Detective Byers (English Vers.)

9) High-level mission

"Okay," Frank resumed, "I'll summarise one last time. There are about twenty and fifteen men at the two bases, but during the rotation there will normally be only ten Russians on either side. You have been divided into two teams of 24, each consisting of six elements from Hawkins Police and 18 from the High Police Station. Each squadron then formed pairs, so on either side 12 groups will surround the building. This attack is not meant to be discreet, we're outnumbered. Ideally, the idea would be to kill as few of the enemy as possible in order to get as much interrogation done, however, it is obvious that if this is your only option, you can shoot the enemy down." A large map of the bases was laid out on the table, and Joyce had tried to memorize her route, as well as some key locations in the building.

He then summarized the troops' placements on each bastion, with Joyce placed in the smallest bastion. Her partner was a man named Huston, who was not from Hawkins Police Station. Both would have to go through a service entrance 5 minutes after the start of the operation to take the enemy by surprise.

Joyce had spoken quickly with her comrade-in-arms, who at first seemed surprised to see her, and a little upset that she had been assigned to him as a partner. He was even offended when he learned that she had only been there for a week. However, he was not directly hostile towards her... so it was for the best.

At about quarter past seven, the two battalions split between the company vehicles and left Hawkins' police station where everyone had gathered (and which, by the way, had seemed ridiculously small in the face of such an influx of reinforcements). Each group was instructed to park in a covered area about two kilometers from their base. This was not easy because the area was not very wooded, but the driver of the car Joyce was in finally found a few bushy trees that would (not without any difficulty) hide the 6 cars.

All the way to the mission, Joyce had been fiddling with the police badge that she had had to hastily embroider on her coat, as she didn't have a uniform that fit her. She also weighed the handgun she had been assigned. Balanced, it seemed quite light, which suited her well. The car had been fairly quiet during the trip, and everyone was on the lookout for communications from the police station for final instructions.

She had exchanged a few words with her partner about the progress of their operation: once the first team had disabled the cameras, the assault would be launched from the other side of the building and they would have to attack the enemy troops from behind.

They marched for half an hour, in almost total... solemn silence. The group soon reached a building that looked like the outside of an abandoned warehouse. But which, according to reports, still housed the rather decent infrastructure of a former storage facility.

The troops quietly parted, taking advantage of the lack of outside cameras. Joyce and her partner moved to the back of the building, where a reconnaissance team had already sneaked past the sole guard.

The first shots soon rang out. Joyce and Huston had both pinned themselves against the wall on either side of the service door. She looked at the policeman's face, which seemed to have completely closed in on itself, and a fierce determination shone in his eyes.

"It will soon be our turn... Do you feel ready to, uh..."

"Joyce." she said. She thought for a few seconds before answering. "Are we ever really ready?"

"That's a good answer."

As the seconds passed, she felt her pulse begin to race, her muscles instinctively stiffened and she tightened her grip on her gun, as if it were her life thread.... And in a sense; it was.

Suddenly, Huston looked up.

"It's up to us."

Did he count the seconds? The two began to open the door which the officer had already unlocked with a set of keys and pliers reserved for that purpose.