APPROXIMATELY THREE HOURS LATER. “What?!?! Are you sure?!” Mason shouted into his phone. General Thomson repeating the words with dramatic monosyllabic emphasis, “Two… Dead…”
As the words hit Mason like a ton of bricks, it seemed that the praise his team had been given just a few hours ago had been completely negated. Now instead of being heroes they were the jerks that bungled up a mission so bad that two lives were lost in the process. How did things go so horribly wrong?
Mason was so frustrated that he barely even registered anything else Thomson was telling him. His mind was still on the body count, when he suddenly realized Thomson was ending the call, “Alright Mason—I’ve got to go. Report back to tomorrow.”
Mason muttered, “Yes sir.” And hung up the phone.
Mason stared off in space in silence for a moment before Raina questioned him, “Mason? What’s going on?”
Mason sighed, “Although we stopped the bomb… enough of the agent was released to kill two people.”
Mason then looked up at Raina and solemnly added, “We failed.”
Kyle poking his head up from his laptop, swiveled around in the office chair he was sitting in and looking toward Mason muttered, “So much for being the A-team…”
Raina was horrified at the news but she was quick to rationalize, “That’s terrible—but we didn’t fail. Even if two people died, think of the hundreds more we saved.”
Mason shook his head, “It doesn’t matter, no one should have died. I had the power in my hands to stop the whole plot in its tracks and I screwed up.”
Mason then added, “Even worse, the creeps behind this attack are still on the loose…”
Prompting Kyle to inquire, “You are sure they were there in the first place?”
Benton looked down at the ground as he remarked, “Yeah they were there—I had one of the guys in my sights myself. Threw a stun grenade at his ass, but that’s all I could do. From my vantage point in the crowd I couldn’t get anywhere near him.”
Mathew Benton knew that it was hard to gain much traction at all in the chaotic crowd of the Little Italy Festival, but he still couldn’t help but feel like he had failed. Never before had his targets so easily slipped out of his grasp.
Feeling the need to vindicate himself Benton spoke up, “Mason’s right—unless we take down this terror cell, the attacks are just going to keep coming. We have to get them in order to get to the bottom of this.”
Raina looked to Benton and asked, “You’re not suggesting…?”
Mason stood up, knowing that the only thing that would shake him out of his funk would be all-out action, telling them, “I know what I’m suggesting… I’m going to go in there and tear that place apart with my bare hands.”
Raina knew of course that Mason was referring to the abandoned church the terrorists had camped out in and the thought of Mason bulldozing his way in there and possibly getting taken prisoner again—as had happened in the recent past, the thought of which made her sick to her stomach.
And she told him as much, “Mason—don’t even think about going in there on your own. You need some backup.”
Mason then joked, “Backup? You mean like the SWAT team?”
It was then Marshal Oliver that offered, “You know—that wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
Benton turned to Oliver and asked, “Just what do you have in mind?”
Marshal walked over to the table and sat down by Benton as he suggested, “Well it just so happens that I know some guys that work SWAT in NYC.”
Mason raised an eyebrow, “Do you think you can hook us up?”
Marshal lowered his gaze, “Well, considering the fact that two people are dead, due to compounds suspected of being manufactured by these perps, I think we have more than enough reason on our side…”
Marshal then abruptly got up and started to walk out of the room as he announced, “Alright folks… I’ll make some calls…”
JUST AFTER 3 AM, OUTSIDE SAINT MARK’S CHURCH. Mason, Chris and Benton are crammed in the back of a Fed EX Truck turned SWAT surveillance vehicle. Joining them are a group of six SWAT officers led by Captain Delgado of the NYPD. Mason is busy filling Captain Delgado in on a few last-minute details.
He tells him, “There is a secret side entrance built into the church, and it will be the suspects most likely point of exit if things get hairy, so I suggest posting a few men by that exit while the rest of us pour in through the front of the building.”
Captain Delgado questioned, “Right through the front of the church?”
Mason confirmed, “Yeah.”
Delgado thought about it a moment before remarking, “Look—I know it’s 3 in the morning right now, but is there any chance any civilians might be inside for—I don’t know—maybe a late-night prayer?”
Mason laughed, “No—not in this place. Not a chance.”
Mason then added, “In fact, when you first step into the foyer, you will probably think that the whole building is abandoned—but it is not.”
Captain Delgado answered, “I see.”
He then turned to his men and asked, “Alright guys, are you ready?”
To which all of them replied to the man, “Yes sir.”
Delgado then instructed them to split up, with three taking the exit door as Mason suggested, and the other three storming into the front of the building with Mason, Benton, Chris, and Captain Delgado himself. Once this was established, Delgado looked at Mason and informed him, “I’m ready whenever you are.”
It was Benton who then spoke up, checking with Chris Bradley, “Hey—you got your smoke bombs and stun grenades?”
Chris then opened the light jacket he was wearing and revealed four rows of smoke bombs
