Rainbow Six: November Sun

48: "TOO CROWDED"

14:45

Blitz took care to keep his breathing steady as he stepped over the incapacitated bodies of the terrorists on the stairs. He peered through his shield, and found comfort in the touch of IQ's palm pressed to his back. The pair practiced together routinely, and he felt safer with her than anyone else in a forward strike maneuver.

Shouts in Russian bounded down the tight stairwell shaft from above. The sinister, familiar sound of a frag grenade bouncing on concrete reached their ears.

"Granate!" Blitz warned. He hugged the wall and planted his shield firmly as the enemy hand grenade rolled into view on the steps above.

IQ crouched behind the man and pressed herself as low as she could. Behind them, Zofia tugged Ying backward to safety behind the corner of the stairs.

The explosion was ear-splitting in such a tight space. The heat washed over them both, and shrapnel peppered Blitz's shield relentlessly. The impact sent him and IQ reeling backward, and they hit the ground roughly at the base of the flight of steps.

"Status!" called Warden urgently. Bandit and Jäger began storming the stairwell to provide support.

Ying and Zofia moved quickly to their colleagues' aid. "Hold position!" Zofia instructed over her shoulder to the newcomers. "Too crowded in here!"

Blitz was shell-shocked, and he blinked away the dizziness in his eyes as he sat up.

Zofia was kneeling next to him. "You good?" she was asking. Blitz couldn't hear her words, but he could read her lips, and he nodded.

His eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Monika?" he called, twisting to crane his neck and look to his teammate on the ground nearby.

IQ was on her back. She groggily pressed herself up to lean on an elbow. "Fuck," she grunted.

Gunfire tore through the hallway. Blitz turned to see Ying leaning around the corner at the top of the flight of steps, and she was leaning into her LMG as she fired a long barrage upward.

"Tango down!" she called. "Two more. They're falling back. Pursuing."

Zofia wasted no time in following. She hustled up the steps and tapped Ying's shoulder twice to signal her presence.

"Brace for flash." Ying gripped a Candela grenade and hurled it upwards. She sprinted up the stairs and rounded the corner just as the clustered flash charges went off, plunging the stairway into a blinding light.

Zofia shielded her eyes from the Candela flashes - she did not have the proper eye protection to counter them, like Ying's glasses - and was quick to follow after the last charge expended.

The shouts of agony from hostiles above signified the effectiveness of Ying's throw, and the woman braced her LMG against her shoulder and prepared to mow them down.

Before she could make the final leap to the top of the stairs, there was machine gun fire from somewhere above. The body of one of the masked men rolled down the steps and slammed into the concrete at Ying's feet.

She could hear shell casings rolling down the steps. "Friendlies!" she shouted. "Alex? Is that you?"

"Affirmative." The bear of a man trudged down the steps to meet his comrades. "The way is clear," Tachanka announced. "I think we can make it if we hurry."

* * *

Director Six was pleased to know that the attack in the parking garage had been thwarted. "Secret Service is sending a convoy of armored SUVs now," he informed.

"Roger that," Warden replied. "Moving to street level. Confirm pickup to be south side, Mount Vernon Place Northwest?"

"Confirmed. Stay frosty."

"Wilco."

One of the surveillance techs looked over his shoulder. "Director, D.C. SWAT has neutralized the rooftop snipers at the library. They had fucking Javelin launchers. They're what took out the column supports to the garage."

Harry whistled lowly. "Ten-four. And the situation at the metro?"

"It got ugly, but it's over." The technician brought up some minimized tabs on one of his screens. "Four officers wounded - one in critical condition - but none KIA. However, eleven civilians were wounded. Two KIA - an old man and a kid."

Harry bit his lip. "Do we have surveillance footage of the incident?"

"Yes, sir."

"Upload it to the network, please."

"You got it."

"All units," Harry said, habitually adjusting his glasses, "go for extract. External threats have been dealt with, but stay alert."

* * *

It all had lasted just over 45 minutes. November Sun had launched its second attack, hitting multiple targets around the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The residents of Washington, D.C. were shaken, as was hope and enthusiasm for a new, bright future cooperatively pursued by the U.S., China, and Russia. The world watched their news networks in shock as journalists covered firsthand accounts of survivors.

Ultimately, the attack had failed in killing any one of the Heads of State present at the Joint Summit; but it had succeeded in making a statement.

November Sun was capable, and their collective anger was very real. Google searches for "Beslan school crisis" surged worldwide, and a tragic, horrific incident at a small school in North Ossetia was finally getting the attention it deserved, fifteen years later.

That was how Matvei Federov and his comrades saw it, anyway, and as far as they were concerned, justice was finally being served.