Blood and Beasts

Chapter 53

Bethany and Saif had devised a plan that required them to split into three teams. Two of those teams would be functioning as a diversion. The first unit to act would be the smallest of the teams, only three people. They would be setting off some explosives amongst one of the Imperial Cult gatherings, some high end restaurant that was serving as a front for their meetings. Their goal would simply be to cause chaos. If they could avoid capture, they would move to a second location and set off explosives there, and so on, keeping eyes away from the others.

Saif would be leading the second team, a larger military strike consisting of himself and eight others. They would move once the first explosions went off, infiltrating another separate gathering of Imperial Cult supporters. They would attempt to be covert to make their way in. Saif hoped they could at least get underground before being discovered, but being discovered was ultimately part of the plan. The hope was for the Imperial Cult to send the bulk of their forces to that location, and to hold them in a stalemate for as long as possible. They would kill as many of the Imperial Cult as they could, pushing towards the heart to complete the mission if they could.  None of them truly expected to survive the assault though.

It was heart wrenching to bid farewell to each of them, but it was necessary, and Cara held a steely gaze. Their sacrifice would be a diversion for their team to sneak inside completely undetected. Herself, Bethany, Andie and three others, Jacob, Dwayne and Steggy would be infiltrating a lavish Christmas Eve party downtown. Many politicians and high-powered businessmen would be there (plenty of whom were members of the Imperial Cult). 

An invitation to the party would have been near impossible to come by, but Bethany had forged the right paperwork and got them in amongst the catering staff. Except for Steggy, he would be staying outside, tapped into the building's security system. Steggy was fairly young, but an experienced hacker, and he would be essential for their plan to succeed.

Their disguises did the trick, and once inside they took out the clothes they'd brought in, stashed in some of the serving carts, as well as their weapons. The waiter uniforms had got them in the door, but would do no go from this point onward. They all changed into fancy suits and dresses, the sort of attire fitting a high-class party, as they made their way through the crowds.

Next was finding the pathway into the Sanctum. Steggy, as their eye in the sky, told them which way to go, monitoring off his feed of the security cameras in the building. They made their way toward the back of the building to a corridor where two men stood guard by a hallway. Cara clocked the guns at their sides, the tablets in their hands, and the camera looking right down over the area they were standing in.

This is where they needed the other teams for diversions. The first team had set off their explosives around when they first entered the building, now once Saif's team was discovered they would make their move. Bethany waited for word from Steggy, and once she got it, shortly after that, they moved their plan into action.

Steggy knocked out the live feed from the overhead security camera, instead wiring in a looped recording of the guards standing there. Such a blip may have been noticed by whatever eyes the Imperial Cult had on the screens, if not for the chaos breaking out at other locations across the city.

Then Andie and Jacob were up. Andie wrapped her arm around Jacob's waist and they both went staggering out into the hallway towards the guards. They let out loud obnoxious laughs.

Andie called out toward the guards, in a high pitched, ditsy voice, "Is that the way to the bathroom?"

"This area is restricted, turn back the way you came," one of the guards said. Andie and Jacob were close now.