"King of Hearts, are you in position?"
"Roger that, King of Spades."
"Jack of Hearts?"
"Just moving in."
"King of Diamonds?"
"Here."
"Ace of Hearts?"
"The exit is covered."
"Good. The Ace of Spades and the Ace of Diamonds are inside. It's going down.
Stand by."
Chris raised his infra-red binoculars and surveyed the junkyard from his
position up in the crane.
Buck, JD, Josiah and Nathan were positioned to cover all sides of the building
while Ezra and Vin had been working on the inside.
He'd have felt better if it had been Vin up here and him inside. They could
use a crack shot in a high position and the man never seemed to miss. Chris
also felt worried because he was further away than the rest of them. If anything
went wrong it would take him a bit longer to get there and he hated sending
his men in without him leading them in person.
Unfortunately this was the only way he could get a clear view of the situation
and eliminate the chance of anything sneaking up on them. Not even Ezra had
been able to smoothtalk the weapons dealer Ferrano into meeting at a location
better suited for surveillance purposes. Ferrano was at home here in this
junkyard and they desperately needed any edge they could get. This way he
could see both what was going on around them and by some stroke of luck he
could also see directly into the office and relay what was going on to the
others.
He raised his binoculars again to see Ezra hand over the case with the payment
for the guns he was about to purchase. At the same time he also spotted two
armed men about to move up behind Ezra and Vin.
"Move in now!" he called into the microphone. "GO,GO,GO!!!"
He raised his rifle and took aim, taking out one of the two gunmen before
everyone in the room scrambled for cover and the silence was violently disrupted
by the sound of heavy gunfire. He could see Buck kick open the door and fire
into the room.
Damn, this was his worst nightmare. Two agents caught inside with the bad
guys and he couldn't reach them in time.
A cacophony of sounds came over the radio, guns exploding at the same time
as several voices declared "This is the ATF! Surrender your guns and lay
down on the ground! Down on the ground! NOW!"
Chris was already moving down the crane's long ladder as he saw the lights
go out in the office and the darkness was momentarily disrupted by flashes
of discharging guns. All hell seemed to be breaking loose as he ran towards
the building.
Damn, it hadn't seemed that far from the crane to the house while he was
up in the air. He could see them start to break out of the house and he quickly
took cover behind an old junk car. Chris nailed one man who broke away from
nearby Nathan's position and ran right at him with guns blazing.
With the gunshots still echoing in his head he carefully moved closer and
was relieved to spot Nathan and JD who both seemed to have everything under
control. From one second to the next the situation had gone from World War
Three to total silence and he counted his lost sheep over the radio as he
closed the final distance to the building.
"Ace of Spades?"
"Here." Ezra sounded a bit shaken but otherwise okay. "I'm happy to report
that the situation is under control in here."
"Good. King of Hearts?"
"I'm okay. Is JD alright?"
"I'm fine," JD broke in.
Josiah came around the corner of the building, saying, "The outside is secure
too."
Chris kicked the gun away from a wounded man and cuffed him while Josiah
and JD joined him. With a sinking feeling he realized that there was one
voice he still hadn't heard.
"Ace of Diamonds!" he called and listened to the silence with his heart in
his throat.
"Ace of Diamonds respond! Dammit Vin! Are you all right?"
A weak cough came through the static and then he heard Vin struggle to say,
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm still here."
"Nathan, go check on him."
"Will do."
Satisfied that everything was under control after one final look around,
Chris opened the door and entered chaos. The building had acted as office/storage
space and it seemed much smaller than it actually was because of the amount
of junk stored in there. Ezra and Buck were checking their four live suspects
for guns, three more suspects were lying dead. The walls were so riddled
with bullet-holes they resembled swiss cheese and furniture and papers were
everywhere. Chris swallowed hard. They'd really come close this time. It
was a wonder any of those that had been in here were still alive.
Nathan was just now helping Vin up from where he had been lying hidden behind
a stack of crates.
"Are you okay, cowboy?" Chris asked worriedly and Vin nodded slowly.
"Just winded." He winced as he stretched his back. Chris moved behind him
and clenched his teeth when he saw the large hole in Vin's jacket. Some bastard
had shot him in the back. If he hadn't been wearing his bulletproof vest
it would have gone straight through his heart. He looked at Nathan who had
seen the same thing and the man nodded reassuringly at him. Vin would be
alright.
Vin turned to him and grinned. There was a gleam in his eye as he said, "Feels
like I was kicked by a mule."
"I bet." Chris grinned back, relieved that it wasn't more than some bruises
this time.
An hour later their part of the clean-up was nearly finished and Chris rubbed
his tired eyes. He spotted Ezra waving at them from the far end of the room.
"Gentlemen...." Ezra smiled like he'd just won the jackpot. "Feast your eyes
upon this most glorious sight."
He pushed a hidden button and a part of the wall slid away, revealing the
entrance to a room full of Ferrano's secret weapons stash. It was indeed
the jackpot, it was more than that. The only likeness Chris could think of
that would cover it was that they'd broken the bank.
"Good work, everyone," he said and saw smiles breaking out over awed faces
all around the room. "Congratulations. They're gonna talk about this for
a long time to come."
He let them celebrate for a while before interrupting.
"Now..." he said and put on his best pokerface."There is something I've gotta
say to all of you."
Chris watched as the smiles suddenly died out to be replaced by apprehension.
He gave them all his most serious look before saying, "That's the last time
you're all leaving me behind like that. Next time we pick the location
no matter what. Otherwise the deal is off. Does everyone here understand
that?"
One of his strengths as a leader was his uncanny ability to read people and
know exactly what they were up to. As he looked at them all now they seemed
as transparent as glass to him and he could see Vin start to open his mouth
to lead the others in a chorus of "Yes, mom."
Chris pinned the man down with his most piercing look until Vin wisely shut
his mouth and just nodded instead while the rest of them grudgingly followed
suit.
"Good." Chris knew his message had been received. This bunch had all just
given him at least a thousand new grey hairs in the short time that it had
taken for him to run from the crane towards the house. Maybe it wasn't very
realistic to expect them to break off a deal if they couldn't pick the location
but he didn't care. He'd be damned if he'd go through all that again.
"Now let's go and get a drink," he said gruffly. "I don't know about you all
but I'm getting too old for this shit."
The resulting laughter followed him out and he could feel it enfold him and
bring rest to his weary spirit. That didn't stop him from throwing one final
thing back at them as he stepped out into the night,
"Laugh it up while you can, boys. You're buying and I'm expecting champagne."
And that was precisely what he got. The expensive kind too.
The End
