Prolouge

 

   

 

“Your 2 o’clock is here, Mr. Bradshaw,” a woman said on the intercom.

“I’ll be right out,” Raymond exclaimed. 

In haste, he stood and grabbed the blazer behind his chair, fixated, his eyes remained locked on the computer screen. After taking a deep breath, he adjusted himself and logged off, with the tablet in tow as he made his way out of the office. 

There stood John Quinn, waiting for him by Havana’s desk. Still, with his tablet in hand, Raymond passed it to her to log in.

“Thanks, Havana,” and without skipping a beat, he continued to read from the tablet.

“Did you finish reading it?” 

“No. Let’s take a walk.”

“Are they still being processed by security?”

“Yeah, it takes time,” Raymond said, eyes still glued to the screen.

“I’ve got the room set up,” John pointed out. 

     They stood in front of an interrogation room. Raymond, still preoccupied with his tablet, scoffed, then continued walking.

“Wrong room?” John asked, striding quickly to catch up to Raymond.

From his tablet, Raymond accessed an intercom interface, “Townley, bring them to B-10.”

      “Max Sec?”      

 

        “You’re damn right,” Raymond responded affirmatively. “You may trust these guys John, but I don’t. Hell, I check the toilet paper after I wipe my own ass, I don’t trust shit.”

 “You don’t trust my judgment?”

Raymond glanced at John, “I’m not a fan of ...unorthodox methods.”

John and Raymond made their way through the first security checkpoint to B-10, presented I.D. cards to be scanned.

“I can’t see it. What do you see in these people? Am I missing something here, Captain?”

“Where should I start?” John asked, cracking a smile.

Suddenly, an ear-piercing alarm sounded off, accompanied by vibrant red lights in the hallway. Without hesitation, Raymond dropped his tablet, and reached for his custom .44 magnum, pulling the hammer back. John followed suit gripping his HK45 and posted next to the door with Raymond as cover. They exchanged a nod, and without a second's warning, the door snapped open and the shadow of a flood of thumping boots passed them.

“Where’s the threat?” Raymond asked one of the guards. 

“Sir, we have a problem down in the hangar. The guests are hostile.”

“Shit,” John muttered. 

“Ain’t that a surprise” Raymond blurted out. 

John felt the seriousness of his sarcasm and a knot in his stomach as he started to run down towards security. Raymond ran alongside him followed by two other guards tailing them. 

 

       Adam’s knuckles were bruised, his shoulders felt like they were being weighed down by cinder blocks. His jaw was thumping with pain. He swallowed his spit, which had a salty metallic taste to it. He panted like a dog in the middle of summer. The soreness of his ribs made it a little hard for him to breathe, but he didn't care, his adrenaline was kicking. He felt the sweat trickle into one of his eyes but he remained firm in a professional boxer's stance. He took a step back and felt the presence of the others that he came in with. He was relieved that he was the only one not handcuffed. 

        Twelve guards circled the four of them and they could hear more  coming. There were two in front of Adam. One was at least six foot five with mahogany skin and looked like professional bodybuilders and the smaller one was about Adam's height but was built like a tank. The bigger one charged at him with a baton and swung it over hand towards him. Adam swayed, felt the gush of wind swoop by his shoulder. He stepped back to regain his composure bumping into some guy he did not know.

 

Nicholas, who was standing directly behind Adam felt the push from the back. He used that momentum to grab the forearm of a guard who had missed and with ease threw him into four other guards that were charging at him. As they tumbled to the ground, Nicholas took a deep breath and examined the situation. He was angry and frustrated, but not like before. These men didn’t understand the amount of self-control it took to keep him from ripping them open.

‘But Why  do that?’ he thought.

They haven't done any harm to him like others. They were just following orders and his co-detainees were giving them more than they asked for.  

No more killing, he promised. He was tired of red streams filling his shower drain. He needed answers and he wanted them now. 

Nicholas relaxed his pose, as the men looked like raging bulls. If they swung, Nicholas would evade with ease trying his best to not cause serious harm. From the corner of his eye, he could see a man moving stealthily to his blind spot, while the other guards in front of him were shouting at him to grab his attention. The obvious thing to do was not give his back to the enemy, but he didn't want to break the formation betraying his bound companions. Nicholas wasn't used to working with unknown parties especially when the other two on his right was eager to jump at the first sign of trouble.

The stealthy soldier crept out of view, but Nicholas heard footsteps moving at a rapid pace. He swiftly spun around like a running back avoiding a tackle. The man fell face down, then quickly got up, and rushed to him with blinding rage. Nicholas dodged three haymakers, but was grabbed by the shoulder. Nicholas swiped it away quickly, then gave him a blow to the stomach. The sneaky soldier leaned his body forward clutching his abdomen with his head exposed for a strike. Without warning, Nicholas saw the other guards rushed at him creating an opening for two familiar figures to run past him.

 

 Instinctively, Jack and James made a run for one of the Armored Personnel Carriers. James jumped on Jack’s back and climbed the vehicle, then opened the latch to the driver seat. 

Jack about-face into his silat stance, his legs stretched out and his hands relaxed. He took a deep breath and waited. Two guards rushed at him. The one to the right was an older fellow with a salt peppered beard, while the younger one had an unseasoned face shown by his skin care.  He ducked in between and continued charging at a trailing female guard and kicked her in the stomach. Jack saw a figure come from his right and drove his elbow into his face. Before he could see it, a fist met Jack’s left cheekbone, which caused him to stumble and lose focus. As Jack regained focus he saw the behemoth of a man that danced with Adam.  The guard raised his massive arm into the air and brought it down with a tremendous force, but Jack deviated the attack with his left arm leaving it bruised. Jack pushed back, wrapped his right hand behind the guard's neck, pulled his face down and shoved his knee into the guard’s chest twice. He raised both of his arms then drove his elbows into the guard’s back. The guard quickly recovered and wrapped his arms around Jack’s legs and pummeled  him to the ground. 

The guard who took an elbow in the face was enraged, charged at Jack cocking his right foot back with his left foot well planted and aimed to kick Jack’s face in. Jack’s cufflinks wrapped around his ankle then yanked him towards the other guard that was holding him. The guard’s grip around Jack’s leg loosen and he shimmies from under them and served them a kick goodnight. The female guard pulled out her gun from its holster, got into a classic shooter's stance and steadied her aim. Nicholas grabbed the gun switching the safety on and ejecting the magazine out smoothly. She swung around, but Nicholas swiped her hands down, then threw his shoulder into the stomach and tossed her. 

    Adam threw his fist into the small guard's face. He stumbled backward, and Adam followed up with a three-hit combo to the body then finished with a haymaker to the face. He felt a jolt in his back then his legs went weak, then fell on the ground. 

    “Hold your fire!” Raymond shouted from the end of the corridor. 

    “Stand down! Stand down!” John waved his hand signaling them to stop.

The alarm shut off but the fighting still continued for a few seconds then came to a halt. The guards remained in a cautious state with their firearms pointed at the guests.   

    “Where’s the other one?” John asked. The guards glanced at each other with puzzled looks. 

    “He’s long gone now” Jackson breathed heavily. John pressed his lips, his blood started to boil. “Lockdown the perimeter. Keller, Jefferson with me-”

“That won’t be necessary, Captain,” Raymond said. 

John cocked an eyebrow “Why not?”

“He’s still here.” 

“You sure sir?” John questioned

Raymond nodded, “I can smell the bullshit off of this one.”

Nicholas stepped forward “I know where he is.” 

“Do you now?” Raymond asked. 

“Yup,” Nicholas shot back.  “He’s in an APC near the freight elevator.” 

Raymond and John exchanged looks. Then John walked up to Nicholas “Nick, are you sure?” 

“I can show you.”

Nicholas turned around and walked past the guards, who had their guns pointed at him. He was not fazed at all. John caught up to Nicholas, grabbed him by the arm stopping him. 

“Just point to the one he's in. I got it.” 

    Nicholas raised his hands pointed towards one of the APC’s that were lined up together. John signaled Keller and Jefferson to the APC. A few moments later they pulled out James. 

    “Look, Nick, I know you could’ve stayed silent and let us go on a wild chase looking for him,” John admitted. “Why’d you-”

    “I want to see what you guys have to offer,” Nicholas interrupted. “I didn’t come to waste time.” 

John grinned a bit. “I appreciate it.” Nicholas’s face remained emotionless as he walked back towards the others. 

    “What are we doing here?” Adam asked Raymond as he stumbled back onto his feet. 

    “This is a matter of national security. Your friend John over there believes that you guys have the talent and the skills to help us protect this country from an imminent threat.”

    “I’m sure you guys could find better soldier’s or people to fight your battles.” Adam retorted 

“I’ll explain that in a bit.”

“I’m tired of waiting for answers!” Adam angrily responded. 

Nicholas stepped next to Jack with his face still emotionless. That's when he heard it but didn’t know which direction it was coming from at first. His eyes scanned the room. Then he heard it again, the sound of liquid dropping. He knew a facility with security like this wouldn’t have water leaking. Nicholas took a deep breath and that’s when he smelt it, iron. No, this isn’t metal, it's blood. He looked around at the soldiers, none of them were bleeding then he looked at the face of the others. None of them had cuts. Where was it coming from? He heard the drop again. He looked down and saw the small droplets of blood on the ground next to his foot. Then he realized where the smell came from. 

Jack tried to keep his cool but he was impatient. The makeshift blade he snuck into his jumpsuit pierced his skin, waiting for his chance. John grabbed James by the back of his collar and threw him to the ground. Jack’s nostrils flared and his face reddened, he couldn’t hold his rage anymore.

“I know what you’re all thinking, and the answer is simple. You are here to protect this country against your will so real people can have real freedom. You all have a special skill set that Captain Quinn thinks is essential to stopping this threat. You all have dealt with this threat in one form or another unknown to you. They live among us, breathe our air, they are your neighbors, your blood brothers, hell they could be your mother. We need your knowledge and expertise to expose what they have been hiding behind closed doors.” Raymond explained. 

“What branch of the Feds are you?” Adams asked. 

“I can’t tell” Nicholas answered “I don’t see any insignia, no ranking emblem. He must be- ”

“-Black Ops” Adam finished.  

“Take them away,” Raymond ordered.

 The guards picked James up and dragged him away. 

“KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF ME!” James barked “YOU SONS OF BITCHES!!”  

    John turned his back away from them, in a slight moment Jack slid the blade down. Now was his chance. Jack charged towards the female guard who stood between him and John. Still recovering from the fight her reflexes were slow, the expression of fear on her face revert her into a new recruit with zero training. 

“BLADE!!” Nicholas roared but it was too late, Jack was already in motion. 

“NO! JACK!” James yelled.

“ASSHOLES!” Jack dashed at John. Raymond swiftly removed his custom .44  magnum from its holster and pulled the hammer back. The bullet whizzed over her shoulder and warmed the hairs on side of her neck.

Blood splattered diagonally across the metallic floor and in her eyes blinding her for a moment, till she heard the thump of a body dropping. 

“Welcome to OMEGA.”