as he scampered down the rickety stairs and felt his way to an exit door.
***
“Look one is getting away,” Kaley cried out and pointed to the screen.
“It’s Lothar Keidel,” Malcolm blurted out.
“We need to capture him captain,” General Stone ordered. “I want him alive.”
“I’ll get him,” Kaley spouted with glee. “I’m real good at subduing people.”
Captain Kane has seen her in action. He knew she was right. “You to go with her,” he ordered two of the men guarding the prisoners. One was Sergeant Pepper.
As Kaley, Malcolm and the two TACP men sprinted around the corner of the building they heard in their earpieces a report from the officer inside the building.
“Two men surrendered,” he said. “We’re bringing them out now. I don’t know where the other one went and the men are not talking.”
***
It was approaching dawn as Lothar slammed through the exit door to the building as he tried to escape. There was enough light for him to see clearly. He knew that he had a place to go and had resources available to him. He just had to get away. He was almost free.
The first thing he saw was a small blond woman standing with her hands on her hips and looking very pissed off. He then noticed that there were three other men standing behind her in a semi-circle.
“Drop the gun,” she ordered. “I’m here to capture you. You need to pay for your crimes.”
Lothar, who was twice the woman’s size, hesitated. He was trying to figure out if he could shoot all of them before he caught a bullet. He waited too long.
The woman seemed to move at the speed of lightning. She kicked out with her leg and the machine gun he was carrying was gone.
“I’ll bet you’re pretty angry now,” she said sarcastically. “After all, a little woman like me has defeated a big tough brute like you. You probably want to slap me around some.”
“You bet I do,” he roared loudly. “I’m not defeated.” He raised his arm to slap her. It was the last offensive move he was able to make.
Kaley kicked him in his exposed rib cage. The blow was so strong that she cracked several ribs. He staggered under the blow. Lothar had been trained in martial arts and he was big and extremely strong. He could recover quickly, but now he was hurt.
“Bitch,” he screamed hoping to get her to attack as he vowed to be ready the next time. He glanced at the men behind her. They were relaxed and weren’t pointing their guns at him. Good, he thought.
Before he was able to refocus on Kaley, she had entered his defensive position and threw her favorite punch. She slammed her fist into his throat. He all of a sudden couldn’t breathe. She followed that up w
ith her second favorite move, a chop to his collarbone — it broke. He let out a muffled scream from his damaged throat as his right arm dropped. He couldn’t move it anymore.
He swung his left arm at her head, but she was already behind him and viciously kicked him between his legs. His legs became paralyzed and he dropped to a kneeling position.
She moved in front of him and slapped him across the face with her left hand and then her right one too.
“Had enough yet?” she asked as she studied her nails. “Look you broke one my nails,” she said hotly.
Lothar was seething in rage. He tried to muster enough strength to tackle her. He knew that once he got her on the ground, he could crush every bone in her small body.
Just as he started to move, Kaley kicked him in the face from close range. His head snapped back and fell to the ground unconscious.
“Kaley, enough,” Malcolm ordered as she was about to plant a kick in the big man’s side. He rushed to hug her before the primal madness in her took over.
Sergeant Pepper spoke into his earpiece. “We’ve subdued the target. Better send a stretcher.”
***
“When everyone was back in the front by Captain Kane, General Stone addressed him.
“We still need to collect the devices we are after,” he remaindered the officer.
“It’ll take some time to search that building,” he commented dryly.
“No need,” Malcolm offered. “We know exactly where they are. We just need some lights inside and a blowtorch.”
“What?” the confused officer uttered.
“There’s one on the third floor of the warehouse,” Malcolm explained.
The TACP members set up battery powered flood lights where Malcolm showed them and one of the men cut through the metal at the bottom of the dumber waiter. Malcolm started handing the eleven soccer balls sized devices to Lisa who put them inside a nylon bag. The whole operation took only fifteen minutes.
As they were leaving the building, General Stone spoke to Captain Kane.
“Very good job captain,” he said as he put out his hand and then saluted.
“Thank you sir,” the exhausted TACP officer replied with pride.
The Oracle Philon Page 26
