Jan 6, 2013

Going In - 24 Flash Fic - All audiences

Here's another one of my flash fics.


Enjoy.




Going in.

The night had been long.
Very long.
Now, the time had finally come to move in.
The warehouse was dark for the largest part except the office on the mezzanine.
People had come and gone all night long but their main target hadn’t shown himself until a short while ago. At that time, the warehouse had been filled with armed men and the risk of barging in had been too high. Now all the guns had left, or at least most of them, and the area had quieted down.
The teams were ready, standing by, waiting for the go.
He checked one last time.
The thermoscan clearly indicated there were only two hostiles on the ground floor and three more upstairs in the office.
The entry points were clear and the teams had been set up effectively. With only five hostiles to deal with, there wasn’t much that could go wrong. But still, there was enough that could go wrong, like with every bust.

“All teams call in.”

“Team alpha, ready and holding.”
“Team beta, ready and holding.”
“Team delta, ready and holding.”
“All teams ready, we are good to go. Move in.”

He moved ahead, leading the four man team to the entry point he had chosen.
It was the closest to the office and they would be the ones who would have to apprehend the main man.
The other teams would deal with the muscle on the ground floor and sweep the area.
Four teams seemed excessive, but they didn’t know it would come down to this, they had been expecting more hostiles to be on site the moment they moved in. He wasn’t going to tell one of them to stand down though, that would be a waste of resources.
And if anything went wrong, it would be held against him.
They reached the entry point and the agent set the charges.

“All teams, status report.”

“Team alpha, charges set and holding.
“Team beta, charges set and holding.”
“Team delta, setting charges.”
“All teams, hold your positions.”
“Team delta, charges set.”

“All teams, on my mark.”
“Three … two … one … mark.”

All four charges set off at the exact same time, blowing doors off their hinges and wall panels out of their places.
The men stormed the building from all sides while gunfire erupted almost instantly.
He was sure nobody knew what they were shooting at right now, they were just shooting to impress.

“Hostile down.” came a voice over the earpiece.

More gunfire erupted as he led his team up the stairs to the office.
One man appeared in the door but he was gunned down before he had a chance to raise his weapon on them.

“Hostile down.”

This was going like clockwork.
He reached the top of the stairs and spotted his target.
The man knew he had no way out but he was determined to sell his hide dearly.
The only other person in the room was a woman.
She looked shocked and scared senseless, abandoned by the man who took care of himself now.

“Hostile down.” another voice came over his earpiece, “All clear.”

“Becket, you have nowhere to go.” he called, flattening himself against the wall next to the window.
“Give it up.”

“Fuck you.” Becket called back, emphasizing his words with a bullet slamming into the window frame.

“Don’t make us shoot you.” he called again, going low and moving under the window with one man behind him, the others held their position at the top of the stairs.

He looked inside and saw the woman now huddled in the far corner, her arms clasped around her head.
He didn’t know if he heard her scream or not.
It meant she was out of immediate danger and he decided to bust through the door.
If Becket was thinking about resisting arrest longer, he might be persuaded by the two of them.
He signaled to the man on his tail who nodded his confirmation, the grip on his assault rifle tightening somewhat.
He took a step back and kicked the door inward, sending it crashing against the wall.
Becket wasn’t intent on giving up though and he stepped into view, bringing his gun up.
“Drop it!” he called.
Becket leveled the gun and he saw the man’s finger tightening on the trigger.
His reactions were faster, squeezing the trigger on his own gun in a reflex.
Becket was hit high in the chest and flung back, his gun thrown off target.
A second bullet threw him all the way down.
This time, he did hear the woman scream.
Becket crashed to the floor and he moved in, kicked the gun out of the man’s hand and quickly got handcuffs on him before calling for a medic.

A loud whistle sounded suddenly and all the lights came on.
The agent beside him helped Becket to his feet and unlocked the handcuffs.

“I’d say that’s a winner.” Becket said, holding out his hand.
He took it and shook it, feeling the immense power the man possessed.
“I’m looking forward to working with you.”

“Thank you sir.”
“Please, don’t sir me, it gives me the creeps, it’s Jack.”

“Thank you Jack.”

“Welcome aboard.” Jack said, giving the young man’s hand one last squeeze before letting go.
“Let’s clean up and go home.”

They left the warehouse, the final step in the recruiting procedures for CTU.
Jack knew the young man had potential and he was glad he proved him right all along.
He went to his car and retrieved a shiny leather pouch from his glove compartment, turned and tossed it to him.
“Like I said, welcome aboard, agent Almeida.”

“Thanks.” Tony replied, a big grin on his face now that he finally had his badge in hand.
It stayed there for a while.
He had just made it onto one of the toughest teams out there.

Jack Bauer’s team.

The End.

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