“You scared us, Boomer. That’s twice within a week,” Kong told him.
“Sorry, I don’t know what happened.”
“I do. You just had a panic attack,” Sam said gently. “Still want to tell me you don’t care about her?”
“Hannah,” he whispered. “We have to go. He’ll kill them.”
“Slow down,” Kong said. “You aren’t going to do her any good if you have another attack.”
“No, no I’m good.” All his years of training kicked in. The fear was replaced with anger, the panic replaced with the need for action. His brain switched from personal conflict to strategy.
“We need to roll. If you think you can’t do this, Boomer, tell us now,” Kong said, grabbing his gear.
“If you think you’re going without me you got another think coming.” He picked up his gear from where it had dropped, slung it over his shoulder and stormed out the door.
Ricochet drove while Kong received updates from the man on the scene. Parker had already entered the building holding Hannah close to him. It was obvious he was armed, whether or not he had explosives on him remained to be seen.
Sam sat in the back of the car with Boomer. Every few seconds she glanced at him, making sure he was all right. Now that he had his head straight he took the fear he felt for Hannah and twisted, contorted and filed it as anger at Parker.
By the time they arrived at the school they knew exactly what building they needed to focus on. Feds were in place to take down everyone involved with him and the rest of the school had been evacuated. They had little time to act so every movement they made had to count.
“Sam goes in first. I want constant updates if possible, babe. If you need to, retreat to fill us in. Once we know what we’re dealing with Boomer goes in next. I have a feeling there won’t be a chance for a sniper shot, Rico, so we’ll need you inside.”
“He’ll have himself surrounded with kids,” Sam said.
“You know it. This is going to be sticky but we do what needs to be done to stop anyone from being killed. Feds gave us the okay to terminate if needed. Personally I don’t see it ending any other way.”
Kong didn’t sound the least bit sorry about it. Secretly Boomer hoped he was the one who got to take Parker down. The cold, hard truth was he looked forward to it.
Kong parked the car. All four exited and geared up with what they needed. Boomer locked and loaded his rifle, his pistol and his spare he kept tucked in a holster on his calf. It wasn’t a big gun but aimed properly it was deadly.
Now that they were on the premises Boomer allowed himself a second to think about Hannah. He knew she’d be scared but not for herself. Did she know he would be there or would she think he’d leave her in the hands of a terrorist?
“Radio check,” Kong ordered.
“Ricochet.”
“Smoke.”
“Kong.”
“Boomer.”
“This is probably the most important mission we’ve been on together,” Kong said solemnly. “The most innocent of lives are counting on us. Let’s get these kids home.”
With that they disbanded. Sam headed toward the building, wearing her mask, Ricochet veered left to fall behind the building. Kong waited a heartbeat then followed Ricochet. Boomer willed himself to stay put until he got the word from Sam.
As he waited panic snuck back into his soul. He wanted to know what was going on inside. A bone-chilling wind kicked up swirling colorful leaves around his feet. He glanced up at the sky. Dark clouds rolled in across the once brilliant blue sky. His heart shuddered in his chest. Sweat began to seep from his pores.
“No, not now,” he ordered himself. “No time.” He had to keep his mind occupied with the task before him or he’d have another attack and that wasn’t going to do anyone any good.
His radio crackled to life. The wind whisking around his head made it difficult to hear what Sam was saying so he pressed his earpiece to his head.
“First floor is clear, Boomer.”
“Copy that, on my way,” he replied.
His heart calmed as he started toward the building keeping behind the trees and out of direct view of the windows.
“I hear movement on the second floor,” Sam whispered in her radio.
He was willing to bet that’s where Parker had everyone.
“Just got confirmation. He has thirteen hostages,” Kong informed them.
“Is Raya one of them?” Boomer asked holding his breath.
“Not sure at this point. They’re still working on accounting for all the students.”
“Is it just him this time or does he have help?” Boomer asked.
“Our man says he thinks it’s just him but he won’t swear to it. Too many entrances in this building for one man to watch.”
“You want me to set up Taser cases at the doors?”
“Negative. These people aren’t interested in escaping. It’s suicide for them taking down anyone they can.”
Kong was right. They were interested in dying and taking as many people as they could with them to bring light to their cause. For the life of him he couldn’t understand that reasoning.
“Oh shit,” Sam whispered into the radio.
“What is it, Smoke?” Kong asked.
“The whole damn stairway is packed with desks and chairs. It’s gonna take me time to get through, if I can.”
“He learned,” Ricochet growled. “I’ll go in the back and see if I can find another stairway.”
“Keep your head low, Rico.”
“Affimative.”
Boomer stopped at a large oak tree that had most of its leaves still clinging to its branches. He eyed it up and down. “I have an idea,” he said to his team. “There’s a tree here that’s positioned perfectly. I’ll shimmy up it and see what I can see on the second floor.”
“Copy that, Boomer. Smoke, you making any headway with those stairs?”
“Negative. This isn’t going to work. We need an alternative route. How about the roof? We can drop in.”
“Boomer, let me know when you’re perched. You can fill me in on the roof situation.”
He was already halfway up the tree and had his eye on the perfect limb to settle on. It would give him a clear view through one of the second floor windows. Above it was another limb that would allow him to see the roof.
“Two minutes tops,” he grunted into his radio as he pulled his weight up and over a thick branch.
Pain burned in his side as he lifted and pulled himself through the tree. He used it reminding himself of how he got it. Come hell or high water Parker wouldn’t get the chance to stick anyone again. When he kicked his leg up and over the final branch the pain blossomed into his back and down his leg.
Gritting his teeth against it he pulled his binoculars from his pouch on his back and took a peek at the roof. It had a pitch to it but nothing they couldn’t work with. There were plenty of places they could secure lines to.
“Looks to me like the roof will be our best bet to get inside. It’s pitched but we’ve done worse.”
“They’ve clogged up the other staircase to the second floor with a bunch of shit,” Ricochet reported.
“Okay the roof it is. Keep us informed of what you see, Boomer. Smoke, exit and gear up for a climb.”
“Roger that,” she whispered.
Boomer lowered himself down to the limb that would allow him the best view inside the building. The cloud cover worked to his advantage. With no glare on the glass he could see perfectly.
“I can see eight kids sitting on the floor. He has help, three males. I don’t see Parker yet.” He didn’t see Hannah or Raya either. Where were they?
Just then he saw Hannah stumble into the center of the room like she’d been shoved. He twisted the rims of his binoculars to bring him in closer. As he did she turned her face toward the window. He clenched his jaw tightly.
Blood ran from her nose and lip, tears streamed down her face and her hair was a tangled, knotted mess. She had
her sights set on one particular place in the room and from the look in her eye he knew she was looking at Raya.
“Show me where she is, babe,” he muttered to himself. He moved his glasses to the right and scanned the group of kids huddled on the floor. There in the middle was his little sunshine sobbing in fear along with all the other kids.
“He’s got Hannah,” he told the team. “Raya’s in there too.”
“Are they hurt?” Sam asked.
“Raya looks fine, just scared. Hannah’s been beaten around. We have to get in there.”
“Hang on, Boomer, we’ll get her out. We have to take this slowly,” Kong said.
“No. I mean now. They’re all kneeling.” He knew what that meant. They were praying to Allah before they ended their lives. Tension built in his body to the point that he thought he’d splinter like the branch he was perched on.
He watched the four men bowing to the floor. “You’d better pray.” He moved the glasses back to Hannah. For some reason she looked through the window at the same time. Her mouth gaped, her eyes widened and she mouthed his name.
“She sees me. Hannah sees me,” he reported.
“Boomer, if she can see you so can they. Sign to her and ask if they have any explosives.” Sam told him.
Boomer lowered his glasses and signed. “Are there any bombs?” Then he lifted the glasses and watched for her response. She shook her head and mouthed the word, “No”.
“No bombs.”
Again he lowered the glasses and signed. “How many men?”
She lifted her hand and showed him four fingers.
“Four targets— Wait she’s telling me something.” Boomer watched as she lifted her hands in front of her face like she was crying and moved them in slow deliberate motions. “She says they all have big rifles. Going to line the kids up and shoot.”
Like hell they were, he thought to himself. He’d jump from the tree and through the window with his own gun blazing before he let them take one child’s life. His anger was at full boil now. No fear, no panic just pure hatred. His vision narrowed on the small window in front of him.
“Boomer, you got gas on ya?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, three canisters. I don’t like using it with you in there, Smoke,” he snarled.
“I don’t either but we may have to. Get your ass up here with us now.”
“I have to go,” he signed to Hannah. When she shook her head with a jerky movement and terror in her eyes it gripped his heart and squeezed. He was torn between wanting to stay and give her comfort and needing to do his job. “Stay away from the windows,” he told her.
As he signed Parker rose from the floor and took a handful of her hair, jerking her backward. Boomer growled like an angry animal. That son of a bitch would never lay hands on her again. Parker pulled her head back against his face and spoke in her ear. Hannah’s face went white and she screamed.
“Boomer, where are you?” Kong yelled over the radio.
“Something’s going down. Don’t wait for me.” He didn’t have time to run around the building, climb the side and hook up. He had to find another way in. That way was staring him right in the face.
Ignoring the pain in his side and banking the anger for later use he focused on the window and the ledge above it. He looked above him and found a thick, long branch that jutted out from the tree. With every bit of strength he had he climbed toward it. When he reached it he shimmied out where it grew past the lower limbs, pulled a rope from his pack and secured it.
“You three about ready to move?” he asked over the radio.
“Affirmative,” Kong responded.
“I’ll meet you inside.”
“We go on three,” Kong said. “One.”
Boomer grabbed hold of his anger.
“Two.”
He grabbed hold of his rope.
“Three.”
Chapter Seventeen
With a deep rumbling yell he kicked off the branch and launched himself toward the window feet first. Everything transformed into a slow moving scene from a movie. He could see Hannah looking through the window, defeat and sadness in her eyes. Slowly she looked toward her daughter and opened her arms, beckoning her. They would not die he told himself, he would die saving them. He pulled a gas canister from his leg pocket, pulled the pin with his teeth and crashed through the glass tossing the gas into the middle of the room as his feet broke through the glass.
Simultaneously on the other side of the room Kong made his entrance followed by Sam and Ricochet. Glass splintered and sprayed throughout the room. The four targets stood stunned for seconds before they began moving. It was enough time for Boomer to make his move. He rolled across the floor, jumped up and dived toward Hannah and Raya. Using his body he shoved them away from Parker.
White gas filled the room as Parker lifted his rifle and aimed it toward the group of children in the corner. Using the butt of his rifle Boomer slammed Parker in the jaw dropping him flat on his ass. Sam, Kong and Ricochet spread through the room looking for the remaining targets.
“I can’t see them,” Sam choked into her radio.
“Smoke, stay by the window, don’t go any further into the room,” Kong ordered.
“Target to your right, Kong,” Rico yelled.
Boomer heard some grunts and huffs over his radio as he reached down to grab Parker. His hand fished through the heavy gas feeling nothing. He was gone. Boomer lifted his head and scanned the room. Sam was trying to aim her dart gun at a target. She coughed and choked, wobbled around and finally dropped to her knees.
Once again the gas took fast affect on her tiny body. The target she was trying to eliminate raised his gun and pointed it straight at her head. There was no time to yell for help over the radio. He had to move now if he was going to keep her from being taken out.
He reached into a side pocket of his cargo pants, pulled out a small knife and hurled it with as much force as he could. The blade flipped and spun through the gas, spiraling its way to the sweet spot that would cease the target’s movement. When the blade pieced his jugular his face contorted into a twisted look of confusion. A look that didn’t fade as the rifle dropped from his hands to the floor. Blood gushed from the puncture, flowing down his neck and chest. As his knees bent, bringing him to the floor Ricochet wrapped his arm around Sam’s stomach and dragged her to the window.
Kong was busy trying to usher children to a corner of the room, keeping them away from the violence that was happening in the middle. Boomer scanned the group but couldn’t see Raya or Hannah. A hard blow struck the back of his head. Pain exploded in his brain, white light flashed like strobes in his eyes. His heavy leaden arms wouldn’t respond, he couldn’t lift his gun.
Another blow struck across his back, knocking the air from his lungs and dropping him onto his stomach. The sounds in the room muffled in his ears, his sight dimmed. He was being drawn into darkness, helpless to stop it. Hannah’s ear-splitting scream pierced through, something to hold onto and drag himself back. The sound of gunfire followed.
He grunted and huffed, pulling his arms underneath him and shoving his torso up. Another gun shot, another scream. Was it Hannah, Raya or another child?
“Boomer.” His name drifted through his radio. “Where…needs…can’t get…help her.” He shook his head trying to clear the fogginess drifting inside his head. It was Kong’s voice but he couldn’t comprehend what he was saying.
He lifted himself off the floor, stumbled on weak legs and looked around. The gas was affecting him. His eyes were blurry, his lungs burned as he gasped in air. The sound of sobbing drew his attention to the corner of the room.
Parker was pointing his gun at the cluster of children huddled together. Hannah was sprawled on the floor to the side. There with her tiny body spread across two other children and her arms stretched out to protect others was his little sunshine, Raya. Parker aimed his gun at her curly red head.
“No!” he shouted with a deep guttural growl like
an ancient warrior defending his clan. Leaning forward and allowing his body weight to propel him he stumbled across the room, his sights set on the man willing to kill something so precious.
He ignored the background noise of Ricochet and Kong shouting and the children crying. He had to focus—he had to if he wanted to save her. As he progressed closer Hannah pulled herself from the floor, bared her teeth and dived at Parker. She jumped on his back raking her fingernails across his face, biting his neck and then pulling his hair.
The force she was applying to his head brought his gun up, pointing it toward the ceiling. He pulled the trigger, the bullet sliced through the ceiling raining tiles down on top of them. Boomer never flinched. He bored his eyes into Parker and moved forward.
It felt as though he had walked a mile already, making no progress toward them. His legs were heavy, weak and just holding him up. Still he pushed on watching Hannah fight for her daughter’s life. Her courage and brass-balls attitude drew him to her. If she could keep Parker occupied until he got there then he would finish the bastard off.
He was only four steps away from wrapping his hands around the man’s throat when Parker fisted his hand and drove it into Hannah’s face splattering her blood on him. There was no time to see if she was okay. Instead Boomer balled his own hand into a tight fist and thrust it into Parker’s gut. When the bastard doubled over Boomer drove his other fist into his face knocking him backward.
The pure satisfaction of seeing the man bleed pumped adrenaline through Boomer’s bloodstream giving him a burst of much needed energy. As he stumbled away Boomer turned his head and saw Hannah pulling herself off the floor.
“Get them out of here,” he yelled to her.
Parker recovered quickly, pulling a knife from beneath his shirt behind his back. On the fringes of his vision Boomer could see children hunched, coughing and choking, scurrying toward the other side of the room. At the same time he kept his attention on the knife in Parker’s hand.
“You’ve interfered with my work for the last time,” Parker shouted.
“You’re gonna die today, shithead, but not as a martyr—as a known baby-killer.” With that Boomer dropped, kicked out his right leg and connected with Parker’s shin.
Boomer's Fall Page 24
