Rainbow Six: November Sun

14: "SHOTS FIRED"

Glaz had repositioned to the second floor of the bank across the street, in one of the loan offices. After evacuating the bank hours earlier, DSU sharpshooters had taken positions on the rooftop above.

Timur had his scope fixed on the front lobby. The blinds and shutters had been drawn and closed across the large floor-to-ceiling windows.

A lesser-experienced shooter would have been frustrated. Glaz, however, was used to zero visibility situations. It was all about being in the right place at the right time.

A veteran's sixth sense went a long way, too. Coupled with experience and the ability to anticipate situational flow, it was as much a part of the job as his rifle.

With the help of Dokkaebi and Finka back at HQ, Valkyrie had stealthily tapped into the terrorist's radio comms... and it had sounded like Nøkk's efforts were paying off.

Things had gone well until Nøkk's urgent transmission informing them all that Tsar was KIA. With the hostile leader eliminated, the operation entered murky waters.

It was highly likely that Tsar's men would execute the hostages if they learned their leader had been killed.

The situation was delicate.

"All units," came Ash, "get ready to move. Nøkk, confirm: Bossman is down?"

"Affirmative. I had no choice." She was whispering into her radio. "I do not think any hostiles have been alerted. I hid the body and am holding position for further orders."

"Roger. Valkyrie, talk to me."

"I've still got eyes on the lobby. Tangos haven't moved, but two of them near the elevators are getting agitated. I think they're worried about their boss. Too far away for audio."

Glaz got to his feet with a grunt and hoisted his OTs-03 sniper rifle. "This is Glaz. Relocating to ground level to provide cover for breach."

"Copy that. Hurry. We don't have much time."

"Understood." Glaz was already out in the bank's main hallway. He ran for the emergency stairwell, his footsteps echoing off the tile and empty walls. The man jogged down the stairs with astonishing speed and burst through the doors into the first floor offices. The sniper zig-zagged through cubicles and desks before finally reaching the double doors leading into the bank lobby.

A group of bank security guards in the middle of the marble-floored lobby jumped in alarm as Glaz barreled in through the entrance, his momentum flinging the doors open.

He slowed his pace as he jogged by them. "Might want to get to your posts," he called, turning to them while backpedaling on his heels towards the bank's front doors. "It's about to get hot."

One of the officers, a blonde woman crouched over an open duffel bag, nodded. The three men standing around her watched Glaz before returning their gazes down to the clustered gear bags on the floor.

Glaz continued jogging for the front doors, but he slowed his pace. Frowned.

Something was off.

He turned around.

The woman and two of the other officers were already running to the emergency stairwell, from where Glaz had come; the last officer was pulling on a large, heavy-grade flak jacket over his uniform, and kneeling to scoop up a PKM light machine gun with a short, compact barrel.

Glaz's eyes widened. "Suka."

The armored man turned with his LMG leveled.

Glaz dove behind one of the tall marble columns in the lobby just as the machine gun rattled off its rounds. A steady stream of gunfire erupted in a deafening cadence, reverberating off the walls of the bank lobby.

"Shots fired!" Glaz called into the radio urgently. "First floor, bank lobby. New hostile element. I repeat: new hostile element engaged. Military weaponry. Three other tangos unaccounted for, dressed as bank security. Repeat: hostiles were in security uniforms. Over."

Clouds of dust and chunks of marble misted in the air around him.

Glaz flipped his hybrid rifle sight to a close-quarters red dot and pressed himself to the pillar. "Need backup," he hissed. "Be advised: hostiles are wearing heavy military-grade body armor. Over."

The fire stopped. "It's too late!" the man in the flak-jacket shouted. His English was weighed by a heavy Russian accent. "Prepare yourself!"

The pin popping on one of Glaz's smoke grenades served as his reply, and he rolled it around the corner. Smoke hissed and billowed out into the lobby.

The terrorist let out a carefree laugh and resumed fire. He waved the barrel of his weapon wildly, his machine gun spitting fire and lead into the smoke around him.

Glaz answered with a single shot that pierced the cloud and slammed into the man's face.

The gunfire stopped, and the terrorist collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud.

*          *          *

"Jesus Christ," Ash murmured. "Harry, you want to put DSU on the bank to reinforce Glaz?"

"We're already on it. Take care of the hostages."

"Roger. We're moving." The woman turned to look at her team stacked up behind her. "Erik, break off and assist Glaz."

"Yup." Maverick wasted no time. He sprinted across the street for the bank with impressive speed, beelining for the front entrance. "We're coming, Glaz," he assured over the radio. "Sit tight."

Ash tilted her R4-C and toggled the laser sight. "All units: going loud. Prepare to breach the objective."

Sledge stood. "We'll take the objective from the east. I'll get two shooters on the windows. Rest of us will storm it."

Ash nodded. "Ten-Four. Holler when you're ready. Move it."

In no time, Sledge and his team had posted on the east side of the embassy front lobby - Lion and Rook had roped up and held position above two large windows, while Sledge, Valkyrie and Doc stacked up on the side door.

Around the corner on the south side of the embassy, Ash, Twitch, Montagne, and Thatcher stacked up on either side of the main front entrance.

Ash checked her watch. "Lion: on my mark, trigger your drone. Thatcher will deploy his EMP grenades. Team 1 will breach. Montagne will take point to draw fire. Team 2 will breach four seconds after we enter. Everyone copy?"

Hurried replies answered her, and Ash began her countdown.