The gang hopped out of the van and opened up the back. They geared up and prepared themselves, watching the scene play out on the small television screens as the men rushed through the facility.
“Ryan, you and Murph take the front around here,” she said pointing to the section they mapped out earlier.
“Brett you and I’ll head for the bionics lab and make sure you…,”
“I’ll watch your ass, don’t worry,” he smirked.
“Keep your comms on at all times!” she smiled. “Let’s move.”
They ran towards the building, Ryan and Murphy split to the left and entered the same door as the trio before them. Brett gave Yve a boost onto the ledge and they entered through a small vent before dropping into the open space of the bionics lab.
“Sidewinder are you with us?”
“I’m here Boss Lady, your eye in the sky!” Dustin announced over the comm.
“Good! Keep us updated.”
“Will do. In speaking of which, that briefcase Cobra brought in from the suit, it contained a ton of research on various buildings. Many of them I am still looking over to figure out what buildings they are, but it not only has research it has schematics and floor plans.”
“What does this mean?”
“They are planning to hit other places as well but what? I don’t know. I’ll keep working on that no worries.”
Brett pulled Yve back and held her against the wall. He pressed his finger to his lips indicating for her to be quiet.
One of the burglars entered into the room and began ransacking the shelves and cabinets.
He motioned for her to move around to the other side and waited until she was in position before exposing his location.
“Freeze!” he yelled. The man dropped the items and raised his hands above his head. “Drop your weapons!” he ordered.
“Viper look out!” Yve yelled as another came through the door with his weapon drawn.
The gunman fired at him as she tackled him to the ground. She and Brett quickly moved for cover behind a few of the counters. Yve rose and returned fire as Brett changed locations for a better vantage point.
“Let’s get the item and get out of here,” the gunman told his friend shooting in their direction.
He grabbed something from the cabinet and ran to the door.
Murphy and Ryan heard the shots and took positions in the area under the balcony and saw the two men exit the room.
“Diamond? Are you and Viper ok in there?” Murphy called over the comm.
“We’re fine Cottonmouth. How are you and Cobra?”
“We have positions outside the room. We saw two of them where was the third?”
“LOOK OUT!” she heard Ryan yell as the third man made his presence known firing several rounds in their direction.
Brett rushed for the door and she followed closely behind him. The lights went out and she found herself a little disoriented.
More shots rang out and she rolled behind a crate and waited them out. “Viper?” she called into her comm. She put her back to the wall and crouched behind a nearby table. She closed her eyes and waited to hear something…anything.
“Boss!” Ryan shouted before rushing towards her. He hit the floor and pressed his back to one of the counters. “Have you seen Murph or Brett?” The backup generator kicked in with auxiliary lights.
“No. We were all separated when the comms went down. Are you ok?”
“Fine. I’m down to my last clip but other than that…we have to move,” he said as another flurry of bullets soared above them.
She handed him a fresh clip and waited for him to reload before nodding at him as they both took steps out of the area. Ryan dove to the right as a bullet barely missed him. Yve raised her weapon towards the shooter and pumped three shots off at him. He screamed and grabbed his chest as he collapsed to the ground.
She watched Ryan take a spot against the back wall as she covered herself with a nearby crate. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement and immediately turned her weapon prepared to fire again.
Brett pushed the weapon away and dropped to the ground with her. “Where’s Ryan?” he asked.
She pointed towards his position. “Have you seen Murphy?” she asked trying to make sure the entire team was accounted for.
“He’s near the canisters at the door.” His breathing was heavy as he removed a clip from his gun and checked the number of rounds remaining inside. “How are you on ammo?”
“Fine, I took out one of them,” she said glancing again in Ryan’s direction. “This is no good. I need to get communications back up.” She pulled the mic from her ear and checked it for damage before placing it back on her head.
“BOSS!?” she heard Dustin yell from an entry on the left side of the room. He ran along the balcony above them towards the gunfight.
“Dustin take cover!” she yelled warning him. Bullets rang out and she and Brett turned towards the gunman and exchanged rounds as Dustin jumped from the third story balcony to the second leaving himself exposed between the two remaining shooters.
He judged the distance to the ground before gripping the rail preparing to jump. But he didn’t have the time to decide before more gunfire started in his direction. He shrieked and clutched at his arm.
“DUSTIN!” she yelled watching his body fall over the side of the railing and land with a sickening thud.
She rushed forward without thinking and several bullets whizzed by her head. Brett stepped out and provided her with cover as she grabbed Dustin’s arms and pulled him to a safer location.
He was unconscious and bleeding from the mouth and nose. She checked his body and found his bullet wound. She ripped a piece from his shirt and applied pressure to it. Quickly she pulled out her phone and dialed rescue.
“Nine One One, what’s the nature of your emergency?”
“I have an officer down at the Bridgeport Research Science facility I need a bus for him quickly. He took a bullet to the right shoulder I don’t see an exit wound. He fell a story from a balcony and hit his head, his breathing is erratic. I’ve been able to slow the bleeding but I can feel pooling under my hand,” she said maintaining the connection with the operator as Brett kept an eye on her from his position.
Victor moved to Brett’s location and watched as Yve juggled the phone and attended to Dustin.
“Murph, cover me, I have to get to her,” he yelled as he saw one of the gunmen switch locations.
He rushed to the next crate and under the staircase as Murphy laid down cover fire. “Yve?” he yelled as he approached. He took over applying pressure to his wound as she picked up her weapon and moved towards the wall.
“We have to move him again Brett. We have to get him leaning against something; the blood is pooling on his arm.”
Brett grabbed him under his arms and slid him towards the wall at her. “What’s the ETA on the bus?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed heavy. “We blocked their exits you know, Brett? The only way out for them is in cuffs or a body bag!”
“And we’re trying for the latter!” Ryan said hearing her words as he ran from his position firing up at a gunman. He cleared his clip connecting with several shots before pressing himself against another wall.
“You’re the only one left!” Murphy yelled. “Throw down your weapon or join your buddies in the morgue!”
“Alright!” he replied. “I’m coming out! Just…don’t shoot!” he yelled.
“Toss your weapons down here,” Murph continued to instruct him.
Ryan held him at gunpoint watching him disarm himself.
“Now slowly get down the stairs and to the center of the floor. Keep your hands where we can see them!”
The gunman did as instructed and Ryan covered Murph as he came over to place cuffs on him.
“We have to get him to the hospital, we can’t wait for the ambulance any longer,” Yve said as Brett picked him up and ran him towards their van.
They made it to the hospital in less than 5 minutes with the sirens going; Brett’s foot never left the gas.
“We have a wounded cop here!” he yelled running into the double doors of the lobby. I need a doctor NOW!”
Immediately a stretcher was rolled into the room and he laid him on it and watched as the medical team responded quickly ushering him through the ER doors and out of sight.
Ryan stood pacing as he worked on lighting his 3rd cigarette in almost as many minutes. He took a puff and let the smoke curl over his lip slowly releasing it from his lungs.
“There are 'No Smoking' signs all around this place, you know Ry? Normally what that means is ‘No Smoking’.”
“I’m sorry dude, nervous habit. It’s either this or smash shit and I think they’d hate that more.”
“He’s going to be ok,” Brett said kneeling next to Yve.
“He fell hard, Brett. The sound…there was a ton of blood loss.”
“You got to him in enough time to stop the bleeding I’m sure.”
“That’s another thing, I shouldn’t have moved him. His head bounced off the cement, there’s no telling what damage I may have done to his spine with that one simple act,” she sighed.
“What do you think he would have wanted? For you to let him remain out in the open to die or a little extra time in a hospital?”
“And possibly a wheelchair for life?”
“Is there an Yvette out here?” a doctor called as he approached the waiting room.
“That’s me,” she said walking towards him. “How is he?”
“Stable. He suffered a subdural hematoma on the base of his skull from the fall leaving him with a concussion. But the bleeding and swelling was minimal and won’t require surgery. The bullet entered his Subscapularis and bypassed the Subscapular fossa before resting in his Deltoid tearing the surrounding tissue but again the damage was minimal and isolated to muscle only so he is a pretty lucky fellow.”
“We’ve removed the round successfully and cleaned him up; we’re looking for him to make a full recovery within six to eight weeks though he may continue to feel a little tenderness or pain for close to six months. His condition should improve within the next few days. I’ve placed him on a mild sedative for the pain and to ease him into sleep.”
“Can I see him?”
“Yes but please keep it brief.” He led her to the back and she rushed to his bedside.
“Dusty…I’m so sorry.”
He smiled. “You shot me?”
“No of course not.”
“Then why are you sorry? I knew the risks going in Boss. You shouldn’t be sorry.”
“Of course I should! You guys are my responsibility!” she rubbed his arm. “You better not be using this as an excuse to keep from working. Your fingers still move I’m sure.”
He laughed and coughed a little before leaning on his pillows. “Don’t do that,” he said.
“Do what?”
“Make me laugh. It hurts really badly.”
“Right Dust, sorry. The guys are waiting out in the hall but the Doc won’t let them in. Just make sure you make a quick recovery. I don’t want you to stay pampered for too long.”
“I’ll get right on that Boss.”
“Ma’am, you’ll have to leave now. Mr. Kimura needs his rest.”
She nodded, said her goodbye and headed for the door.
“Ther wassa weason I came for y...,” he slurred before passing out. She turned and looked at him; curiosity shooting through her.
“How long will he be asleep?”
“The sedative is in effect. It could be a few hours just depends on him really.”
Brett drove them back to the Federal building and she walked into the unit room. Her muscles tensed with the guilt and pain of knowing one of hers was hurt. She rubbed her neck and rolled her shoulders a bit to ease some of the stress.
“It’s starting to get day out.” Ryan said taking a seat on a bean bag.
“You shouldn’t beat yourself up about it, there was nothing you could have done to change the outcome,” Murph assured her.
She sighed and sat on the couch against the back wall. Drawing her legs into her body she worried over Dustin’s condition.
Victor dropped onto the couch beside Yvette noticing her demeanor wasn’t improving. “Target practice will make you feel better,” he smiled. “It always does!” She smiled as he pressed the butt of a Glock into her palm. “There’s a range outback.”
“Vic…”
“It sounds like a plan to me,” Ryan said grabbing a weapon as well.
Murph and Ryan started towards the range and she pulled herself from the couch to join them.
“Hey,” Brett said pulling her back. “We did what we set out to do. We stopped them from getting what they were after and made an arrest.”
“Dustin said he was there for a reason. He came to tell us something because the comms were down,” she said stopping at the elevator.
“What was it?”
“I don’t know. He passed out before he mentioned…he was going through that briefcase from the suit earlier.”
“Right. He said there was a bunch of papers and schematics for different buildings he hadn’t figured out which ones though. Think of something?” Brett asked.
“I don’t know.” She turned and headed back to the unit room and began looking through the last things on Dustin’s desk.
“What are we looking for?”
“Anything that may have caused him so much concern to find us at the science building and get himself shot.”
They sifted through the piles of papers, notebooks and drawings.
She took a seat at his desk to look at his recently opened documents.
“Oh no,” she said rereading the words detailed on the last schematic she pulled up.
“What is it?”
“Plans to the Nuclear and Bioweapons building in downtown Pleasant Cove. Dustin said that item from the science center was a power source right? Would it make sense that they would need the item it powered?”
“And it looks as though they were on the road to getting it,” he said leaning over her shoulder.
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