“Good, hopefully, Evac any minute. Stay ready,” I tell him.
“Received, standing by, over and out.”
Where else would the two Lynx be, I chastise myself? I just couldn’t help checking that they were standing by. We have got to get out of here as soon as that safe opens.
Another flash of white light fills the office for an instant, and time seems to stand still as we all wait for the inevitable rumble of thunder that will follow, our faces turned up to the hole above and sky beyond in alarm. I am conscious that Sergeant Dixon is the exception. He hasn’t allowed the flash of lightning to break his concentration or distract him from his task, his eyes don’t leave the screen, determined to succeed.
I barely get to the count of one before the thunder hits and it isn’t a rumble; the thunder is an almighty elongated crack as if the sky itself is splitting apart. My lungs hold my breath in as tension and fear of what might follow paralyses my whole body. The thunderclap was so powerful, I know there has to be a reaction from the lurking creatures.
“It’s open.” Somebody says in that moment of paralysis, but I don’t register it properly, my mind fixed on listening to the booming noise and high-pitched screeches rising from the depths of the building and going all the way up to the door above us on the roof.
“Captain Richards, the safe is open!” Corporal Simms shouts in my direction.
I’m immediately pulled back to reality as I register what the Corporal has shouted at me, my wits finally returning, and I look over to the open safe just as another lightning bolt flashes. The intense beam of light catches Sergeant Dixon with his arm in the safe for an instant, like a camera flash catching a criminal in the act and then the beam of light is gone. My eyes struggle to readapt to the low orange light, the photo momentarily burned into my retinas. This time, the thunder almost immediately follows the lightning and the crack is impossibly more powerful and louder than the last, and it feels like the whole building vibrates under its wrath.
Self-preservation kicks in and my years of hard training take over and not a second too soon because the vibrations aren’t coming from the thunder, they are coming from Rabids sent wild by the storm, inside the building.
Dixon is without ceremony emptying the contents of the safe into a holdall. He is grabbing whatever his hand touches first and throwing it into the bag as quickly as he possibly can.
“Stand by for Evac, the safe is open, Buck, make your approach,” I shout into my radio, not worrying about my shout being heard now over the din of Rabids.
“Received,” Buck responds.
A dull thud comes from the roof area above me, instantaneously followed by someone shouting, “BREACH” into their radio. Automatic gunfire rings out above our heads, from small arms, whose noise is then overpowered by the colossal and distinctive sound of Dan’s Browning 50-cal.
The sound causes everyone, even Dixon, to freeze for a second as we realise our worst fears have happened and the Rabids have smashed through the rooftop door. Our mission has just taken a dire turn; the Evac position has been compromised with no viable alternative or fall-back position. The team on the roof is under immediate threat and fighting for their lives with limited ammo. If only that door had held for another few minutes…
Back on the rooftop, sheets of rain pour down onto the rooftop of the Orion building, soaking Dan and his team to their cores. It runs down their faces, into their eyes and over their weapons. Pools of water spread across the expanse of the flat roof, growing constantly as the roof’s drainage system struggles to cope with the sheer amount of rain falling, and the wind is howling around them, threatening to blow them off their feet.
Even with the storm accosting him, Dan can see that the stairwell door across from him is taking a hammering from the Rabid creatures behind it, the door visibly rattling in its frame. It is only a matter of time until the door succumbs to the onslaught and gives way, Dan’s hope of getting off the roof before that disaster happens diminishing by the second; even though everyone is ready to move for Evac, the two Lynx are close, hovering above, poised to descend at a moment’s notice. The only thing holding them up is getting that godforsaken safe open.
Dan had nearly tried to convince Andy to abandon the mission, that the risk was now too high and that they should retreat and regroup when he had radioed him just now for a progress update. Andy had quashed that idea before Dan could even broach it and even though Andy might not be aware fully of their precarious position, Dan had to admit he was right. This mission has to be now, like he said, at all costs, storm or not; they might not get another chance. If they leave and the door is then breached, any team that came back to retrieve the safe would have to fight their way onto the roof and to get into the building, because the Rabids would spread onto the seventh floor through the hole in the roof.
Perhaps the door will hold for another five minutes, Dan thinks to himself, trying to stay positive as he looks around at his drenched team in their positions around the roof. He then glances up to the sky in front of him, stupidly, to double-check that the Lynx is still there. It is, hovering as steadily as it can in the wind and the rain, Alice poised at the hold door ready for action should she be needed.
Dan doesn’t look around to check on the other Lynx which
