Heroes of The Collective Volume One : Resentment

21. Proten #2 : International Rescue : EXTENDED ISSUE

This extended issue is 4,606 words long and so has also been released in smaller parts (A) and (B) to give you the choice of how you read it.

This issue contains some description of gore and also some content towards the end that some readers may find upsetting. 

The sleek mansion sat quietly in the Italian hills, blanketed by the warm night sky. The trees lining the driveway beyond the gate swayed gently in the breeze and the water feature at the end trickled softly. Inside the house, the couple slept safe and undisturbed. But that would not be the case for so long.

The first wave, consisting of three heavily armed soldiers dressed all in black, worked their way up the street, their thermal vision goggles lowered. They cut the power to the target house and the houses either side.

Once the go-ahead was given, a second wave made up of eight more identically dressed soldiers scaled the gate with the first wave joining them. They advanced towards the house from the front, up to the wide glass front doors. With cover provided, two of the soldiers lay down a duffel bag and removed tools to carve out the glass and allow them access.

No one made a sound and they took the time they attached the suction pads to the glass before delicately allowing the precision cutter to carve out a panel big enough for them to file through.

Once the cutting was completed, the glass was lifted out and placed on the floor. Two different soldiers took over and threw in four small bombs that on contact with the floor, emitted a gas consisting of carfentanil and remifentanil that dispersed far and wide very quickly. With their gas masks keeping them safe, they fanned out into the house and headed for where they knew the sleeping quarters to be.

As the first soldier approached the corridor, he too threw down a couple of new bombs that did the same thing. Advancing further down the corridor, which was now drenched in the harmful vapour, they turned into the room they were looking for. The door was already open and some of the vapour was circling in the room, but not enough. A few more bombs were silently tossed in, the last being thrown on the bed for good measure.

The silent and dangerous soldiers wasted no time in locating their target, pulling away the bedsheets. One soldier jumped onto the bed and crouched over the woman, placing robust head gear around her head, and adding two pads- one to each side of the head at the temples. A metallic collar was placed around her neck and she was lifted from where she limply lay onto a stretcher. The man in bed with the woman was left alone.

As she was stretchered out, the last soldier to leave the room stabbed a tarot card into the head board of the bed and they all left the way they came, collecting the spent gas cannisters as they passed.

The cocktail of knock out gas was strong enough to linger through the house until the next afternoon, giving the extraction team all the time they needed to get away before the alarm was raised.

***

Brad was sat waiting for his turn in the drive thru to order on the wet Sunday early afternoon. The storm last night had kept him up and he still had a long drive to see his God-children. He was two cars behind from his turn when his phone started ringing through the car speakers. It was Madam Secretary.

"Bit unusual for you on a Sunday Ma'am," he suggested on accepting the call.

"And I wouldn't normally but your services are required with the G7. I need you to mobilise ASAP and head to Italy," she explained.

"Right, yes of course. I'll be on my way and will let you know when I'm up in the air. Any idea what it's about?"

"It's Stephanie Del Marta. She's been abducted."

***

Brad was hurtling across the Atlantic to Italy to meet up with the other G7 Enhanced members. The two hour flight felt like it was the longest journey he had ever taken to Europe, his concern and agitation making him impatient to get there. How could this have happened? And to her? he thought.

Stephanie Del Marta was a big time celebrity and when she wasn't making movies, she was constantly on the covers of magazines and in commercials. She did everything and was known by everyone. It wasn't just for the fact that she was enhanced that made her so famous. She had talent and beauty and won the hearts of everyone. She had also fought for her country nationally and globally, which made her a national treasure.

But it was that that caused Brad to be the most confused- she was capable of handling herself. How could she have been taken from her own home? He had no doubts who was behind this, but the 'how' was what got to him.
Brad could see European land mass on the horizon and even though it wasn't possible to go any faster, he pushed on the lever in the hope.