Shari pulled her lip mike close and barked an order to the Incident Command Post. Bring in the Descending Angels.
The cavalry was on the move from above.
Kodiak glanced up from reloading his weapon and saw Team Leader run toward the south end of the hallway and disappear in the shadows. His mind immediately clicked on the realization that Team Leader was bailing. He had been so focused, so diligent to duty; he had drawn himself into tunnel vision and was hardly aware of his surroundings beyond the stairwell. After firing the last clip into the dusty shaft, he pulled back along with Boa and began to retreat. King Snake maintained his position.
“King Snake, let’s move!”
“I’ll hold off the advancement! GO!”
Boa and Kodiak went to the monitor room where Diamondback and Sidewinder were arming their body armor attachments by loading up with as much ammo as their duty belts would carry. Boa and Kodiak followed suit, knowing that King Snake would soon be out of ammo.
“Where’s Team Leader?” asked Diamondback.
“Gone,” said Boa.
“Gone? Gone where?”
“Just gone!”
All four had geared up to the max as if they knew there would be no tomorrow.
In the hallway at the top of the stairwell, King Snake had run out of ammo.
The sudden quiet seemed somewhat odd.
Two choppers lifted off from Logan Airport’s Air Operations helibase, flew over the depository and hovered over the rooftop. Ropes and cables were thrown from the bays and the assault commandos began to rappel from the choppers until a Strike Force of twelve had secured the rooftop. With a gesture from the top commando the choppers veered off and returned to base.
The Descending Angels had landed.
Kimball and Leviticus immediately advanced up the north stairwell with Kimball holding his weapon forward, while Leviticus prepared flash bangs to disorient any hostiles who may be maintaining position.
Reaching the second level they saw a single hostile standing on the third floor level charging a Sig, his lone weapon. Taking careful aim, Leviticus locked onto the man with his weapon and immediately pulled the trigger. The quick burst found its mark. The commando, dancing like a marionette, jittered as each bullet punched into him, and then he collapsed to the floor.
When the area was clear Leviticus made his way up the stairs with Shari Cohen behind him. Kimball maintained cover by keeping the point of his weapon steady, as they made their way to the final level. After they maneuvered into a safe position at the top of the stairs, Leviticus was close enough to the dead man to reach out with his fingers and place them against the man’s carotid. There was no pulse, the man was dead.
Kimball pushed his mike button. “Leviticus?”
“One down, at least five…” He cut himself short. To the right of him lay the body of Micah; unmoving, twisted in such a way that Leviticus knew he was dead.
“Leviticus?”
“We lost Micah,” he whispered. “And I don’t see Isaiah.”
I’m Code-4 and working south, Isaiah returned.
“Copy that,” said Kimball. “Leviticus, any visuals?”
Both Leviticus and Shari peeked around the corner of the wrought-iron banister and surveyed the hallway. Huddled against the wall were the remaining four members of the Holy See, all alive — and absolutely terrified.
“That’s affirmative on four of the packages,” Leviticus whispered. “But I don’t see the big picture, though.”
“Hostiles?”
“Negative.”
“They’ve pulled back into the shadows. Maintain your position,” Kimball told them. “The Descending Angels will be moving in from the south with Isaiah.”
“Copy that.” Kimball pulled his lip mike even closer. “Shari, go ahead and send in the ground troops as backup. I’m going to take over your position as rear guard and secure the second floor.”
“By yourself?”
“I’ve got to make sure that there are no surprises since we’re unable to maintain a visual of the hostiles,” he said. “They have to be somewhere.”
“Copy that.”
When Shari made the call, the rear of the depository quickly filled with Metro’s Assault Unit.
Team Leader saw Isaiah moving stealthily down the hallway, clinging to the shadows with his weapon aimed directly in front of him. Quietly, Team Leader melded into dark shadows and pressed himself against a false wall leading to a ladder that led down to the second level. When he pushed the wall it gave way, providing an aperture large enough for him to pass through, and quietly slid the wall back into place before Isaiah could have noticed him.
Cramped by the small area, Team Leader shuffled sideways between the inner and outer walls until he reached the crudely constructed ladder of lath and broken boards. After descending to the second floor he found himself in a tight space identical to the one above. With some effort, he pushed on another false wall that opened into a dusty room.
Stealthily making his way to the hallway, keeping his head on a swivel, he was all but home free.
Leviticus had often been in combat before, and quiet was not a good sign. Right now it was too quiet. Hunkering close to the floor, he crawled to Micah and removed his helmet. His comrade’s eyes stared at nothing in particular. A bloodless bullet wound marred the center of his once porcelain-like skin on his forehead.
He gently placed his fingers over Micah’s eyes and closed them, then recited The Lord’s Prayer in hushed tones, the words carrying the length of the corridor in haunting whispers. The remaining members of the Force Elite froze at the sound of Leviticus’ voice.
“What’s that?” hissed Boa.
Kodiak shushed him. The whispers echoed from all points of the hallway as if they came from more than one entity.
Then finally: “It’s definitely not King Snake,” whispered Kodiak. “He wouldn’t know a prayer if it slapped him in the face… So I guess it’s time to rock and roll, boys.”
Diamondback leaned close. “What about the hostages?”
“We do what we were hired to do,” Kodiak muttered. “If we get the chance, then we kill them… Starting with the pope.”
Isaiah had the bishops of the Holy See within sight. Like Leviticus, his hackles rose instinctively over the silence, but he pressed on.
When Leviticus saw Isaiah coming in from the south, he moved in to converge, but motioned Shari to keep position and provide cover.
When Isaiah nearly reached the Monitor Room, all hell broke loose.
Kodiak exited the room first, unaware Isaiah had quietly worked his way down the corridor and hid behind the door. Kodiak, however, immediately saw Leviticus pressed tight against the wall and coming toward him. As he trained his weapon on Leviticus, Isaiah sprang from behind the door and rammed the butt of his assault weapon to the lower part of Kodiak’s spine. The big man dropped to his knees, twisting toward his attacker and leveling his weapon as he fell. Isaiah kicked the pistol away, the firearm skating across the floor.
Kodiak came immediately to his feet and with a roundhouse kick, knocked the much smaller man’s weapon aside. With a straight forearm jab Kodiak placed a powerful shot to Isaiah’s face shield, shattering the plastic and sending Isaiah to the ground.
The helmet no longer an asset, Isaiah ripped it away, leapt to his feet and assumed a stance reminiscent of tae-kwon-do.
Leviticus held his fire for fear of shooting Isaiah and maintained his position in the corridor as the two men sized each other up. Kodiak, with incredible agility for such a large man, came across swiftly with a roundhouse kick that missed Isaiah and hit the wall like a cannonball, causing chunks of plaster and lath to scatter across the floor. Kodiak’s follow up punch missed as well, hitting and fracturing the wall as if it was constructed of aluminum foil.