“Echo has too many objectives already. If we don’t secure the control room, we stall the offensive. If we don’t rescue our people fast enough, they might be killed. If we don’t help Delta, the teams won’t be able to converge. What should I do, Tao?”
You do not have a choice. Split the team into squads and divide the objectives.
Roen nodded. He looked at Morgan and ordered, “Send one squad to the control room and one to the security cells. The rest will spring Delta team. The squad at the control room needs to coordinate with the rest of the squads once they obtain access to the base. The squad at the security cells stays put until the rest of us can rendezvous with them.”
Morgan replied, “Affirmative.”
Then Morgan split the teams off, and the rest of them hurried down toward Dylan’s location. The hallways were filled with smoke and broken lights as they made their way through, occasionally meeting light resistance. Roen was surprised that they had found so few guards so far. Stephen really had made sure he would be in as little danger as possible. The sound of heavy gunfire, however, increased as they reached the upper level of the main hallway. They arrived at a large set of wooden double doors and fanned out on both sides.
Morgan opened one door a crack and scoped out the other side. “Heavy enemy presence engaged with our people. Let’s crash the party. Will you do the honors, sir?”
Roen gave the signal and watched his men burst through the doors, spreading out as they moved down the stairs. They encountered resistance immediately as they proceeded toward the lower level. A group of Genjix soldiers had taken up position at the bottom of the stairs, setting up a barricade to fight what should be Dylan’s Delta team. Roen’s Echo team descended upon the Genjix furiously, catching them in a crossfire. Roen positioned himself behind one of the banisters and fired, carefully picking his shots as they presented themselves. He estimated the enemy strength to be about forty men at the base of the stairs. Out of the corner of his eye, Roen saw Delta team moving forward when they realized the Genjix soldiers had been outflanked.
A sudden shock knocked him onto his back. He gasped and began to tumble down the stairs. One of his men grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back up. Roen took shallow breaths as his eyes watered from the pain. Morgan moved next to him and checked him for wounds.
“Where were you shot?” he asked.
“It feels like someone just took a cattle prod to my shoulder,” Roen gasped.
Morgan moved his hand to his shoulder. Roen grimaced with pain. When Morgan pulled his hand back, there was blood on his hands.
“Shoulder wound, all right,” Morgan said. “Can you move your arm?”
Roen raised his left arm, winced, and then made a fist with his hand. “Well, it doesn’t seem like it struck bone. You should be fine,” Morgan said, helping Roen to his feet. “First time being shot?”
He nodded.
“Welcome to the club.” The man actually grinned. “Why don’t you hang back while we finish up here? We seem to have this under control anyway.”
Roen gritted his teeth. “No, I’m fine. Hand me my rifle.”
“Take five… sir.”
Roen saw the look on Morgan’s face, sat back down, and leaned against the wall.
“Really? Welcome to the club?”
Hey, it was bound to happen, might as well happen now. At least you were not shot in the stomach. Now that is painful.
“You guys are nuts.”
Several minutes later, the sound of the gunfire finally died down. A few minutes later, Dylan met him at the top of the stairs. The older man grinned as Roen picked himself up to shake his hand.
“I see you got your initiation,” Dylan said, gesturing at his shoulder.
“Am I supposed to be happy about that?” Roen replied.
“Nah, getting shot sucks. Anything broken?”
“Just a flesh wound, I think.”
“Good, we need to help Stephen secure the level, then we’ll make the push to the Penetra scanner housing unit. I’ll see you at the end of this, eh? Godspeed, Roen.” Dylan patted him on the non-injured shoulder and ran back downstairs.
“Sir.” Morgan ran up. “We have control of the security cells. The squad rescued six delegates. Two are dead. There are no sign of the princesses or the other two delegates. Retrieval team is pinned down and is requesting support. The squad at the control room is reporting a large concentration of enemy activity at the helipad. If the Genjix are trying to escape, they might have the princesses and the two delegates with them.”
Roen clenched his uninjured fist and looked at Morgan. If he didn’t reinforce the security cells now, there might not be a squad left by the time he got there. There were also the lives of the six remaining delegates to consider. However, if the Genjix at the helipad had the girls and they escaped, he might lose them forever. He could split his men again to tackle both objectives, but it was too risky; they were already stretched too thin. None of the options seemed acceptable.
“Tao?”
Conventional wisdom is to take the security cells as planned. The six delegates’ lives have to be the priority. Pray that the Genjix at the helipad do not have Sonya and Jill.
Roen shook his head. It wasn’t a gamble he was willing to take. If he was wrong, he could never live with himself. “Commander Morgan,” he said. “I’m taking five men to the helipad. Take the rest and reinforce the security cells.”
That is not wise.
“I’m calling this, Tao.”
Morgan shook his head in protest. “We shouldn’t be splitting…”
“That’s an order!” Roen growled, giving him a look that left no room for argument.
The commander hesitated slightly before nodding. He waved at several of the agents. “Seven through eleven, assist the commander. Everyone else, let’s keep moving.”
He grabbed Roen’s arm as he passed by. “Stay low and keep safe. Watch your six, sir.”
Roen and his men broke off from the main group. Since they deviated from the planned route, he depended on Tao to help navigate through the complex to the helipad. When they reached the first corner, Roen held up his fist. The group stopped and leaned against the wall.
He took out a probe and looked around the side. There were four guards at an intersection on the far end of the hallway. Roen turned to the others and signaled, holding up four fingers, closing them into a fist, and then flicking his thumb out. He took out a grenade and pulled the pin. With a deep breath, he turned and rolled it toward the guards. The resulting explosion almost knocked him off his feet. Roen turned the corner and charged.
Commanders go last.
He stopped and pointed. “Go, go!”
The others, rifles up, moved forward into the thick smoke. Roen followed, staying low and moving in the rear. They reached the intersection and inspected the scattered bodies on the floor, taking position at the corner. Roen saw a group of guards approaching from the left hallway. He held up three fingers, counted to three, leaned around the corner, and opened fire. The Genjix soldiers scattered and returned fire.
Roen pulled back to reload and let two of his other men take his place. All his men were on one side of the intersection. They had to get on the other side to take advantage of the corridor space. He gritted his teeth as the two currently engaged pulled back around the corner to reload.
“I need suppressive fire,” he yelled over the din of the noise. He looked at the agent in the back and pointed at the corridor behind them. “Watch the rear!”
After the next round of enemy fire, he waited while his men laid down covering fire. Roen took a few steps back, ran forward, and dove across the intersection to the other side. He had become used to such acrobatic moves through his time training with Sonya and Lin. However, carrying out these maneuvers with heavy gear through gunfire made this dive feel like he was swimming through molasses.