Scene 27

Factory Compound of General Ricos

Ms. Stork leaned closer to me. “Slip-knot,” she whispered.

‘Slip-knot’ is a code my team uses for just these situations. It meant that she was ready to initiate a breakout from our captors and that she had a clear shot to the primary deterrent, in this case the control the General was holding.

To keep her from acting, all I had to do was give her a negative answer. My mind rushed through the possibilities. We were in a hopeless situation. If we went along with the General, we would lose our best chance of escape. However, if we tried and were unsuccessful, the unthinkable would happen.

It would be better if my own team surrounded me. We had worked together and knew each other’s moves. I didn’t know how most of those around me would react, but most of them seemed comfortable with the weapons they were carrying. Plus, we had two wounded men to think about.

This really was our only chance though. “Clear,” I whispered back to her. I could only hope that the rest of our group reacted well.

We held out the rifles as if we were going to throw them away. Ms. Stork reached to carefully pull the pistol she had tucked into her clothes. It was the pistol I had taken from the Lieutenant, empty, but no one else knew that.

Then, before anyone could stop her she threw the pistol towards the General. It struck his arm, which he was still holding up to show everyone the control panel. The device was knocked from his hand.

“Drop!” I ordered, hoping everyone understood. I swung the rifle towards the guards and started firing.

Ms. Pleater reacted remarkably well. She grabbed Julie and Livingston and pulled them to the ground. Di reacted only a half-second later, dropping beside them.

James, his instincts honed from years in the military, reacted just as quickly. He pulled Dee down and covered Dee’s body with his own.

Jaime and his wife reacted at the same time, each of them pulling the other down. Once down, they grabbed their rifles.

Coemgen was fast, having worked with me before. He dropped quickly to a prone position and started firing only a fraction of a second after I did.

Unfortunately, Robert did not have the experience we did and moved a little too slowly. He tried to grab one of the guard’s rifles, but the guard pulled the trigger and a bullet caught Robert in the thigh. He slumped to the ground, grasping his wound.

After throwing the pistol, Ms. Stork had dropped as well to avoid my gunfire.

When Ms. Stork had initiated the action, I had switched the selector lever on my rifle to full automatic. I swung the barrel of the weapon towards the guards, firing a steady stream of bullets. The stream caught each of the guards and they all fell to the ground.

A bullet had caught the General as well. He dropped to the ground.

As I was surveying the area to make sure the guards were down, I didn’t notice the General’s arm move. He had fallen so that he was within reach of the control panel and moved his hand to it.

Jaime, however, did notice the General moving, but was too late to stop him.

“No!” was all Jaime could call out as the General’s hand came down and activated the device.