by Jim Roberts
Titus ran outside. He saw Falco running towards him from across the encampment.
"Where have you been?" Titus asked, his voice shouting over the din.
"We're under attack, my Lord! Three jeeps, loaded with composition B came towards the checkpoints to the east and south. What are your orders?"
Titus looked past his bodyguard towards the eastern checkpoint. The south checkpoint was blocked by the capitol building. He saw the guard towers begin spraying gunfire into the dark city beyond.
Of all the damn time for an attack!
Falco looked his young master in the eye. "My lord, what is your command?"
"This isn't important. I need you to take three Hyperions right now−"
Falco was confused. "Sir, I don't unders−"
"Shut up and listen! The Code is above us, in the Peacemaker's stealth jet. Take the Hyperions and shoot it down! Do not destroy it! Understand?"
Falco didn't believe what he heard. Titus jammed the small tablet into Falco's hand. "You can track it with this."
"My Lord, you need me by your side−"
"I need you to follow my orders! I will command this fight, you do as I say!"
"I...of course, my Lord." Falco saluted, turned and ran towards the small, makeshift airfield that housed the Hyperion wing of attack aircraft.
Octavia moved to stand by Titus's side. To the east, a pillar of flame rose from the damaged checkpoint.
Titus caught Octavia's eye. "Go back to the capitol building! Stay with the Centurions guarding the President. I need someone I can trust there."
"What are you going to do?"
"This is my Command. No rebel scum will take it from me."
She kissed him quickly before running towards the capitol building, avoiding the squads of Centurions making their way towards the fighting.
Titus watched her disappear into the glass complex before he left to join the fight.
* * *
ON THE west side of the Olympus compound, Joe hunkered down low in the heavy bushes surrounding the outside of the west checkpoint. Behind him, Jade, Krieger and Brick stooped low, waiting for their team leader's go ahead to enter.
The diversion seemed to be going well. The rebels had managed to get three large vehicles loaded with Comp B into range of the checkpoints. The resulting chaos the explosions had caused would provide more than ample cover for their entrance−if they could get past the west sentries without causing too much alarm.
Joe clicked the comm, "Rourke, are you set, over?"
"Roger that. Ready and waiting."
There were three Centurions guarding the west side of the compound, two at the makeshift guardhouse on the street and one in the twenty foot fight sentry tower beside it. In the compound beyond, most of the troops were heading straight towards the diversion.
Just as they'd planned.
Careful not to let a bit of success go to his head, Joe clicked the comlink.
"Ok, take out the sentry in the tower first. We'll take the two assholes below."
"Roger that."
"Go!"
Joe saw the sentry in the tower's head snap back as the full-bore round tore into his visor. Before the sound could alert his buddies below, Joe aimed his M4A1 and fired. His weapon coughed two shots, each one tagging the Centurion's in the brainpan. He saw the armor piercing rounds burst out the back of the helmets, carrying a stream of blood and matter with it.
The Checkpoint was clear.
"Alright, move up!"
The four companions rushed forward from their hiding places towards the entrance to the compound. Joe saw a small surveillance camera mounted to the side of the sentry tower. His gun chortled another silenced round. The camera exploded off its mount. The Peacemakers rushed past the fallen guards and entered the base, staying as low as possible. A large APC was parked between the checkpoint and the side of the government building. Joe led the team towards it, dropping down prone to avoid being seen. From his vantage point, he could see the glass door entryway leading into the Capitol Building. Joe was about to order his team forward when the unmistakable whine of multiple Hyperion engines came from the north side of the compound. He saw three of the obsidian VTOL aircraft rise up into the night sky and roar over top of them.
Now where the hell were they going?
Jade's voice came from behind him. "Joe on your nine!"
He followed the rebel lieutenant's voice and saw two Centurions rushing around the north side of the building. Joe moved the M4 up and fired. He saw one bullet smash through the visor of the nearest trooper. The other dodged low and managed to avoid the second shot. He raised his FN bullpup rifle towards the team.
−and was promptly shot straight through the brain by Rourke in his sniping blind. The Centurion crumpled to the ground in a heap. Joe made a thumbs up in the direction of the SEAL before getting back to his feet and tearing across the compound to the east entrance of the Capitol building. His three teammates slotted in behind him, moving in tight against the structure; staying low and out of sight.
Joe checked the door.
Locked. He figured it would be. It was an old deadbolt. He thanked his stars that Olympus hadn't had the time to give better locks on the doors of the building. Aiming his silenced M4, he averted his eyes and fired. The armor piercer bored through the locking mechanism with ease. He eased the door open slowly. From his vest, Joe removed a small object resembling a dentist mirror. He raised it up towards the crack of the door and looked inside. Mercifully, he didn't see any soldiers or guards.
They couldn't all have gone towards the diversion, he thought to himself.
The door led into a hallway where, after about fifty feet, a large foyer opened up. Along the hallway, he saw several doors, probably leading into offices. He tilted the mirror a little more until he saw what he was looking for−an elevator.
"Okay," Joe said quietly, pocketing the mirror, "Once inside, we head to the elevator, twenty feet ahead to the right. Ready?"
Thumbs up all around.
"Alright. Breech!" He pushed the door open and raised his rifle, his eyes up−alert for any movement. Krieger, following at the rear, shut the door behind them.
They were in. The hunt for Musabe was on.
* * *
TITUS RUSHED through the chaos of the compound and was almost stepped on by a hulking Cerberus drone, maneuvering to provide fire at the east entryway. The guard post was completely destroyed−the flaming wreckage of some sort of pickup was smashed against it. Bodies of at least five Centurions were scattered around the area, their armor smoldering from the fire of the explosion.
He saw flashes of gunfire from the darkness of the avenue beyond. Staying low, he crept up to the edge of the HESCO barrier and peered out. He counted four separate locations from the buildings across from the compound where bursts of fire erupted from.
Titus searched the area, confused. Why so few attackers? What were they trying to accomplish?
Diversion.
He pulled his comm unit from his pocket, setting it on all frequencies.
"Attention all units! This is a diversionary attack! I want a sitrep immediately from all squads!"
He had to plug his other ear as the Cerberus drone began to put fire down on the defiladed positions of the attackers beyond.
"God damn it, hold your fire you piece of junk!" He tried to shout above the tumult. The drone paid him no heed, instead continuing to spray the area beyond with thousands of rounds of 20mm cannon fire.
The squad leaders of Centurions and Legionnaires began to sound off their locations. Titus made mental notes of the unit names as they called in.
Centurion Squad Omega 2 did not call in.
The west entry point.
No!
"We've been infiltrated! Centurion squads three through eight, converge on the Capitol building immediately!"
Titus couldn't believe his stupidity at falling for such a novice trick.
"Octavia, do you read?" He
spoke quickly, fear gripping his chest.
"This is Octavia."
"The compound has been breached! Where are you?"
"On my way to the second floor right now."
"Stay there, don't move!"
Whoever was out there firing on them were not the real problem. It was all a simple ploy to allow entry to the base. He rushed as fast as he could towards the glass obelisk of the Sadoma Capitol building.
* * *
JOE HIT the call button for the elevator just in time to see a stream of Centurions enter the building from the main entrance on the opposite end of the main floor. The crimson/black soldiers began fanning throughout the foyer, weapons at the ready.
"Damn it! They've seen through the diversion!"
Joe looked up at the elevator floor display unit. The elevator was stuck on the second floor, not moving at all.
"Jade! We need a way out of here!"
The rebel lieutenant pointed across the hall to a corridor. "The building staircase is that way."
He heard shouting from the opposite end of the first floor, immediately followed by waves of gunfire.
Braddock shouted to his team. "Everyone move to the stairs, now!"
Brick, closest to the stairway, smashed open the door, covering the area with his FEG AK.
"Clear!" The Brit shouted.
"Move to the top floor, double time now!" Joe shouted over the gunfire.
Joe and Krieger covered Jade as the rebel lieutenant dashed for the open door. Krieger lay down a blazing stream of fire with the M60E3. The narrow space of the corridor reverberated the sound of the gun so loudly, Joe's ears felt as if they were going to burst. He ignored the pain and−staying low and firing as he went−moved back to the staircase. Krieger followed suit, laying down suppressing fire as he made his way to the door.
As the Russian moved past him up the stairs, Joe slammed the door shut. He unhooked a grenade from his belt, and jammed it into the door handle, as carefully as possible. When he was certain his teammates had moved up the stairway behind him, Joe yanked the secondary safety and wedged the explosive in tight before pulling the primary safety. As fast as he could, Joe turned and charged up the stairs, three at a time.
He had just reached the 3rd floor door, where Brick was waiting for him, when the grenade went off. The entire stairway resounded with the deafening shockwave of the fragmentation device.
"What was that, guv?" Brick asked as Joe cleared the stairway.
"Hopefully a half dozen Centurions turned to mulch. That should buy us a minute or two"
"We're gonna need more than that to check every floor of this place." Brick took the lead, rushing up the stairs as fast as he could run. He could hear shouting behind them. Joe unhooked another grenade. Yanking the pin, he tossed it down. The device bounced down the cement stairs for three seconds, enough for Brick and himself to make it up another two floors. The explosion was even louder this time. Joe hoped it would cause enough damage to delay the troopers long enough to buy them time to find Musabe.
As he and the SAS soldier charged up the flight of stairs, Brick shouted back at him. "So was this your big plan? Run inside a building surrounded with Olympus pricks and think we can just shoot our way out?"
"Well...it did get us inside!"
Floor Ten...
Floor Eleven...
Joe was starting to huff as they passed the half way mark. He'd been going strong all day and night. His body was still up for the jaunt, but it was anything but fun. Beside him, Brick was beginning to lag. The older soldier was giving it his all, but he'd been going even longer than Joe.
"Come on old man, keep up!"
"Call me old one more time, you damn wanker!" Brick pushed himself harder.
Floor Twelve...
Floor Thirteen...
* * *
OCTAVIA HAD heard the gunfire only a few moments after entering the building. She'd taken the elevator up to the second floor to check on her super soldier, whom she'd left under guard by three heavily armored Centurions. As the elevator opened she stepped out into the corridor.
−and was face to face with her own creation.
Prometheus stood at the entry to the floor, towering over her. He lunged forward into the elevator and grabbed Octavia by the throat, yanking her into the corridor. All around them were the remains of the troopers; their bodies in various states of dismemberment.
"Wait..." She tried to say, but the machine was too powerful.
"Query...what is the location of Anders, Sarah?" The monotone, ethereal voice boomed through the floor like the sound of Satan.
"You...are...malfunctioning...deactivate immediately..." Octavia managed to choke out her response as the vice-like grip tightened on her windpipe.
"Error. Unit functioning at normal specification. Repeat, what is the location of Anders, Sarah?"
Octavia began to see spots. Her hands dropped from the arm as she was about to pass out.
"T...top...floor..."
The grip around the scientist's neck abruptly let go, dropping Octavia roughly to the ground. She was vaguely aware of the super soldier smashing the elevator control before leaving through the stairway.
* * *
JOE WAS sucking in litres of air by the time they hit the seventeenth floor. He saw the tail end of Krieger and Jade ahead of them. Joe pushed on, faster and faster.
Floor Eighteen...
Floor Nineteen...
Jade and Krieger had slowed their ascent, waiting for their comrades to catch up. Everyone was breathing hard; the ascent had been anything but easy. Catching their breath as quickly as possible, Joe took point once more.
"Be careful, my friend," Krieger said quietly, "We heard sounds of talking on the other side of door."
Joe nodded. Below them, the sounds of the approaching Centurions was growing louder. Trying to be patient, he eased back the door handle and opened it. Directly in front of him, he saw two armored Olympus troopers on guard duty outside of the office door.
Joe eased the door closed and turned to his team; pointed at his own eyes, then made a 'two' gesture with his hand. Everyone nodded. Joe unhooked a flashbang from his belt and yanked the pin. Easing the door open, he tossed the stun grenade through. A deafening boom came from inside the floor. Joe burst into the hallway immediately, raising his silenced M4A1. Both guards were holding their hands uselessly up to their visors, trying to clear their vision.
Joe's M4 belched.
A fan of blood splattered across the wall behind the Centurion as his visor shattered gruesomely. The second trooper took a quick burst from Jade's own AK-74, the force of the bullets pushing him against the wall to slowly slide down, leaving a trail of red crimson behind.
"Clear!" Joe shouted. The four teammates entered the hallway, weapons at the ready. Before Krieger shut the door behind them, he pulled two grenades from his belt and yanked the pins. With an almost casual look on his face, he tossed them down the cement staircase. The sound of collective screaming was immediately followed by an explosion that sent a large cloud of smoke up towards the top floor. Krieger shut the door, a wide grin on his face.
"Should hold them a few minutes." The Russian said, sounding quite pleased with himself.
All four Peacemakers yanked their weapons up when they saw the door the Centurions were guarding open.
Out stepped two people. In the fore was a young woman with blazing auburn hair. Behind her, holding a small .22 caliber holdout pistol to her temple, was David Musabe.
Brick recognized the woman immediately, "Sarah!"
"Brick! Shoot him now!" Sarah cried out.
Musabe jerked her head back, violently, "Shut up you whore!" The President pulled the reporter from the office and began backing up down the hallway. At the end of the hall was the Presidential office, spreading out across the entire top floor.
"Everything I have fought for is finished! I trusted Olympus and they betrayed me! Now you Americans come here to take away what little I
have left."
"I am Russian myself..." Krieger said.
"Shut up! I will not be beaten here! You will let me past to the elevator and I will leave this place. Otherwise, I will kill this woman, I swear!"
Joe clutched his rifle tightly, sighting carefully through the dot sight. "You ain't going anywhere, asshole."
Nobody breathed.
Musabe's eyes searched for a way out.
Sarah closed her eyes.
Joe squeezed.
Chapter 29
Down Came a Blackbird
Sadoma Airspace, November 26th
"Colonel Walsh, there is something here you should see!"
The voice came from the radar terminal operated by one of the young CIA technicians. The boy−Atkinson–if the Colonel remembered correctly, was flagging him over. Walsh, stifling a harsh cough, made his way through the plethora of other CIA techs and computer operators to reach the young man.
For the past fifteen minutes, the Colonel had heard nothing from Joe's team since they'd entered the compound. During that time, the Barbarian had been in stationary overwatch around the city. The aircraft's sound dampened engines and radar refracting exterior hull would allow them to stay silent until the morning, which was a mere hour from now.
"What is it son." The old warhorse asked, taking a look at the terminal.
"Sir, we have...three bogies from the city on an approach vector, bearing three-seven mark two-one."
"What?" Walsh searched the screen. Sure enough, he saw the approaching aircraft, heading towards them as if the Barbarian was in perfect view. "How the hell is that possible?"
"I don't know sir, but they are approaching extremely fast. Estimated time to intercept...two minutes."
My God.
Olympus had found a way to break through the stealth tech.
How?
"Patch me through to the pilot, son."
Atkinson made a quick motion at the keyboard, handing Walsh a Bluetooth earphone.
"This is Walsh, we have bogies approaching aft, estimated intercept two minutes, over!"
