E-13 Excerpt

Agent James Harrison tapped his desk again with his foot to keep the chair spinning. It was barely noon now and he had finished his paperwork from the last case hours ago. He had joined the FBI in hopes of an exciting adventure somewhere. Something filled with suspense and shoot outs. So far it was just following up on a few drug busts and filling out paper work after paper work. He couldn’t deny the fact that the FBI was quite a stressful job. Here you had to be on your smarts 24/7, coffee breaks didn’t even exist.
“Special Agent Harrison?” A woman asked from the doorway. James snapped himself out the day dream and stuck out a foot against the desk to keep the chair from spinning.
“Yes?” He answered. He had only been Special Agent at the FBI Headquarters in Milwaukee, WI. For three weeks now, and was not quite used to the title.
“There’s a Brett Davidson on the phone from S.W.A.T, he claims it’s urgent.” She said pointing to the flashing light next to the phone on Agent Harrison’s desk.
“Thank you Alice, I’ll take it from here.” He replied. He was hoping his day was about to get a little more exciting, his wish came all to true.
“Special Agent James Harrison, FBI Milwaukee, how can I-”
“Listen to me!” The voice on the other line shouted cutting off Agent Harrison’s welcome. “We got shots fired at Adam’s High! We’re got around fifty causalities already and we’re still sweeping the building. I need you down here NOW!”
“Adam’s High you said?” Agent Harrison asked, his mouth still stuck in a perfect O.
“Yea, Adam’s High, just west of Brookfield! Why?”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can, in the mean time, search for a kid named Frank Spango, he’s a Jr. there, about 17, understood?”
“Yes sir, Davidson Out.” The man said followed by a faint click. Agent Harrison slowly put the phone back on the receiver and store at the wall in front of him. His mind was blank for a few seconds, puzzled at what to do.
“ALICE!” He cried out. The women came running back to the door as her silky brown hair followed.
“Yes sir?”
“Get Alpha Squad and a chopper pilot up to the roof as quick as possible.”
“On it!” She replied without hesitation. That was the thing Agent Harrison liked about her, she didn’t ask questions, she simply took orders and did as told. He turned around and quickly threw on his silk black jacket over his white dress shirt. He straighten out his tie and pulled his pistol out of the left drawer of the desk. You never know what a high school shooting could lead too. He tucked it tightly in the black leather holster attached to his belt and headed out the door.
“Special Agent Harrison, we have a situation.” A young man dressed in full SWAT uniform said as he walked with Agent Harrison to the elevator.
“Yes I already know, the crisis at Adam’s High, I’m headed there now, don’t worry.” Harrison bolted back as he clicked the up button near the thick sliding doors.
“It’s not that sir, it’s the chopper pilot, he’s on vacation.” The man said slowly. Agent Harrison stopped clicking the button and turned around to face officer Greg Bowers head on.
“Excuse me?”
“He’s on leave of absence sir, just left yesterday, taking a cruise in the gulf I believe.”  Bowers said with a sigh. Agent Harrison blew air out of his lips in a childish manner and turned around as the elevator doors slid open.
“Give me the keys.”
“Excuse me?” Bowers asked, his expression as surprised as could be.
“I said gimmie the damn keys Bowers!” Agent Harrison yelled as he held out a open hand. Bowers carefully pulled out a set of keys from his front pocket and placed it in Agent Harrison’s open palm.
“Do you even know how to work it?” Bowers asked as Agent Harrison stepped into the elevator and clicked on the roof button.
“Eh, I’m a fast learner.” Agent Harrison said with a grin. The elevator doors closed. They opened again not more then 30 seconds later revealing the bright sunlight of the roof. Agent Harrison reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and rested them upon his nose.
“Special Agent Harrison, Alpha Squad is all packed and ready to go in the chopper sir, we can’t find the pilot anywhere though.” Officer Steven Jacobs said as he singled to the hawk black helicopter full of men on his left.
“You’re lookin at him.” Agent Harrison said with a smile. He drew his hand up in which he a small set of keys rested around his middle finger.
“You’re the pilot sir? With all respect sir, have you ever flew before?” Jacobs said.
“Before I was the special agent of this faculty officer I was a field agent for 7 years. During that seven I’ve learned more than most men do in a lifetime of being one. Trust me, I think I know how to fly a damn bird.” Agent Harrison said as he started walking to the chopper. He swung open the door to the helicopter and jumped into its stiff leather seat. The engine roared to life as the blades above rotated at an outstanding speed. Agent Harrison placed a headset over his head and positioned it over his ear. He slowly pulled back on the main joystick and it the helicopter lifted into the air.
It was short trip, only about 10 minutes till they had visual on the school grounds. It was easy to spot considering they were hundreds of police cars and media vans with reporters surrounding the area. All this, yet no place land.
“Going off com. Channel.” Agent Harrison said into the headset as he unplugged it from the helicopters port. He then plugged it into his phone and quickly dialed the number of officer Brett Davidson.
“Davidson here.”
“Davidson,” Agent Harrison blurted out. “What’s your status on the school?”
“I sent a team in about 5 minutes ago, they claimed they’ve been locked outta the science and mathematics wing where our shooter is.”
“Tell them that reinforcements are on the way.” Agent Harrison said as he gently started to lower the helicopter. Every member of the 5 person team sitting in the helicopter behind him looked at him as he began to lower them into a field of civilians.
“Jesus Harrison! Where in the hell do you plan on landing that thing?”
“We’ll hit the roof, hard too. From there my team and I will break into the wing through the 2nd court yard. We’ll open the doors and scan the area, hopefully nail the bastard. In the meantime I want you to look in the crowd for a man named Dr. Spango. Tell him Agent James Harrison wants him. Got it?”
“Got it, Davidson out.” The voice said followed by a click. Agent Harrison plugged his headset back in the helicopter.
“Listen up Alpha, we’re hitting ground and we’re hitting it fast.” Agent Harrison said through the headset as 5 heads acknowledged with nods from the head. “As soon as we land, we repelling through the courtyard windows there.”
“How deep’s the drop?” Jacobs asked as he started pulling out some rope.
“It could break your legs but we got enough rope to climb five times this.” He said as he titled the helicopter left and lowered it more onto the roof below.
“Be quick, silent, and stealthy. Basically do what you were trained to do. We don’t know how many shooters or if they have any hostages.”
“Sir.” Jacobs asked as he started to load up a silver pistol. “Do we have permission to take target out on contact?”  The helicopter swayed in a bit closer to the roof as leafs flew out from underneath them due to the immense amount of force the blades were creating. Agent Harrison hesitated for a moment at the question. He was the Agent in charge of the operation. Now that the FBI was here at a police scene, he was in charge of the entire thing. Wither or not they were allowed to shoot to kill was all on his shoulders. He had no idea who had the gun in there, or what their demands were either. His phone suddenly started to vibrate deep in his company issued pants. He switched over to the phone’s channel.
“Talk to me Davidson.” Agent Harrison said.
“Frank Spango, the kid you were asking for?”
“Yea, where is he?”
“Well he sure ain’t the hell here. I got a couple kids that claimed they saw him being held at gunpoint along with his girlfriend.”
“Son of a bitch.” Agent Harrison muttered. “Any ID on the attackers?”
“None sir.”
“Alright, we’re landing now, I’ll radio in if we find something. Harrison out.” Agent Harrison threw the joystick of the helicopter forward letting it come to an agitated landing.
“As soon as you get a visual on the bastards, you shoot to kill, understood?” Agent Harrison said as he loaded up his pistol. “Roberts, stay with the chopper, keep the engine running. If someone gets hit, I want air E-vac stat copy?”
“Copy Sir.” Roberts said as he sat back and watched the other members of his team clear the chopper’s hull. Agent Harrison kicked open the pilot’s door and pushed himself out of the large transport. No one could hear one another over the roaring blades above them as the incredible force of wind brushed their hair wildly around their faces. Agent Harrison motioned for his team to keep moving to a large court yard in the center of the school. Bowers was already at work setting the repel ropes up on a nearby chimney. He quickly strapped a few metal contraptions to it and repelled down the wall of the courtyard. Agent Harrison was not suited for a repel situation however, he was wearing his company issued tuxedo, standard issue uniform.
“Sir! Grab on my back! I’ll take ya down!” Bowers shouted as the rest of the team was already securing the courtyard.
“No thanks, I’ll improvise.” Agent Harrison said calmly through the barely auditable wind from the helicopter. As much as he wanted to take the free ride down on Bower’s back, he wouldn’t. He wasn’t in proper dress, his fault, not theirs. Attaching onto Bowers and repelling down would stall them a good five minutes. A five minutes they didn’t have. There was a tree in the courtyard, it soared well above the roof, it’s limbs just under three feet from the edge.
“He’s crazy.” Officer Bowers muttered as he watched Agent Harrison from the ground. Agent Harrison tucked the gun deep into his holster and toke a deep breath. He ran forward and propelled himself off the edge of the cold brick roof and grasped the branch of the tree with a single hand. He swung back and forth for a second or two, then released, bounced off the side of the school all, and rolled onto the courtyard dirt. He brushed himself off as he tried to regain his strength.
“Bravo Squad, take point with me, Alpha stay close behind, watch our six.” Agent Harrison said as he stumbled to his regular stance.
“Sir, are you O.K? That was quite a nasty fall.”
“Shut up Bowers, the mission is those kids, not me.” Agent Harrison scolded as he picked up a fist size rock on the ground. The deep roar of the helicopter blades was faded now, and all that could be heard was the faint beeping of the team member’s walkie talkies. Agent Harrison tossed the rock once in the air once, and then threw it with all his might at the large glass window in front of them. It shattered instantly, the small shards of glass flying in every direction like small knives.
“Well, I found the door.” Agent Harrison said with a smile. The team quickly moved through the broken window as their boots crushed the pieces of glass beneath leaving a small ‘crunch’. He pointed down the east corridor as half of the team spilt up and went their separate ways. Agent Harrison led his half of the team down the west corridor. He stopped and pointed to the edge of the corner, signaling for Officer Bowers to get stand there and clear out the next hallway. Agent Harrison back up against the wall with the rest of the team as Bowers swiftly peered out into the next hallway. He turned back to Agent Harrison and held two fingers up to his throat, as if trying to choke himself, the signal for hostage. Agent Harrison quickly give him the O.K. signal and held his hand up in gun shape high into the air, the signal for rifle’s ready. Whoever had that hostage was about to get a very nasty detour in their plan. Bowers peered out again and turned back to Agent Harrison. He bent his arm at the elbow and held up the gun shaped hand signal again, the enemy was armed with pistols. Agent Harrison confirmed and silently cocked his pistol.
“On my mark.” Agent Harrison whispered as he pointed his pistol to the ceiling and held it close to his chest. “Mark!” Agent Harrison shouted. Bowers launched off the corner and leveled his M4 Carbine to face the threat before him.
“FBI ON YOUR KNEES!” He shouted. Agent Harrison quickly followed him as they rushed down the hallway after the enemy.
“I’ll break left, you cover me.” Agent Harrison said as he let his gun fall to his waist and gain speed.
“You’re crazy.” Bowers yelled as he raced down the hallway behind Harrison. He was too late though, Agent Harrison had already sped around the corner and was now firing shots into the hallway. Screams from students trapped inside their classrooms seemed to echo throughout the entire school. Bowers threw his foot out in front of him and turned around to face his rapidly approaching team mates.
“Brown, contact Alpha squad! I want you two to start getting those kids outta here!” He yelled as he quickly jumped back into action chasing Agent Harrison around the corner. Yes, his duty was to catch the enemy. But they already had at least one hostage, and he wasn’t going to start risking more innocent lives. Civilians needed to be evacuated, immediately.
Agent Harrison was now well ahead of him, almost already beyond the second corner. Bowers pushed himself forward, his heartbeat raising with every second more he ran. Agent Harrison turned the corner and jumped back within seconds, barely avoiding a few pistol shots that could have killed him. Harrison threw himself against the edge of the wall and raised his pistol to the air again holding it tightly against his chest. He turned to look at Bowers racing down the hallway.
“YOUR MARK!” He shouted over the clip unloading at him just to his right. Bowers nodded in approval and picked up speed. Seconds before he reached the corner, he stretched his boot out in front of him and slid across the floor letting his boots thud against the wall in front of him. He let out fire.
“MARK!” He yelled. Agent Harrison, who did not have nearly as much armor that Officer Bowers had on, jumped into the rain of bullets flying at him and began retaliating with suppressive fire. He caught a minor glimpse of his attacker. She had short, punk rock blonde hair that seemed to be the fashion for some kids these days. She had hoop earrings, just large enough to be seen through her hair. She was wearing what seemed to be a white blouse with blue jeans, but it was all such a blur that Agent Harrison couldn’t be sure. The girl turned around the next corner and Agent Harrison sprinted after her. Bowers was now at the same pace as him, his gun resting against his shoulder with the muzzle pointing down. Agent Harrison threw his back against the wall near the corner and peered around, his gun leveled and ready to fire. She was gone.
“What the hell?” Bowers asked as he lowered his gun.
“Don’t let your guard down!” Agent Harrison barked. “She’s in one of these rooms, start looking.”
“Yes sir!” Bowers responded. He put his gun back into firing position and slowly crept down the hallway.
“Take the left side, I’ll take right.” Agent Harrison said as he wrapped his hand around the door knob of the first door. He turned it slowly, the muzzle of his gun pointing directly in. A burst of screams responded to him. He pushed open the door further and his eyes met only those of 20 or less students staring back at them.
“Relax, I’m a cop.” He said as he lowered his weapon. “Did anyone come in here in the last 30 seconds?”  He asked. Several shaking of heads replied to him as he herd another batch of screams from across the hall, Bowers must have had the same situation. Agent Harrison left the room and headed to the next. The same scenario awaited him, a bunch of freaked out kids that hadn’t seen the mysterious girl with the gun.
“Sir, your gonna want to see this…” Bowers voice said over the static of the walkie talkie. Agent Harrison left the room and headed down the hall to the room Bowers was in.
“What is it Bowers?” He asked, but the answer came to him almost before he said it. In the middle of the room was a large man hole that seemed to go into a dark abyss of nothing.
“A possible escape route sir?” Bowers asked. Agent Harrison gave a sly chuckle, his facial expression still keeping the same stunned face.
“No shit…”
All five members of Alpha squad now stood around the strange manhole. Their response was quicker then he had expected, they had only been radioed in minutes before.
“Listen up, we don’t know where the hell this thing leads so I want everyone on full alert. We could be facing some sort of strange, underground base of theirs, in which case they would have the advantage being that they know the layout. Whatever happens, I want everyone on full alert, understood?” Agent Harrison said as he loaded up his gun. Nods of heads responded to him as he scanned his teammates.
“Bowers, take point.” He ordered as Bowers jumped into the manhole. “Flashlights on, when I give the command for stealth mode shut them off.”
“Yes sir.” The team responded. Agent Harrison lowered himself into the manhole after Bowers and clicked on his flashlight. The tunnel was dark and damp, the entire surface was concrete from the walls that echoed with their footsteps, to the cold ground beneath them. They walked carefully for about 20 minutes when they reached another ladder that led upwards.
“I’ll take lead, you boys follow me.” Agent Harrison said as he tucked his pistol into the holster on his belt. Agent Harrison took a hold of on the ladder’s rungs and shot back up.
“What is it sir?” Bowers asked.
“It’s…Blood.” Agent Harrison responded as he stared at his blood drenched hand. He got back on the ladder and climbed upwards and opened up the man hole cover above him. Bright sunlight bit his eyes as a steady spring breeze flowed through his hair. Birds chirping, children playing, laughter of all sort, he was in the local park. Tire marks had been printed in the grass, right up until they hit the road about 100 feet away. Agent Harrison climbed out of the tunnel and sat on the grass by the exit. Bowers came up next and figured out the situation faster than Agent Harrison had.
“So what happens now?” He asked. Agent Harrison stood up and let his gaze wonder into the surrounding woods.
“Call HQ, they’re gonna wanna know how a 17 year old girl just kidnapped two kids of the same age. Tell them to run op 100.” Agent Harrison said.
“Sir, op 100 closes off almost every way in and out of the state.”
“Bowers, I don’t quite think you know what kinds of shit were in. Run the damn code”
“Yessir!” Bowers snapped back. He clicked on the radio that was attached to his belt. “Agent Bowers here, direct order from FBI Agent James Harrison to execute code op 100, over”
“Copy Bowers this is command center, are you sure you wanna go through with this order?” The voice crackled in response. Bowers looked up to Agent Harrison who was starring down the road where the kidnappers had escaped.
“Sir, they’re wondering if you’re sure.” Bowers asked. Agent Harrison snatched the walkie-talkie out of Bower’s hand and held it to the side of his cheek.
“This is Harrison, go.”
“Roger Agent Harrison this is command center, we’re asking for a conformation on that op 100 order. Sir with all due respect, you’re going out on a huge risk. You sure you wanna do this?” The command operator asked. Agent Harrison’s grip tightened on the talkie, sweat dripping from his brow. He pressed down the ‘Talk’ button on the radio, waiting a few seconds. Bowers couldn’t tell if he was adding to the suspense, or hesitating.
“Damn sure.”