Rainbow Six: November Sun

47: "THUNDER"

14:41

Harry was still in the surveillance van with members of President Jackson's secret service surveillance team, behind the Subway restaurant at the corner of 7th & M. He had a hand to one headphone of his headset, trying to better hear the other line, and his other hand flew about the keyboard of his open laptop.

"Warden. Sitrep with the VIPs?" he asked.

"So far so good. Still boxed in here. Waiting for an enemy attack. Over."

"Roger. Hang tight. I'm coordinating with local PD to direct medical personnel to your locations."

"The food court, too," came Tachanka. "We have wounded. Warden, Hostiles neutralized in food court. I'm moving to link back up with you all downstairs."

"Roger."

"Tachanka," called Mira from Guardian Station, "keep heading west through the next atrium. Ignore the first stairwell - the second will give you access to basement corridors that connect to the fallback point. Just watch your ass. Over."

Shots sounded from a distance. Harry peered our his window and saw a news helicopter veering away from gunfire to the south.

"Looks like more gunmen at or around the arena," Harry remarked.

"Can confirm," answered Valkyrie. "Police chatter indicates shooters at Capital One Arena, and across the street at the Smithsonian. Local SWAT is addressing the threats."

Harry shook his head. "We need to get our VIPs out immediately."

"Yessir," came Warden. "Working on it. Can you have pickup ready around here on the south end?"

Director Six nodded. "Just tell me where."

* * *

Back in the parking garage, Warden looked to the wreckage from the recent missile impacts.

Alibi jogged up to him. "We lost some," she said quietly. "Three Secret Service KIA. One FSB. Five wounded."

"Okay." Warden turned and was about to call to the others when another explosion shook the ground beneath their feet. It had come from the walls next to the enclosed stairwell and elevators.

"We've got company!" shouted Blackbeard, who was backing away from the stairwell, weapon raised. "They tried blowing through the reinforcements."

"Amateurs," quipped Jäger. The man had already deployed two ADS turrets on the walls outside the stairwell entryway, which was enclosed in a concrete shaft running upward.

Warden nudged Alibi. "Keep watch over the VIPs. Have Dodd's men keep eyes on the rubble behind us, just in case."

If she was annoyed at being asked to hold back with the VIPs, Alibi hid it. "Copy that." She ran to the supply van and lifted a sizable pillar of steel from the cargo - which was, in fact, a compacted deployable shield - and cradled it over her shoulder with one hand. "Agent Dodd?" she called. "On me."

Dodd and two of his men obeyed.

Warden took comfort in the metallic sound of the shield being deployed somewhere behind him, near the armored SUV that the three Heads of State were housed in. This was followed by the activation of another Prisma hologram. Alibi was a damned good operator. They were safe in her hands.

Bandit crept forward, easing towards the stairwell access. He slumped to a sitting position on the concrete and leaned onto his back, aiming his MP7 at the door. "I hear them," he whispered.

"Listen for the Gu mines," Lesion said, keeping his voice down over the radio. "Two in the stairway."

On cue, there was a loud pop and hissing noise, followed by a man yelping in agony. Bandit was close enough that he could hear a body hit the floor, followed by angry cursing. "That's one," he breathed. "They're Russian."

A second mine crackled and hissed, injecting another would-be attacker with a poison needle.

"That's two," Bandit informed. He suddenly raised a gloved fist in the air from where he lay, signaling that contact was imminent, and shifted his weight to lean to one side.

A score of weapons was pointed at the closed access door to the stairwell. Everyone waited with bated breath.

Bandit suddenly cursed. He scrambled to his feet and sprinted away from the door. Seconds later, an explosion ripped the door from the hinges.

"Frags," remarked Zofia. She set her rifle down against a support column and readied her KS79 launcher. "They won't expect thunder. Kötz?"

"On it." Blitz advanced on the stairwell. IQ was right behind him, a guiding hand on his back, her handgun aimed over his shoulder. Ying followed.

Zofia chambered the concussion rounds. "Single concussion," she announced quietly. "On my count: three. Two. One."

A round burst forth from the launcher tube, and the concussion grenade detonated almost on impact. The noise was thunderous in the enclosed concrete stairwell, and the cries of hostile troops could be heard as they reeled in shock.

Blitz was in the door almost immediately. He bounded forward and slammed his shield into the first masked face he saw. The enemy collapsed. His companions further up the stairs tried to rally through their dizzied vision, but Blitz was already aiming his shield upward.

A blinding flash filled the stairwell as he ignited his riot shield's frontal flash charge.

IQ was still behind him. As Blitz charged the nearest man, she leaned out and fired a quick double-tap with her handgun to the chest of the next hostile in line. Before his body had hit the concrete, the woman had already redirected her aim at a third gunman, and she executed another double-tap.

"Four down!" Blitz hollered. "Moving!"

"I've got you," breathed IQ.

The pair advanced up the stairs. Ying was right behind them, and Zofia jogged in from the parking garage to follow.

"Heads up," called Blitz. "More coming."