Smoke and Shadows (17 page)

“We’ve got incoming!” somebody yelled.

Another explosion rocked the room just as everyone scrambled away from the gaping hole on the wall.

“This is becoming a massacre,” Viktor said. “Damn it. We’re fighting blind.” He punched his direct line to Tim. “Burns. The Hudson Building is under fire. I want you to send an assessment to my phone.”
 

“Holy fuck!” Tim said. “On it, boss.”

Viktor took out an earpiece and mic and fixed it securely. “Has Cole arrived yet?”

“Negative.”

“The building security is breaking under the assault,” Jack returned from his quick venture out the room. “But I think they’ve taken out the RPG shooter.” Jack flinched when a bullet struck the wall behind him.

“It might be a good idea for you to take cover,” Viktor told him. “I don’t want to explain a bullet in your head to your wife.”

Jack scowled as he crouched beside Viktor. “Are we just going to sit here?”

“I’m waiting for an update from Tim. We play this smart, McCord.”

Derek crouch-walked beside them. The wild expression on his face indicated worry for his wife rather than their present situation. “I talked to Sophie. She picked up a wounded Jiro Matsuda at the corner of Oakland and Connecticut. Someone attacked the dojo, Matsuda managed to get away. Damn you, Viktor. If anything happens to Sophie—”

“Where are they now?”

“I told her to drive straight to AGS.” Derek looked ready to bolt. The inability to get to his wife immediately was frustrating him.

“Viktor.” A voice he’d been wanting to hear all day sounded in his earpiece.

Marissa.

“Are you at AGS?” Viktor demanded.

“I just got here.”

“Sophie is on her way with Matsuda. I have no time to explain. Call Dr. Henderson.”

“Copy that.”

“Lockwood,” Viktor addressed his friend who looked ready to kill him. “Can I count on you to keep your head straight?”

Derek nodded. Viktor worked with Derek enough to know how reliable the man was. He had nerves of steel when faced with overwhelming odds. But this was before Sophie, and Viktor hoped his friend had not lost his edge after he had gotten married.

“Okay, I’m counting sixteen hostiles armed with AK-47s and they’re slowly pushing forward,” Tim crackled through comms. “Your best bet is at the main entrance. The rotunda has pillars that could provide cover.”

“Copy that. Inform the guards out front that we’re coming through.”

“Roger that. Oh, Sophie Lockwood just checked in at security. Maia and Ms. Cole are on their way to meet her.”

“Thanks, Tim. Do we have an ID on who these men are?”

“Chatter says it’s an Al-Qaeda splinter group.”

“Syria?”

“Yup.”

Viktor cursed under his breath. What the hell was going on? He glanced at the MPD officers who were valiantly keeping the meeting room from getting overrun. Time to join the fray.
 

“We break for the front,” Viktor said.

He caught the attention of the MPD police chief and gave him a quick hand signal that they were defending the entrance of the building.
 

The police chief responded with a two-finger salute.

Viktor looked at Derek, Jack, and Nathan. “Ready?”

*****

Rafiq Shadid and his crew navigated the century old subterranean tunnels that snaked under Washington DC. They were supposed to be sealed off, but the city planners lied—brought about by government agencies’ plan to facilitate spying on their citizens and planting bugs at foreign embassies.

Not many people outside the CIA knew about this network of underground conduits, but this was another lead that Matthews provided them. A microfilm chip of the blueprints were in a CIA station in Morocco. His uncle, Stuart Kwon, paid a handsome amount to a double agent to make a copy of the microfilm.

“This is it,” Ali said, checking the location on his GPS device and looking at the map.
 

“Are you sure?” Rafiq pressed. “Precision is important, Ali.”

“I’m sure, my brother.”

Rafiq nodded for his men to attach the explosive device on the ancient brick wall. It pained him to destroy something so old, but the infidel had plundered their land, this was payback.
 

Partnering with Al-Qaeda was a slippery slope to navigate. It was an uneasy alliance, aimed at targeting a common enemy. But motivations were different. Very different.
 

“It’s ready.” His ordnance expert informed him, handing him the triggering device.
 

Rafiq looped his index finger in the air to signal his men to take cover. He pressed the trigger.

The explosion was instantaneous, a loud rumbling sound that echoed deeply in the tunnel. The billow of dust was so thick, Rafiq thought for a moment that the tunnel had collapsed. But when the cloud of debris cleared, a light illuminated the tunnel through the hole the C-4 had punched open.
 

They had to be quick, the element of surprise was crucial. Rafiq had memorized the building layout by heart.

He stepped through the craggy opening in the wall, straight into the underbelly of AGS.
 

*****

Matsuda had lost a lot of blood. In the backseat of Sophie’s Escalade, a red pool formed from the kendo master’s gunshot wounds to the leg and shoulder. They were not fatal shots, but Marissa needed to get him a transfusion quickly and seal the wounds before he bled to death. When Sophie zipped into the AGS parking, Marissa and Maia were already waiting with a gurney. They had some guards help them load him up since he was almost unconscious.
 

Marissa had not wanted the female Guardian along because she was still struggling with movement, but there was no stopping Maia when she had set her mind on something. In some ways, Maia and Viktor were cut from the same mold.
 

“You okay, Sophie?” Marissa asked, turning her attention to the blonde woman. They wheeled the gurney into the waiting elevator.

Sophie nodded, but her lips were trembling like she was controlling a sob. “Derek said the Hudson Building is currently under attack. He said he was okay and they were handling it, but I don’t think he’s telling me—”

“Sophie,” Marissa said firmly. “Derek is with Jack and Viktor, and I believe, Nathan Stark. Do you think any of the attackers stand a chance?”

Sophie considered this and then, “Will Sensei Jiro be okay?”

“He’s lost a lot of blood.” Marissa was not about to give false hope. Too many people died last night and to downplay the situation was an affront to the lives that were lost. She caught some footage of what was happening at the Hudson Building. The terrorists took an ambitious gamble in hopes of crippling the city’s defenses, and she was taking heart that Viktor had capable people to watch his back.
 

The medical bay was located on the second subterranean level, adjacent to the bunkers and a floor below the datacenter. A nurse was waiting for them when the elevator doors opened.
 

“Dr. Henderson was held up at New Park Medical. News of the attack on the Hudson Building required all hands on deck because of the numerous casualties reported,” the nurse informed them as they rushed into the medical bay.

“Do you have Matsuda’s record pulled up?” Maia turned to the nurse.

“We’ll have to do what we can,” Marissa said.

“What do you mean?” Sophie’s gray eyes were wide with concern.

 
“Can you deal with the gunshot wound and transfusion?” Marissa asked the nurse.

“Yes. I’ve prepared his blood type,” the nurse said confidently as she began snipping away at Matsuda’s jeans to inspect the injury. “There’s an exit wound, so we’ll just have to clean the area and stitch him up.”

Maia took a look at Matsuda’s shoulder. “None in this one. You’ll have to dig it out.”

A rumbling sound shook the frosted glass panes of the medical bay. The women exchanged alarmed looks.
 

Maia grabbed the intercom and buzzed security. “What the hell was that?”

“We don’t know, Agent Pierce, we’re investigating.”

Maia hung up and looked at Marissa. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

The words barely left her mouth when the headquarter alarm went off. The red lamps stationed throughout the building started flashing.

Maia called Tim. Marissa watched the redhead’s jaw get tighter and tighter as she waited for the analyst to pick up. When she finally got through, she could hear Tim Burns’s voice yelling through the intercom though she couldn’t make out the words.

Maia slammed the receiver down, drew her 9mm from her shoulder holster, and racked the slide. Levelling her eyes at Marissa, she said, “We have a breach.”

*****

Viktor led the other three men out of the meeting hall, guns drawn, stealthily walking along the wall. Moving closer to the rotunda, he watched one of the guards get struck down by a bullet. A masked assailant kicked the guard over, preparing to deliver the kill shot.

“Hey!” Viktor shouted. The assailant looked up, raising his assault rifle, but he was too late because Viktor immediately shot him between the eyes.

“Clear, right!” Derek shouted.

“Clear, left!” Nathan added.
 

Jack took charge of the rear.

The four of them moved as a unit, guarding all sides.
 

Six gunmen charged into the rotunda, which indicated only one thing, building security had been overwhelmed. They needed those assault rifles.
 

Viktor acted on instinct. Picking up speed, he ran straight for the six gunmen, shooting one down before he dropped to his knees and slid forward. Slamming into one of them and grabbing the assault rifle, he used the barrel jacket to crack against the face of the attacker. Shots were exchanged behind him.

By the time he swung the rifle around, there was one gunman remaining and without hesitation, Viktor squeezed the trigger and brought him down as well.
 

Shouting from the entrance heralded three more terrorists rushing in. Shifting to one knee and bracing with a leg cocked in front of him, Viktor shouldered the assault rifle and picked one off before they came upon him. Standing up, he held the rifle with both hands and swung the butt out, striking a man down. He turned as his elbow connected with the cheek of another. It was close-quarters combat time.
 

“I got this!” Viktor shouted as he jabbed his fist into the first guy’s gut before finishing him off by bouncing the man’s forehead on his knee. The second attacker came at him with a knife. Viktor skipped backward and concaving his torso to avoid the slash of the knife, he grabbed the guy’s hand that was holding the knife and twisted his arm. The man’s scream of pain was cut short when Viktor rammed his elbow into the man’s face. Viktor heard the nasal cartilage break before blood spurted out the other man’s nose. Picking up the knife, Viktor swung it out and severed the man’s carotid artery.

Grabbing the fallen assault rifle, Viktor took position behind the wrecked revolving door—a casualty of the RPG. Jack was on the other side busy firing rounds into the open.

“You’re crazy, you know that right?” Jack yelled at him with a smirk on his face.

Viktor grinned. “Yeah, I know.” He looked around for Derek and Nathan and spotted them by the broken Cathedral windows.
 

He pressed his earpiece to resume communication with Tim. “Tim, do you copy? I need updated shooter formation.”

No response.

“Burns!” Viktor barked through the mic.

“I’m afraid Mr. Burns is not available right now.” A faintly familiar voice turned his blood to ice.

“Who the fuck is this?” Viktor demanded as his brain processed the man’s accent.

“I’m what you call your worst nightmare, Mr. Baran.”
 

“Shadid?”

“Very good, Mr. Ba—”

“I have no time for your bullshit. What do you want?”

“The codes.”

“You’ve lost your mind if you think I’d give them to you.”

“Oh, you will. Or I shall begin executing your people.”

“Fuck you, Shadid,” Viktor said. “Fuck you.”

*****

“Everything all right?” Jack hollered at Viktor amidst the din of gunfire, a look of puzzlement on his face.

“We need to wrap this up.” Viktor evaded Jack’s question. Now was not the time to distract him.
 

“Working on it, Baran.” Jack fired a couple more rounds. “I think the rest are bugging out.”
 

Police sirens blared outside. Reinforcements had arrived. Some FBI agents joined them at the entrance and clearly, the tide had turned in their favor. In the next five minutes, all the terrorists were either dead, had retreated, or surrendered.
 

The mood was somber despite their success in repelling the attack. There were numerous casualties once again.

The DC police chief approached Viktor and the others. He patted them on the back and shook each of their hands vigorously.

“The MPD is grateful for your help.”

Nathan was on his phone, a worried look on his face. He looked at Viktor. “I can’t raise Tim. Manning called me from Cali because he needed some datacenter support, but he can’t get through to Tim or Holly.”

“Didn’t you just talk to him, Viktor?” Jack asked.

Viktor jerked his head to motion them to the corner. The three men followed him, a wary expression on their faces.

“What’s going on?” Jack’s voice was low as he enunciated each word.
 

“Shadid has control of AGS.”

 
The identical stunned looks on their faces quickly morphed into different reactions. Derek and Jack’s were murderous. Nathan’s was grim and resolute.

“When did you find out?” Jack asked softly.

“Ten minutes ago.”

Viktor expected it and he was prepared to take it. Jack’s fist connected with his jaw in a bruising right hook that sent him staggering a couple of steps.

Jack stalked forward, fists clenched and preparing to strike again, but Derek blocked him.

“You want to take a swing at me too, Lockwood?” Viktor spat out some blood.