Unity
A red light pulses and Alex opens his eyes. His left arm aches after sleeping on it throughout the journey. He sits up, wipes his face and remembers he’s in the back of a SWAT van.
“Rise and Shine, gringo!” says a short stocky man sitting opposite, hand brushing through his long black hair.
“Right lads, now we’re all awake, let’s get down to business. Carlos, refresh the rook’s memory.” Alex hears from the vehicles driver.
The short stocky man looks Alex straight in the eye.
“Alright rook, we got a standard weapon cache drop. HQs identified suspicious cargo being delivered to one of the warehouses nearby. We go in, scope the place out, secure any goods and get the heck out. With me so far?”
Alex barely uttered a response.
“Good ‘cus there’s more. Latest reports say that John Taggart, a self-proclaimed collector, is one of the people involved – we have clearance to take him in dead or alive.”
“Dead’s good enough for me” The driver interrupted.
“Do we have the schematics to the warehouse?” Alex enquired.
Carlos pulled out a set of blue prints from the side of his seat and handed it over to Alex.
“Most likely the arms deals are made near the transport dock located at the north side. Depending on how heavily guarded the place is, we’ll do one of two plans: A) Full assault from the rear or B) surround the enemy with a pincer-movement.
“Why not full assault on the north side?”
“It’ll be too heavily guarded. And encase you forgot, there’s only four of us on the mission. So our best bet is to take any hostiles out one by one until we reach Taggart.
“Wait a minute. You said four of us?”
“Yeah. You, me, Eckhart the driver and Bear.”
Alex hadn’t even realised there was even another member sitting in the back. In the corner of his eye he could just make out a faint silhouette – a hunched pale skinned man wearing very minimal armour. He was looking out of the back of the vehicles rear window and holding a set of prayer beads whispering quietly to himself. Alex’s mouth dropped and Carlos was there to catch it.
“Ah don’t worry your pretty little head about it, kid! He’s in his own world. Ain’t that right, Bear!” Carlos said, before punching Bear in the arm as hard as he could. Bear didn’t even blink.
“He’s also the only one on the team to have had no confirmed kills in any of the missions we’ve been on,
Carlos” Eckhart chimed in from the front.
“Yeah,” Carlos said, ignoring his boss’ implication. “Guy’s member of SWAT and doesn’t like guns!” he continued before laughing heartily.
The van stopped to a halt breaking the awkward atmosphere Alex found himself in.
“Alright lads, we’re here. Move out”
XXX
Eckhart scanned the area. Two guards were posted outside the south entrance of the warehouse. He turned to face his team.
“Two guards up front. Bear, think you can take them?”
Bear nodded before quickly standing up.
“Carlos, get ready”
“Ready for what?” Alex asked
“Watch and learn, rook”
XXX
Having left his heavy weaponry back with the rest of his team and now armed with only a standard issue rifle, Carlos almost felt naked. The lack of equipment did however make him lighter and faster on his feet, allowing him to run past the two guards. The perfect distraction as Bear had followed closely, putting one of the guards in a sleeper hold before the other had time to react.
Bear make quick work of the remaining guard allowing Carlos to get a clear view of the northern side of the ware house. He gave a thumbs-up to Bear before touching his ear piece.
XXX
Eckhart’s ear piece crackled and he heard Carlos’ voice.
“Special cargo has been confirmed. I repeat, Special cargo has been confirmed. They’re bringing it in via an unmarked truck”
“Copy that. Update HQ on our progress”
"Sure thing boss”
“Oh and Carlos?”
“Yes boss?”
“Try not to get caught”
XXX
If there was one thing in life Bear hated, it was War. It was because of war people suffered. It was because of war people died. He despised war. He was also very angry. Angry at the world that stood by and watched as his home burnt to the ground. Angry at those who did nothing to help as his people were butchered and slaughtered and pillaged and raped. Because the world did not think their lives were worth saving. Because the world didn’t think
life was worth saving.
Only his belief in a greater form of justice offered him any solace. He increased his grip on his prayer beads. A voice bought him back to reality.
“What’s up?”
Bear shrugged. He didn’t fully understand his leader’s decision to hand pick a recruit so green for a mission of this kind. But then again, next to Bear, most fully trained SWAT members were green.
“Not much of a conversationalist?” he heard Alex mutter under his breath.
Bear remind silent.
XXX
Eckhart’s ear piece crackled
“Boss, HQ cross-referenced the guys I saw out back”
“Go on.”
“They match the description for the personnel guard of Nebojsa; the Serbian war criminal.”
“Neb who?” Alex asked?
“Ne-boy-sha” Eckhart responded phonetically before catching Bear’s flared eyes.
“What’s with him?” Alex enquired
“History, kid” Eckhart said dismissively.
“Alright” he continued. “Thanks for the heads up. Hold your position and keep us posted.”
“Roger that”
Eckhart turned to face Bear.
“If it turns out that he’s here, I need to make sure your head’s on straight. I can’t have you compromising this mission. The only reason you were allowed to come in the first place was for old time’s sake, understand?”
The fair skinned giant said nothing, only nodded in approval.
“So now what?” Alex asked.
“Plan B kid. Move out!”
At once, the three members stood up and headed towards the warehouse‘s south entrance.
XXX
The pungent smell of a Cuban cigar filled Eckhart’s nostrils.
Stolen he thought to himself. A waft of rose scented perfume followed.
Definitely stolen!
His ear piece crackled.
“I got some good news, boss. I can confirm visual on John Taggart. Should I proceed?
“Negative. Stay in position. What’s the head count?”
“Five on the second floor, a dozen or so on the first. Looks like a weapons cached. I’m seeing heavy artillery here. Semi-automatics, explosives - they got enough for an army down there”
“Or a private military. Roger that. Hold your position, we’re on our way.”
“Are we gonna get to shoot something now or not?” Alex said, frustrated. Bear kissed his teeth in disgust.
“Oh what’s up
now, muscle head?” Alex said angrily.
Much to his dismay, Eckhart noticed Alex had begun to adopt Dom’s less favourable characteristics.
Bear remained completely un-phased and silent as ever, still holding firmly on to his prayer beads.
Eckhart stepped and quickly reminded the pair there was an important mission to complete.
“Lads, we all heard Carlos, we’ve got confirmation on our target and primary objective. Stay sharp – we’re going in.”
“Sir, Carlos just said he saw live munitions. Shouldn’t we switch to non-lethal rounds?”
“Negative.”
“What?!” Alex said, loudly.
“Quiet! You want us to get caught?” Eckhart whispered.
Alex began to apologise but stopped when he saw his team leader’s facial expression change. His voice soon followed.
“What was the first thing I told you to do, rook?”
He could sense the anger and frustration in his leader’s tone of voice but couldn’t quite place the reason behind it. Then it hit him.
“Watch our six?” he said slowly, before seeing several red dots appear running up and down his body.
XXX
After discretely taking out two mercenaries guarding the north entrance, Carlos had managed to sneak in to the back of the warehouse and had taken cover behind a freight crate. So far the mission had felt a little too easy in his mind, which meant one of two things: he was close to danger or his team mates were. He shook his head and regained compusure. His eyes were drawn to John Taggart who seemed to be stroking his hand across a full bodied armoured suit inside a transport crate.
“So this is the Omega suit. Well, I have to say it’s not what I thought it’d be. Are ye certain this is it?” Carlos noticed Taggart trying to stifle his Scottish accent, almost as if he were ashamed by it.
“Yes” the dealer said. Carlos noticed this man made no attempt to hide his
Serbian accent. “It is the only proto-type in existence. It enhances the user’s strength ten-fold and provides almost complete invulnerability from all fire-arms. ”
“And now it belongs to me!” Taggart finished.
Taggart handled the Serbian a silver case. “Your fee as agreed”
The Serbian opened the case and to his surprise the full amount was there in wads. He held one of the wads up and took in a deep breath before chuckling to himself.
“What’s so funny?” Taggart ask.
“I made a bet with some friends back in Serbia. They asked what I would do if you did not keep your end of the bargain.”
“And what was the answer?”
“Simple. I’d shoot you dead on the spot” the Serbian laughed heartily, stroking his long flowing beard.
Taggart feigned a laugh of his own.
The two were interrupted as several mercenaries entered the room.
“Ah look, we have guests.” Taggart gestured.
The mercenaries had bound their victims’ hands together and forced them on their knees in front of Taggart and the Serbian dealer.
“Please do stay for the fireworks,
Nebojsa.”
XXX
John Taggart’s body wobbled as Carlos adjusted his rifle’s aim. What started as a mere weapons cache procurement had quickly escalated into a hostage crisis, with most of his team members now being held at gun point. Steadying his aim, he noticed Taggart bend down and take something from his team leader before placing it to his ear. Carlos’ head set began to crackle and he soon heard a voice.
“Testing, testing. One. Two. three. I always wanted to say that” the words echoed as he heard them directly from Taggart and from his ear piece. Taggart’s distinct obnoxious laughter followed shortly after
[i]Keep laughing, gringo.]/i]
“Seriously speaking, ye should probably just all give up now. I’ve got three of ye members here – and if rest of ye hand yourselves in quietly, I promise I won’t kill any of ‘em.”
Carlos would have pulled the trigger there and then if he hadn’t noticed his team leader’s psychotic grin.
XXX
Alex’s hands chaffed against his binds. He could feel the cold hard metal digging into his wrists. Standing no less than a meter in front of him was John Taggart in all his gloss couture glory, who was now talking loudly into his team leader’s head-set. In this position, he had the perfect shot on him, but the mercenaries had completely disarmed him and his fellow team mates.
He looked to his far left and saw Bear, whose eyes were fixated solely on Nebojsa. The two had not exchanged a word since they’d all been caught. Next to Bear was Eckhart who was not only completely unafraid at the situation, but judging by the smile on his face, seemed to actually be enjoying it.
“What are ye smiling about?” Taggart asked, after noticing Eckhart’s psychotic grin.
“Oh it’s just that if I were in your position, I wouldn’t kill us one by one. I mean, sure you’d guarantee killing one of us, but all three? No chance. See the big lad on my left? He once fought a bear in hand to hand combat”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And the chap on my right, he’s a raving cannibal.”
“Then perhaps I’ll kill them first?”
“Sure you want to risk that? Your best bet would be to shoot all three of us in the back of our head, at the exact same time. No margin for error here,
Taggart.”
“And how do I know this is not some part of an elaborate escape plan?”
“You don’t. That’s why it’s so fun” Eckhart said before laughing maniacally.
Incensed, Taggart pointed at several of the mercenaries, who quickly re-grouped behind Alex and his team members. Soon each of them had a gun held to the back of their necks.
Great plan, Alex thought to himself.
He bit his tongue as a mercenary jammed the end of his rifle into the back of his head.
This is it he thought.
Can’t believe I’m going out like this.
He closed his eyes and feared for the worst. The next thing he heard was the deafening sound of a gun-shot.
XXX
Bear stood up immediately and broke from his restraints. In the ensuing fire fight, he saw Nebojsa flee and followed suit, all the while ignoring his commander’s orders.
Several mercenaries stood in his way, only to be knocked to the floor as Bear clotheslined two of them and through the last one over his shoulders. He had prayed so very much for this moment and no power on this Earth would stop him.
XXX
Caught in a cross fire, Carlos got a glimpse of Bear chasing Nebojsa outside the warehouse. A bullet whizzed past forcing him to get behind a wooden crate. He reloaded his weapon with a fresh clip and rolled out from behind the crate firing several shots. Three mercenaries hit the floor, hands clenching their legs where a dozen bullets had torn through.
Carlos stood up but Bear was nowhere to be found. He checked his left and saw a group of mercenaries heading towards the rest of his team. He charged towards them, guns blazing.
XXX
Bear chased Nebojsa outside the warehouse. With enough speed he pounced on the Serbian arms dealer, knocking his briefcase to the floor. Rolling and tumbling on the cold hard granite, he quickly scurried up on all fours. Nebojsa did the same, and soon the two were both standing, eyes piercing into each other’s souls.
“Now, is that anyway to treat your beloved father?” the Serbian arms dealer goaded.
“Don’t get any ideas - this isn’t a family reunion.” Bear responded. He half meant it as a warning to himself. “I’m taking you in for your crimes against humanity; against Bosnia; against my
mother”
“Very well; but I will not go willingly” The Serbian said smugly, before throwing his jacket on the floor before readying into Real Akido stance.
Bear responded by raising his fists and assuming a self-taught close quarter combat position.
“Come now child, let me show you why they call me: fearless!”
XXX
Eckhart ran as Mercenaries swarmed the floor and took aim, forcing him under cover. He looked over to his left to see Alex had done the same.
“Happy now?”
Alex shook his head. “This isn’t what I had in mind!”
Eckhart laughed as bullets flew passed his head. “Kid, I need some firepower.”
Alex rummaged around and a crate containing a variety of vintage hand guns. He picked one at random and tossed it towards his leader.
Eckhart got up and emptied the entire clip, missing most of his shots. “I need something with a little more kick!” he shouted before chucking it at one of the mercenaries, smacking him in the head.
Alex once again put his hands into the crate and this time picked out a noticeably heavier hand gun before carefully passing it to his team leader.
With a new gun in hand, Eckhart fired a shot at one of the mercenaries hiding behind a freight crate. The bullet tore through the metal like it was nothing, and the mercenary let out a painful groan.
“Ah yes, the Desert Eagle. Where have you been all my life?” Eckhart said, before kissing the side of the gun and firing another shell.
XXX
“I bought you into this world. And I will take you from it!” Nebojsa roared as his foot came fast and hard, slamming into Bear’s chest. He stumbled back before quickly regaining composure. Balanced on the balls of his feet, Bear lunged forward, saw an opening and launched a barrage of punches into Nebojsa’s chest.
“You fight like a Bosnian!” Nebojsa mocked as he took each and every single one of the blows, before countering by smashing his left knee into son’s chin, drawing blood.
“Yet you bleed like a Serbian!”
Enraged at his father’s mockery, Bear let go of his restraints, let go of his inhibitions, gave into his bottled-up rage and threw a thunderous punch into his father’s face, sending him crashing to the floor.
XXX
A hail storm of lead bullets flew over Alex’s head as he looked towards his leader for some much needed advice.
“They’re using semi-automatics. 32 bullet clips, for bullets per burst. Wait for my signal, and return fire”
He waited. One burst, two bursts. Three bursts. It seemed no matter how long he waited, the bullets kept coming. He counted two more bursts before getting sick of it and got up to return fire. As he did several bullets hit him square in his chest, and he screamed in pain tumbling to the floor.
He heard the mercenaries whooped and holler at their victory before catching a glimpse of his team leader.
“When I say wait for my signal, I mean wait for my signal. Dammit kid, you trying to get yourself killed now?!”
Alex responded with a series of groans.
“You’re lucky you’re wearing all this heavy gear – but don’t think for one second you’re bullet proof”
He nodded his head in agreement, before slowly sitting up.
“Look, you see that group of mercenaries hiding behind those crates? See that box of explosives next to them?”
Alex looked over and nodded.
Eckhart mimicked an explosion with his hands before smiling psychotically.
Alex nodded once again. He didn’t fully understand what he just agreed to, but after getting shot several times, he stopped thinking rationally. He saw his leader stand up in the middle of the fire-fight and open fire on a munitions crate, causing a 10 feet wide explosion and setting half a dozen mercenaries on fire.
XXX
Lying on the tarmac, a battered and bruised Nebojsa looked towards his biological son.
“I’m an old man; you think prison is justice for my actions?”
Bear thought about this for a moment. It’s true, his father was very old and likely would only serve a few years in prison before dying of old age. But, something deep down inside him prevented him from landing a finishing blow.
“You wish to complete your vengeance? Then end me now!”
Bear steeled himself once again from his father’s goading.
Nebojsa scoffed at his son’s silence. “Judge, jury but you stop at executioner? Pathetic just like her”.
Bear’s wall cracked for a few seconds as he tried to control his overflowing rage, allowing his father enough time to flip off the ground and land two powerful feet into his son’s chest.
XXX
Carlos picked off the remaining mercenaries before joining up with the rest of his team
“That’s the last of them” he said
“Good. What about Taggart?”
“Haven’t seen him since the fire fight started. I think he escaped”
“Sweep the area, he might still be around. We’ll gather the munitions.” Eckhart said before passing Carlos his shot gun. “Good hunting!”
XXX
Nebojsa swung widely. Bear dodged with ease – the ‘fearless’ one was slowing down; old age and a visceral fist fight had finally taken their toll on the Serbian war criminal.
“Come now, father, I will show you why they call me Bear!”
Bear caught hold of Nebojsa with both his arms and lifted him high up off the ground, squeezing his body tightly. He would not kill his father, but he would put him through unfathomable pain.
XXX
“That should be all of the-“
Eckhart’s sentence was cut off by the sound of gunfire. He recognised it instantly.
“Shot gun rounds; it’s Carlos!”
He heard another blast and another each one filled with more panic than the last until finally only the deafening sound of silence remained. In the corner of his eye he could see Alex exchanging a glare. He readied his carbine and aimed in the direction of the sound of fire. Strafing left and right, he maintained a close distance between cover, looking for any signs of mercenaries; of Taggart; of Carlos.
Several moments passed and eventually in the corner of his eye he saw a glint of silver armour. He couldn’t react fast enough, but somehow he ended up on the floor, eyes facing the ceiling. His view was quickly disturbed as a blinding ball of fiery heat flew over him.
XXX
Muscles tightened, bones cracked and Nebojsa finally caved in before letting out a blood curdling scream. Bear let go and his father’s body slumped to the floor, writhing in pain.
Bloody, battered and beaten, Bear let out a sigh of relief before promptly hand-cuffing his father, who had now passed out in sheer exhaustion.
“I can never forgive you for what you did. But the fact remains, you are my father by blood and for that and only that, will I let you live.”
He stood up and walked away.
XXX
Eckhart heard a faint voice. He looked in the direction of it and saw Alex staring back at him, his finger on his mouth. Eckhart nodded before slowly getting up.
“He’s got sonar” Alex whispered to him. “And he’s disabled comms too”
Eckhart frowned.
“Look, around the corner!” Alex said.
Readying their weapons, both the two opened fire on the silver armour’s back. The body staggered forwards as bullets smashed into the armour, sparks flying.
They stopped thinking their target would fall. It did not. Turning, the silver armour raised its fire arm, shooting out a blinding ball of intense heat narrowly missing Alex and Eckhart, who had barely managed to roll out of the way.
“What the hell was that!?” Alex said angrily.
“A blinding ball of heat”
“Very funny; I’m talking about that walking tank over there!”
“It’s the Omega Suit. Designed as the next step in Global Warfare -”
“How do we kill it?!” Alex interrupted
“That suit was stolen during development stages – before they could implement the explosive-resistant fibre weave.” Eckhart said before smiling wryly.
“Look for any explosive devi-
“Found one.” Alex pointed towards a crate; he could see a grenade launcher popping out from the top.
Eckhart smiled again. Kid’s finally learning “Get it and blow him sky-high, kid!”
Eckhart stood up to see a worse for wear Bear throw a wooden crate at the Omega suit, splintering on impact. As the suit stumbled, Eckhart fired off the remaining rounds in his clip allowing Bear to gain the upper hand, flooring the Omega suit to the ground.
XXX
His hands firmly on the suit’s head piece, Bear pulled the face mask off with great strength. The Omega suit responded by aiming a swift elbow into Bear’s chest, knocking the air out of his lungs, before lifting him up with ease and tossing him into a nearby freight crate. It stood up right and set its eyes on Eckhart, who had switched weapons to the Dessert Eagle and had taken aim.
The Omega suit rose its left hand across it’s now exposed face, and two rectangular shapes protruded from either side of the gauntlet just in time to block several slugs from Eckhart’s side arm. The bullets panged and ricocheted, and Eckhart was forced to give ground as the Omega suit edged closer and closer. Its right hand clenched, and a sharp three inch blade slowly protruded outwards.
XXX
Quickly running out of options and ammunition, Eckhart slowly gave more ground until he had backed himself into a corner. Finally, he came face to face with Taggart and threw his gun to the floor.
“I’m ready! Are you?!” Eckhart shouted
Taggart replied by raising his bladed right hand and slamming it down towards Eckhart, who dodged it at the last second. The blade pierced into the wall dislodging itself, temporary immobilising Taggart as he struggled to break free.
Eckhart ran as fast as he could before blowing a whistle. He looked over to see Taggart had freed himself only to be hit square in the chest with a grenade. The ensuing explosion knocked him back off his feet.
XXX
Alex hoisted his team leader up off the ground. He could smell a faint rose scent masked in smoke and gun powder.
“How’d I do, boss?”
“You did good, son. You did goo-” Eckhart’s facial expressions changed as he slumped to the floor, blood squirting from his left shoulder.
Before Alex had time to realise what had happened, a bullet tore right through his arm and dropped to the floor. Holding his wound, he looked up to see his assailant. There he was, John Taggart, his high priced suit blackened and charred, his skin burnt and his face a bloody mess, aiming a gun at his head.
He once again closed his eyes and prepared for death. He thought he heard someone shout his name before the familiar and deafening sound of single gun-shot rung in his head.
XXX
Alex awoke and sat up in the back of SWAT van. His right arm ached. He noticed it was in a make shift cast, red splodges of blood had seeped through.
A quick look beyond his feet was Carlos, bloody hands firmly placed on his chest covering a puncture wound.
The van’s doors were open and Alex could see outside. Standing tall as ever was a battered and bruised Bear on the left, rubbing his shoulder and talking to Eckhart.
XXX
“You’ve grown a lot since the boy that I met in Bosnia all those years ago.”
“Killing someone does not make me a man.” Bear replied.
“Maybe. But what about saving the lives of potential millions?”
“Potential?” Bear shrugged his shoulders.
“How about actual; you saved every single one of us”
“Only after I put you all at risk!” Bear exclaimed
“Yet here we all are. Alive and well.”
Bear shrugged his shoulders before taking a deep breath.
“Are you still planning on leaving us then?”
“Let’s just say, there’s life in this old dog yet” Bear said with a smile.
“Glad to hear it! My wound’s playing up on me, better get it checked. Wouldn’t want an infection” he joked before heading towards Carlos.
XXX
“Thank you for saving my life Bear” Alex said as he handed Bear his prayer beads.
“Thank you for reminding me that life is worth saving”
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