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Shadow Ops II: Nowhere to Run, Chapter Two
Posted By: Nemesis<shadow_agent13@hotmail.com>
Date: 1 November 2003, 7:31 AM
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Chapter Two
"Move it to the left"
"Watch my back, I'm coming through"
"Shiza! My foot!"
"Take it easy, keep it coming...okay! Stop!" Wincing in pain and stress, Colin Thompson released the large flat-screen 72" TV screen onto the makeshift TV stand. He panted heavily and collapsed onto one of the couches inside their new apartment. Andrew Kreutz Kamp and Johnny Colbourne sat next to him, tired, but laughing at what they purchased. Andrew held his toe in agony. Colin shoved him.
"Suck it up" he said. Andrew shoved him back, but Colin stepped on his foot and he backed off. The ex-UNSC Shadow Ops members all laughed at Andrew, who limped up to the kitchen to grab a band aid. When he returned, Fredrick Owens stood in front of them.
"Well guys, we've got a place to stay, we have money, and we have each other. We're no longer in the UNSC, we're on our own. Are you guys willing to stay here and live together?" he asked, looking at everyone. There was a moment of silence, as Fredrick stared at every member of his squad. Johnny sat up, grinning and nodded.
"Awesome, I'm in" he said. The others didn't complain either. They had left their lives behind to join the USNC. They had nowhere to go, nowhere to stay. This was home. Owens nodded.
"Okay then, we're no longer part of that fucked up Office of Intelligence, but we'll continue to follow the chain of command we followed while being Shadow Ops. I'm in charge, objections?" he asked again. Johnny Colbourne remained silent here, but Colin got the same look of approval from each member of the squad, including Colbourne. Colin stood up and saluted the ex-medic from the first Shadow Ops squad.
"We're with you Shadow" he said. It was a touching moment, as the other four squad members stood and saluted Owens, who blushed and nodded.
"All right then, let's go over what we purchased" he said, walking up to the kitchen. Colin sat down.
"Groceries are unpacked and stored throughout the cupboards. Spirit and Specter scored well, got everything that we need. That'll probably last us a month or two" he began, looking at a list of purchased goods. There was a moment of silence, as everyone else looked through the bought goods.
"Vell, ve got a very nice TV" Andrew said, pointing to the 100 pound appliance. The whole group laughed.
"Nice capture there dude" Todd Maddox said, shaking Johnny's hand.
"TV didn't cost much, but this computer that Specter already set up did cost a bit" Colbourne said, pointing to the small computer. It was fixed on a large desk which they had found on the road. The desk was in good condition, and only required a quick cleaning, since it had been on the streets for a few days. Todd had set it up already, and was sitting at it already.
"What are you doing mate?" Jamie Fisher asked, looking over at him.
"Deleting our ID records from ONI" Maddox answered, staring straight at the large monitor.
"Nice, good thinking" Owens said, walking over to him. "I doubt we broke any laws, but Death could've gotten in some trouble, punching that guard" he said again, grinning over at Johnny, who shrugged.
"He got in my way, what can I say?" he asked.
"Poet and didn't even know it" Colin murmured, causing the others to laugh.
"It's a good idea nevertheless, since I'm sure we all have the same idea in mind for ONI" Owens said, standing straight and looking at everyone.
"Revenge" whispered Andrew, who was still poking his toe. Johnny's hands were clenched into fists and he nodded. Colin grinned evilly.
"We'll worry about a plan later. What else did we buy?" Owens said, changing the subject.
"Got a radio, a few CDs, CD player, some blinds for these windows, bunch of other shit" said Johnny. Owens nodded.
"Clothes were hard, but we got some pants, jackets, a few shirts, undergarments, socks, if it doesn't fit you, trying something else on. Were all roughly the same weight and size" he said, picking up a pair of jeans. Johnny grabbed another pair of pants and held them up to his legs.
"Do they make my butt too big?" he asked. Colin burst out laughing, and threw a pair of socks at him.
"Lose some weight" he said, causing the others to laugh even harder. Owens wiped his eyes and put the jeans down.
"Let's get this crap away. Spirit and I will put the clothes away. Wraith, fix that toe. Death and Shade, I want you two to go through the appliances and set up what you can today" Owens ordered, picking up large handfuls of clothing and walking into the bedrooms. Maddox remained at the computer, studying ONI readouts that were scrolling across the screen. Andrew limped into one of the bedrooms and laid down on the bed. Colin turned and watched Johnny sit in front of the large TV. He grinned at Colin and flicked the receiver. The TV screen activated and sound blared into the room. Johnny's face was filled with delight and he laughed, as Colin shook his head and walked to him. He gave the man a thumbs-up sign.
"Very nice" he said, crossing his arms and watching the screen flicker. Most households had projector screens set up, but since they were more expensive then regular TVs, Johnny and Andrew got this one. Colin wasn't complaining.
"Come on, let's get this crap unpacked and set it up" he said, walking over to the table, which was still filled with bags.
Vice Admiral Casar sat in the exact same conference room where he had spoken with the Shadow Ops II squad. In front of him were various directions and managers from the various divisions within the Office of Naval Intelligence.
"Okay people, let's settle down" he said into the microphone. Immediately, the people standing around sat and looked up at Casar. He leaned back slightly, looking through some notes. He didn't really know what to say and was thankful when Lieutenant Colonel Jim Campbell cleared his throat.
"Do you all know why you're here?" he asked. A spokesperson for the entire assembled group stood up.
"Some of us do, but others aren't exactly filled in completely" she said. Campbell nodded and looked over at Casar, who leaned forward.
"Yesterday, at around 1300 hours, myself and the elected representatives sat here and told the Shadow Ops II squad that they were going to be shut down, so that the Spartan-IIIs could take over. Well ladies and gentlemen, they didn't take it too well. The choices given to them were work for the Office of Naval Intelligence, join the Marine Corps, or quit the office and the UNSC military forces. They choose to leave the UNSC, and walked right out. Their attitude leaving this room wasn't very good either. I tried to have security apprehend them, but they were gone before they could do anything. One of the officers received a broken nose from the squad's heavy weapons expert" he explained, shaking his head. An uneasy silence fell over the assembled people, who stared at each other in disbelief. Finally, one man stood up.
"Excuse me sir, but why is that such a big deal? They left, so let's leave it and go on to something else" he said. Casar shook his head.
"It's not that easy I'm afraid. Each member of the Shadow Ops II squad has large amounts of knowledge, of the various experiments we conduct here at the office and if such information is gained by the public, we could have riots, large protests, stuff that's happened in the past and we don't wish to happen again" he said.
"What we do here isn't exactly bad" the same man said.
"Experimenting on Covenant bodies and trying to make super hybrids out of them. Radical protest groups would launch a full complaint against us and get more to rally with them. We're just worried about classified information being leaked out into the public" the Admiral explained. The man fell silent, but the woman beside him stood.
"What do we do?" she asked.
"Well, that's why I've called you all here. What are we going to do with them?" Casar asked, crossing his arms and leaning back. No one spoke, but Casar expected this. A few people coughed uncomfortably, others merely stared at the floor or ceiling. The Chief of the Washington DC police forces stood up.
"We could hire someone to keep an eye on them" he suggested.
"A shadow?" Casar asked. The Chief nodded, but Casar shook his head. "Those six men are trained in the arts of such methods of stalking and they know when they're being followed. A shadow isn't the answer."
"What if we somehow convince one of the members to go undercover for us?" Marine General Tyler Banton asked. Several of the gathered people began chatting out loud about this proposal. Casar shook his head again.
"Each one of them most likely has a huge amount of hatred towards us, and approaching one and asking him to work for us again, wouldn't work at all. In fact, he would tell the rest of the squad and we could be faced with terrorist acts against us" he explained. The General however shook his head also.
"There are such body movements one can recognize to see whether or not the person agrees with someone or not. When Lieutenant Owens said they were out, I can tell you one hundred percent; one of the members did not want to leave and wished to choose something else. However, it was peer pressure that forced him to stand and leave" the General explained. More chattering started and even Casar was impressed.
"Which one are you talking about?" he asked, looking at the profile pictures of all six men. The General pointed to one. The Admiral nodded.
"Okay, get to work on him, see if he'll do it. If the squad does leak out information or plans to commit terrorist acts against us, we have a small chance to stop them" Casar explained. More talking continued, as people agreed with what the Admiral was saying. Casar stood. "This meeting is over. If our plan fails, we'll try Chief Lawley's idea of putting a shadow behind the shadows. Dismissed" he said. The group of people sitting below the Admiral stood up in unison and left in a single file line, still talking. Casar stood and collected his papers, then walked over to the General.
"The Shadow idea won't work at all. I want to make sure you get this kid and you make him work for us. Use any means necessary, and I mean any" he whispered into General Banton grinned and nodded.
"I'll have a report for you next week" he said and saluted. The Admiral returned it and then watched the General leave the room. Casar stood alone, listening to his steady heartbeat and breathing heavily. He laid down the profile pictures of each of the Shadow Ops II squad, and then pretended to shoot each picture in the head.
"Mess with ONI will you?" he growled, then threw the papers into the garbage and walked out.
Once again, the six men who made up the ex-ONI squad sat at the dinner table, a deck of cards spread out along the table. Smoke from cigarettes spiraled into the air, forcing Colin to inhale the fumes as he looked at his cards.
"Crap again" he whispered, taking a drink of his bottle of beer. Beside him, Andrew leaned over to look at his cards and chuckled.
"Very bad luck" he said, shaking his head. Colin punched him lightly in the arm, and then asked for another card. He added the numbers and counted twenty-two.
"Bullshit" he said, throwing the cards onto the table. The others laughed, but stopped as Andrew revealed twenty-one in his hand. Colin punched him again, as did Johnny who sat on the opposite side of him. The German laughed.
"Go avay" he chuckled. There was a moment of silence, as they all took another swig of their beers. Finally, Fredrick looked around the table.
"So, its revenge we want?" he asked. Johnny sat up.
"Fuck yeah man" he said. Both Fisher and Maddox grinned. Colin punched his fist into his hand. Andrew however was still marveling over all the money he had won. Owens nodded again. "What does everyone have in mind?" he asked. Maddox leaned forward, putting his cigarette out.
"I've been checking out internet maps about ONIs various governmental buildings they have here in DC. So far, I've found two federal banks, the actual ONI facility and a weapons factory" he said. Johnny grinned.
"Weapon's factory sounds good" he said. Maddox shook his head.
"That comes to my next point. The security at most of these buildings is tight. That factory you want Death has two divisions of Marines positioned there, in case someone tries to steal some of their weapons. The ONI facility is impossible, even with the knowledge we have, we don't have the equipment. The first bank and fucking huge and would be too hard to control, but this last bank is the one that interests me" he said. Owens spread his arms apart, throwing the cards and cigarette packages onto the floor.
"What do you got?" he asked the tech specialist. Maddox reached behind him and pulled out a small map, which he laid down on the table.
"Blueprints of the bank. It's located down on Avery Street, just by the stadium. The exterior of the building looks a lot like a worn down building, abandoned for years, but it's different on the inside. Main entrance leads to a large lobby area. Main desk with usually three secretaries and two security guards positioned on the wall. There are two doors in this lobby that lead to the manager's office and his assistance. Now, behind the desk is a barred door, which leads to the small storage area they have. There are two more offices back here, with two more security guards. We're looking at a total of nine hostages" he explained.
"What's in this place?" asked Johnny, chewing on a toothpick.
"This bank is used to house the various goods that the UNSC gets from rebel factions. It's also one of ONIs private bank accounts, loaded with cash. We're looking at maybe some diamonds, weapons, credits, lots of shit. That's all that I know off" he said.
"Nice" whispered Jamie Fisher.
"An operation like dis vouldn't require a lot of heavy firearms. M6D pistols and maybe a few assault rifles, piece of cake" Andrew said.
"What are the guards armed with?" Colin asked.
"MA2B assault rifles, M6D pistol as a backup. They usually wear Kevlar Type-II body armor. Two successful pistol rounds anywhere on the torso area will take them out" Maddox explained.
"Okay, we've got our target; we've sort of got some gear in mind. However, someone's bound to find out that something's up. Hostages?" Owens asked. There was a moment of silence, before Johnny cleared his throat.
"The desk clerks and managers. The guards either need to be put into submission or killed. I think killed would be better, but that's just me" he said.
"I agree" Colin said, nodding at Johnny.
"Okay, the next few days we'll use to gather what equipment we'll need and also devise a plan on how to get into that bloody place" Owens said, as he stood up and pushed his chair in. "I'm heading to bed for now, been a long fucking day" he said.
"Man, I vanted vone more game" Andrew whined, but received another punch in the arm by Colin.
"German bastard taking away all our money" he murmured, causing Andrew to laugh. Owens shook hands with all five of his men, and then walked to his bedroom. As the door closed, Johnny turned to look at them.
"Who gets the couch?" he asked. Everyone stared at each other for a moment, grinning. Johnny put his fist in, and the others followed.
"Rock, paper, scissors" they chanted. All four of them, except Colin choose rock. The sniper choose paper, meaning he would be on the couch.
"Holy shit, what are the fucking odds of that happening?" he said, shaking his head and walking to the couch. The others all laughed at him, as they split up into their separate rooms. Colin lay down onto the couch and slowly fell asleep, thinking about tomorrow and how busy it would be...
TO BE CONTINUED
By: Nemesis (aka Agent Shade)
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