Wings of Death

Blood on the Battlefield

The police station had two entrances, one through the front and the other via a spiral staircase which led to a door on the second floor. Captain Elijah and his men disembarked from their vehicles and prepared to survey the area. Unfortunately the drone could not be deployed as there was a signal jammer in the area. The Captain did not want to rush in blindly without knowing the situation inside. He regretted not bringing Alex with them. If Alex had been there he would have been able to hack into the security cameras inside the theater. The storm had almost died out and the heavy downpour had faded into a drizzle. They had to act soon. At that moment they had two choices in front of them; either they could proceed with the mission and risk encountering Bloodwings soon or they could retreat.

The Captain knew they had come too far to retreat now. If they didn’t take care of the bandits now they would not be able to send out the teams to gather supplies. The storm had given them a perfect opportunity to deal with the bandit threat without having to deal with any Bloodwings. He thought about the problem long and hard and came up with an idea. Since it was impossible to use drones, he decided to switch to old tactics. They were going to split up in three groups and hit them from all sides. He gathered his men and explained his strategy to them.

“Jackson, take three men with you and climb the spiral staircase. Reynolds, I want you on the front door with three others. Abel and Matt come with me. We are going to enter through the broken window on the right. Here’s the plan. We do not know if there are any hostages inside so we need to be very careful. I will toss a smoke grenade through the window and as soon as I enter, Jackson will toss a smoke grenade through the door on the second floor. Reynolds, will toss a flash bang grenade and enter through the front door. There may be civilians inside so we have to refrain from using breaching charges. Pick the locks quietly. Once we are all inside we will need to move quickly and take down anyone who appears to pose a threat. Go from room to room and do not enter closed spaces without tossing a flash bang first. Put on your gas masks, switch to thermal vision and cut the chatter. Hand signals only. The rest of you are going to wait outside and cover the exits. Don’t let any of these punks get away and keep your eyes peeled. If it stops raining, you guys need to deal with the Bloodwings on your own, so be alert”.

The soldiers quietly took their positions. Captain Elijah silently walked up to the window and signaled his men to hold position. They all waited patiently for the Captain to make his move. Corporal Reynolds and Corporal Jackson had managed to pick the locks without any problem. Captain Elijah tossed two smoke bombs one after the other through the window. Corporal Jackson opened the door on the second floor and did the same. Immediately the voices of the bandits were heard inside the building. Without wasting a moment, Corporal Reynolds tossed a flash bang through the front door and the team poured into the building from all three positions at once. The Captain and his men clearly had the upper hand and quickly took out all the bandits in the hallway. Next they moved from door to door, clearing the rooms one by one. There weren’t any hostages inside which made their job easier. Corporal Jackson signaled that the second floor was clear; the Captain acknowledged and confirmed that the first floor was clear as well. Only the basement level remained. He ordered his men to regroup on him. They had no more smoke grenades left so they needed to be very careful now. Something seemed wrong. Captain Elijah had expected the bandits hiding inside the basement to come out on hearing the gunfire but they didn’t. The basement had ten lockups in total and there was only one entrance. Perhaps, there were hostages inside the lockups, thought Captain Elijah. Maybe that’s why the doors were still locked and no one came outside on hearing the shots. He had been a part of almost 130 hostage rescue missions in the past. He knew they could not afford to let their guard down. One tiny mistake could jeopardize the entire mission.

“Jackson, take your position by the basement door and wait.” he ordered.

Corporal Jackson walked stealthily up to the basement door without making any noise. He placed his hand on the door knob and put his right ear on the door to hear what was happening on the other side. A faint beeping noise came from the other side. In a flash Corporal Jackson turned towards the team and screamed, “Take cover!” he tried to run back but the door exploded and he was flung on the ground with great force. The door had been rigged with explosive charges by the bandits inside. Jackson lay on the ground covered in blood.

“Jackson!” screamed Captain Elijah and he rushed inside the basement with a 12 gauge shotgun in his hand. He shot the two bandits in front before they could react. Corporal Reynolds and his team mates picked up Corporal Jackson from the ground. He was badly wounded. There were pieces of metal lodges in his legs and he was bleeding profusely. They pulled him out of the narrow corridor and tried to stop the bleeding.  Suddenly the door of a lockup opened and one more armed bandit appeared. He emptied the whole magazine into Captain Elijah’s body. The Captain managed to shoot him in the leg before collapsing on the ground. Corporal Matt and Sergeant Abel rushed in and eliminated the injured bandit.

“Captain, talk to me!” cried Sergeant Abel taking the Captain in his arms.