“Alpha 1, Alpha 2, take the SAS and storm Bruenstein’s location. When you find him, if you find him, kill him….by any means.”
Looking at each other West and Hudson silently knew this was the only course of action,
“Acknowledged.” Confirmed Jack. Rising to their feet, they looked toward River View,
“You know if he had any sense, he’d have fled.” Said John,
“Yes, but I’ve a feeling he’s still there. Come on you know what to do.”
“If he is, he’ll be held up with is his most fanatic followers. They’ll be desperate.”
Jack knew the bloodbath was still not over, “I know.”
With the compound of APF Industries now secured in the docklands, the SAS regrouped, ready to storm the tower complex in a bid to put an end to this plot for good, and intent to take out their final target.
Chapter 26:
Everything was quiet, too quiet as the special force teams approached River View from the building site. The operation at the docklands, which was now controlled by the police, had to be noticed by whoever was inside. Like before, the whole building was shrouded in darkness apart from a few nightlights as teams of SAS squads stormed the front of the structure. Others surrounded the building, attempting to attack from multiple angles at the same time and to prevent escape.
Figures dressed in all black, swarmed around the rear car parking areas, their machine guns primed in anticipation which was reflected in the pace of the deployment as it was somewhere between rapid and cautious probing. At this moment there was no way of ascertaining just how many terrorists were barricaded inside the tower, if indeed they hadn’t fled. Accompanying the teams at the rear, West and Hudson led at the front as they approached the garages,
“Hold it. Wait!” Ordered one of the SAS men, “Contact.”
There was something on the ground at the entrances as they all crouched, “Multiple targets on the ground.”
West approached, he knew what they were, “Targets already neutralised, they’re dead.”
“Can you confirm?” The SAS asked,
“I was the one who shot them.”
A slight pause ensued as they all entered the underground car park. The familiar surroundings triggering Jack’s mind,
“Over there, behind that column. You’ll find a man still alive; we need to extract him intact.”
“Who is he?” Asked an SAS squad member,
“A senior government figure. And someone who has a lot of questions to answer.”
The conversation would have continued if it wasn’t for the interruption of a group of hard-line terrorists infiltrating the car park,
“CONTACT!!!” The words rang out as gunfire broke out a second time. The SAS struck along multiple directions, smashing their way through the main front entrance and into the foyer. The sound of shattering glass was almost as loud as the gunfire as Special Forces stormed into the building using grenades as fast as possible. Below, the fight in the car park had intensified extremely quickly; the terrorists, firing on the squad members took shelter behind structural columns and the few parked vehicles already there. Both in sound and ferocity, everything seemed heightened in the enclosed space,
“Get to the Health Secretary over there!!!” Shouted West, bullets whistling over his and John’s head,
“Covering fire!!!” One of the squad leaders followed up, his order barking out over the noise. Large chunks of concrete blew everywhere as bullets slammed into the walls, scarring it with holes as fragments and white dust pinged everywhere at random over the infiltrators. West, Hudson and the SAS squad returned fire, with the forces moving forward as they went in an attempt to push the terrorists back. Windscreens and side windows smashed as cars were inevitably caught up in the crossfire; prompting two more SAS members to locate and carry out the still unconscious body of the politician to relative safety,
“OVER THERE, GO, GO!!!” The assault teams shouted out as they forced themselves forward. One of the terrorists fell in a hail of gunfire, as a second one instantly took three shots to the chest through the window of one car, succumbing to the same fate as the potency of the attack became clear. Running over shattered glass, crunching beneath their feet, the remaining ones were not in a mood to give up and were ready for a desperate fight as they pinned down the assault squads. Both John and Jack followed in close together, firing as they went down a side wall. Ducking from vehicle to vehicle as volleys of shots flew around; the risk of a rogue shot hitting them was high,
“Move, move, move!!!” Rang out loudly as the attack continued. Out of the smoke, Jack could see a black figure throw something small in the general direction of the assault as another word was heard,
“Grenade!!!”
Reacting instantly to the warning, West and Hudson acted. Hitting the floor, their faces slamming against the coldness of the concrete as the fragmentation grenade exploded. The air rushing par in a short, sharp gust whipped through the air from the shockwave of the blast covered everybody. The loud but sharp bang from the explosion flashed through the room as cries rang out. The car nearest the blast, the one that the terrorists had taken shelter behind, shifted position due to the force, the windows completely blown out. Rapidly and with ringing in their ears, SAS squads stormed the position firing into the bodies of the terrorists. Advancing slightly behind and close to the wall, both Jack and John looked for a way forward,
“CLEAR!!!” The assault members shouted indicating the car park was finally secure. Spent cartridges, chunks of masonry and vehicle debris swam in the blood soaked floor. One of the SAS men radioed their progress,
“Car park cleared, moving though now!!” Jack was keen to move upward,
“We need to move on fast.”
The SAS squad leader agreed, “We’ll assault the stairwells, and clear each floor room by room. Second and third squads are going in now. We’ll take this one over here. I’m assigning two men to go with you.”
“No wait,” Jack interrupted, “Use your squads to draw off resistance in the building. Our job is to go after Bruenstein, if you can make things easier…”
“Alright….be careful.”
“Thanks. It looks like there are two stairwells along with the lifts up to the foyer area. We’ll ascend one, you take the other.”
Both teams split up. With John in tow and their weapons drawn they quickly reloaded their guns as they gingerly opened the door just enough to peer upwards,
“It’s not very well lit.” Said Jack,
“Good we’ll use it.” John replied. The sounds of gunfire and naturally disturbing sound of glass smashing echoed from above as the special services rushed the occupants in their own violent style. Cautiously they climbed the flights of stairs.
Level 10 was halfway up and still they encountered no resistance, but the sounds of conflict still rung out,
“Sounds like they are still clearing the floors below us.” John remarked.
Jack agreed, “Sounds like this tower is still occupied by the last of Bruenstein’s men.”
They continued to climb each flight swiftly, looking up in the gap between to see any signs of potential movement upwards but also downwards. They had climbed a long way so far as they reached the access door to the 12th floor. The sounds of explosions permeated though the air as the use of fragmentation grenades could be heard around two or perhaps three floors below. The SAS were doing a fine job in drawing resistance off away from them as they reached the 13th floor. However their luck invariably could only hold out only so far as the access door flew open, two terrorists burst through it into the stairwell, and directly into the path of West and Hudson,
“GET DOWN!!!” West shouted violently as they doubled back as fast as possible. Jumping down, within a second they were both under fire. Bullets ricochet off the metallic handrails, inches from John’s hands, the air rushing past them as them as they jumped down the stairs for their lives. Smoke and dust whipped up as each bullet from the terrorist
s machine guns slammed into the floor and walls, smashing a light bulb in the process. Now in the dark, the whistling and clanging noise form the firing ceased rather suddenly by the time Jack and John has been forced back to the 11th floor. Apart from the background noise of the assault, there was nothing from the upper stairwell, had they retreated? Had they run out of ammunition? Using extreme caution, they began their ascent once more; the adrenalin fuelled by the heightened awareness in a game of cat and mouse. Up one flight of stairs, John tapped Jack in the shoulder in complete silence as he spotted the both men two flights above them at the moment. The clicking sound indicated that they were out of ammunition and were in the process of changing magazines, this was their chance. Clearly their intent was to be the cat in the hunt, and Jack was not in the mood to be the mouse, both in agreement they advanced swiftly, Walther pistols pointed forward until they came into view. Both West and Hudson fired without hesitation, pulling their triggers, discharging rounds into the two criminals. Their bodies shuddered backwards as they hit the far wall; one rogue bullet hit one of the terrorists in the face, blowing the back of his skull out, flesh and brain matter spraying over the light blue-grey wall. Standing on the thirteenth floor, both men looked on at the two dead bodies,
“I knew thirteen was an unlucky number.” John whimsically commentated.
Throughout the building the assault teams were making slow but steady progress. The resistance from the numerous terrorists embedded on each floor proved frustratingly stubborn. Pushing forward, each member of each assault squad moved through the interior layout clearing room by room. Most areas were empty as they moved up the stairwells, fire exits and lift shafts, red dot sights and lights fixed to the barrels of their machine guns. Any desperate criminals holed up in individual offices or rooms, caused teams to shoot through glass and wood to take out any such targets once fired upon. The clearing operation, swift and methodical was a classic example of training adopted by the assault teams, but even so, they still could not be entirely confident that there were hostages in the building. Rapidly they moved up the floors, first the 13th, then the 14th, then the 15th; armed police squads followed up in pursuit a couple of floors below.
The 20th floor was by now no longer in darkness, but only in relatively poor light. A mobile phone lay on a bench as a figure picked it up. The large hands gripping the device, pulling it closer to the chest as if the user was preparing to use it. Victor Bruenstein saw his plan go up in flames, now the phone was the last trick up his sleeve, not really the ace, more like the joker. Knowing that he was trapped he retreated into the shadows, ready for his final, radical act.
The night’s operation, now in the latter stages was continuingly being monitored by Thames House. Harvey and everyone else looked and listened intently as reports were being fed by the minute on the latest update of the situation. But something still flashed up on one of the computers,
“That’s funny.” Commented one of the technicians,
“What is it?” Harvey asked,
“I’m getting a mobile signal but it’s encrypted.”
“Encrypted? Why?”
“Not sure. It’s coming from the top of River View.”
Harvey wanted more than that, “Can you pinpoint the source of the signal?”
“Hang on….got it….it’s on the 20th floor!”
“What is it?” Asked Harvey. He did not have long to find out,
“I’m picking up a code embedded in the signal. Usually mobile phone signals are measured by the power ratio in decibels from a cellular network.”
“Yes, yes OK spare me the technical details.” Harvey interrupted as the technician carried on,
“Well this signal strength is particularly strong, that’s how we could pick it up. Now usually signals are pretty simple, texts, phone calls, internet downloads bandwidths and so on, but this one isn’t hence the encryption. Now that’s suspicious and to my mind there’s only one thing a coded signal of such strength could mean. Think IRA back in the 1980’s.”
Harvey thought on, “A coded warning?”
“Or more precisely a coded signal, perhaps not a warning but a definitely a signal.”
The awful truth suddenly dawned,
“If it’s not a warning then….a bomb?…in that building!”
“Could be.”
“If whoever is emitting that signal detonates with everyone inside….my god the whole structure could be rigged to blow!!”
“Using the phone to detonate remotely; it’s a common tactic for many terrorist cells especially in places like Africa and the Middle East.”
Instantly Harvey radioed his two men in the middle of it,
“Alphas 1 and 2 come in, this is control respond over.”
“Control this is Alpha 1, go ahead over.”
“What’s your status? What’s your location?”
“Top of River View, on the 19th floor, heading up to the 20th.” Replied Jack puzzlingly,
“We have a problem.” Said Harvey, “We think there may be more explosives in the building, it could be demolition stuff. If that’s true the whole building could come down!!”
West and Hudson froze, “Could be Bruenstein.” Said John,
“So he’s still here then.” Replied Jack, “Control is there any way to diffuse these bombs?”
“We think they are hidden but are set to remotely detonate from a mobile phone signal. Such a signal is coming from the floor directly above you.”
The way forward was clear to the two men, “We need to get to Bruenstein before he sends that signal.”
“Use extreme caution Alphas, he could set it off any time. An animal is most dangerous when it is cornered.”
“Acknowledged.” Replied John as they made their way cautiously upwards to the penthouse suites.
The conference floor on the 20th was all quiet as they entered. Only the sounds below them rang out, muffled but getting louder all the time. Only the sounds of police sirens on the ground and the humming drone of the helicopter above seemed to provide any form of distraction.
Silently and without pause both entered the conference room where West had eavesdropped on Bruenstein before, nothing had changed except for the lighting. No longer in the dark, a dim glow from the semi charged lighting flowed around the space, giving it a spooky atmosphere. Light underfoot, they probed forward, their bodies tense and weapons drawn waiting, almost expecting the anticipated resistance at any moment,
“That’s far enough.” Growled a voice from a somewhere, Jack and John paused on the spot, their eyes flinching all around the room, the American accent seemed familiar,
“Bruenstein.” Said Jack,
“That’s right Jack. Here I am.” He replied as he emerged from the shadows, his long dark coat flowing with his steady movement as he came into the light. His pistol pointed directly at the two men. With West and Hudson doing the same, a standoff emerged and neither side was going to back down,
“I’ve got you now, you bastard.” Said Jack,
“Oh you think? Why don’t you come get me?” Revealing a mobile phone in his left hand both men looked onwards as Bruenstein’s thumb touched the screen,
“This is my insurance policy. You got to everything else, you must have found out, but this is one thing you can’t stop.” He said chillingly. Shouting and shuffling sounds grew ever louder as the SAS teams were approaching fast,
“Give it up Bruenstein, you’ve no way out now.” Said Jack trying vainly to appeal to reason,
“We need to talk to you. We have the Health Secretary, we have everything, just put the gun down.” John added but the criminal was having none of it,
“This whole building is rigged to blow. Demolition explosives planted in the structure, one step closer and I press this to detonate!! Then we all go up in smoke!!!”
They froze, knowing that the threat was very real. Thames house was listening in,
“I want that signal shut down!” Said Harvey
“Wh
at, nothing to say?” Goaded Bruenstein, he knew he had both West and Hudson cornered,
“You knew we were onto you all along didn’t you?” Asked West, “I still bear the injuries of what you did to me, look at my face!!!”
“Yes, but you still ruined everything!! I stood here and watched as my stockpile of poison went up, those trucks seized!! I should have had you killed properly back in that tunnel. Now this time I really am going to make you pay!!! This is one assignment you won’t be returning from.”
With his gun raised, he tensed up as he squeezed the trigger. Jack in his sights first with John the next target, his forefinger applied pressure. Freezing, Jack looked on as he stared into the blackness of the gun barrel, expecting a flash any second but instead a deep male voice softly spoke out,
“Bruenstein.”
Looking furtively toward the shadows where he had himself emerged from, this was just the type of distraction needed. But West and Hudson themselves did the same thing; the moment was lost in the situation. A figure appeared shuffling slowly out of the shadows sporting clothes that looked nothing more than rags such was the extent of rips and burning. Even with his utterly distressed look all three men in the standoff recognised who he was,
“Maxwell Grey!” Said Jack,
“Oh yes Mr West. Nice job you made of it out there. Pleased with yourself?” He raised his pistol to equal the odds as the sounds of the SAS drew ever nearer,
“You’re out of time assholes.” Bruenstein warned, but John saw something odd about Grey, he looked rather dazed, Jack noticed it too,
“It looks like you’re suffering the effects of poisoning.”
“Shut up!!”
Knowing he was right, Jack held his tongue,
“Tell your guys to back off, the helicopter as well. You are going to arrange my escape otherwise….you know what’ll happen.” Holding the mobile phone up, Bruenstein held a joker up his sleeve; and there was nothing anyone could do,
Three Faces of West (2013) Page 32
