Chapter 33 #2
Zenko nodded at Shaun. Good thinking, babe. They could use those bicycle locks to secure doorways if they needed to lock civilians somewhere secure and keep anyone else from getting in.
“We’re cleared for the gun store.” Shaun lowered the phone enough to pass on the dispatcher’s answer.
“Okay, boss, we’re moving.”
Zenko wished like hell he had a comms unit. Relaying intel over a cell phone was already a pain in the ass, and once they reached the shooter’s location, both he and Shaun were going to need their hands free.
The sporadic single shots followed by bursts of gunfire worried the hell out of him.
It was never easy seeing the results of a gunshot wound to a child.
He’d long ago resigned himself to seeing shit like that in any one of the Shithole-istans, but here, in the USA, it was something he never wanted to see.
As for the requirement and orders to keep a low profile, he and Shaun had thrown those out the fucking window the second their bodies hit the floor after the first round of gunfire.
Thank fuck for a boss like Noble, who puts the lives of innocents above direct orders from the Department of Defense.
“Watch your sixes.”
“Roger that.”
“You’re military?” The 911 operator’s question carried clearly enough from Shaun’s phone for Zenko to hear it.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, that’s classified.” Shaun scanned the store. The checkouts were empty, and the screams and frightened cries that had followed the first shots had gone quiet. “We’d be grateful if you can keep the media out of our orbit, though.”
“I’ll do my best.” The dispatcher immediately placed another call, her voice still carrying through Shaun’s phone. “I don’t care, Mary, you keep your people back. These two may be the only chance our kids have.”
Okay then. Mary is obviously at the local newspaper office.
“Thanks.”
“I’ve radioed the police chief. They’re ten minutes out.”
“Roger that.” Shaun looked across at Zenko and mouthed, “Ready?”
“Copy.” Zenko took the bicycle locks the young mother brought back and stuffed them into a sack he pulled from the end of the veg stand. “Thank you.”
“Be safe.”
Another shot rang out across the street, and the woman flinched, but Zenko had to admit she’d pulled herself together pretty damn fast for a civilian.
“Ma’am, I know your other kid is in the school, but we don’t have confirmation that the shots are coming from there yet.
” Zenko kept his attention on her. “You have to stay here. If you come over there, you may get in the way, and I don’t want to shoot you by accident.
” His words brought a fresh round of tears spilling down her face.
She tugged her son into her arms and squeezed him tight enough to make him squeal.
He checked his watch. Less than five minutes had passed since the first shots, but damn, it felt like it had been an hour.
“I’m in.” Max’s voice snapped his attention back to the phone.
Zenko followed on Shaun’s heels as he led them toward the door. Fuck, they were going to have to cross the parking lot, and until Max gave them eyes on the shooter, neither of them knew how exposed that crossing would be.
“Gimme a sit-rep, Max. Tell me what you see.”
“Shooter is on the roof of the pharmacy.” Max’s fingers were still moving over the keyboard in the background. “I have one casualty on the walkway about ten feet from the grocery store door.”
“Shit.” Shaun suddenly turned toward the front windows. “Hey, idiot, get your ass down and stay back from the windows.” A man who had apparently decided the lull in gunfire was his chance to play rubbernecker jolted away from the glass at Shaun’s yell. “Are you asking to get yourself shot?”
“Sorry.” The man ducked back behind the checkout desk.
“The damn cameras are only in the corridors at the school.” Max’s frustration carried clearly through the phone. “There’s nothing in the classrooms, so I’m not seeing any kids, but the good news is I’m not seeing any evidence of a shooter in there either.”
Max’s update was enough. Shaun had clearly caught it from where he stood and turned his attention back to the 911 dispatcher.
“Ma’am? We’ve confirmed the shooter is on the roof of the pharmacy. We’ve checked the school cameras, and so far there’s no evidence of anyone else in there.”
“I’ll have the school evacuate.”
“No,” Max yelled through Zenko’s phone.
“TOC, I’m putting you on speaker. How copy?”
“That’s a solid copy, Ambra One.” Noble’s voice came clearly through the speaker.
The connection wasn’t secure, but getting information to the 911 dispatcher had become more important than maintaining operational security.
“Do not have the school evacuate. The shooter’s location gives him a direct line of fire on anyone exiting that building. ”
Shaun raised his phone closer. “Did you get that, ma’am?”
“Yes, sir, I did.”
“Ambra Two, TOC.” Noble’s voice carried from Zenko’s speaker. “Can you ask if dispatch has had contact with the pharmacy?”
“Copy that, boss.”
Noble was right. They needed to know if there was another shooter inside the pharmacy or how the fucker on the roof had gotten up there.
“Ma’am, have you had any contact from the pharmacy?”
“Yes, the employees are hunkered down in the office behind two locked doors.”
Another burst of gunfire ripped through the relative quiet. Zenko caught Shaun’s attention before raising his head enough to scan the parking lot outside.
“Fuck.”
“What?”
A minivan swerved wildly before skidding across the street and slamming into a lamppost.
“He’s targeting vehicles as they drive down the street. Can’t see if the driver is down or not.”
“Shit. I’ll change all the streetlights to red.” Max’s keyboard immediately started clacking in the background.
Keeping below the windows, Zenko scanned what he could see of the parking lot and the buildings across the street. “Getting out of here puts us directly in his kill box.” He brought the phone closer. “TOC, Ambra One, you copy?”
“Ambra One, Eagle. What do you need?”
“Is there a back door out of here?”
“I’ll check.”
“There’s an employee entrance behind the butcher’s station.” The idiot who’d tried rubbernecking out the window earlier called from behind the checkout beside him.
“Eagle, we got an exit.” Zenko signaled the route to Shaun, who immediately shifted into position to move with him. Every second that shooter remained on the roof with a clear field of fire put more people in danger.
“Sir?” The 911 dispatcher’s voice came through Shaun’s phone. “We’ve sent out an alert to all residents asking them to avoid the area.” She released a shaky breath. “But it’s next to the school. Parents and family members are going to come, no matter what we say.”
“I agree.” Shaun glanced toward the rear of the store, already preparing to move.
Zenko didn’t need to know any of those parents to understand what would happen next.
If I had a kid inside that school, no fucking alert telling me to stay away would stop me.
His ass would already be en route, along with every other terrified parent who cared more about getting to their child than whatever danger waited for them when they arrived.
Shaun tipped his head toward the rear of the store. “We move?”
“Yep, let’s roll.”
Keeping everyone out of sight of the windows, Zenko herded the woman and her toddler son toward the rear of the store while Shaun rounded up the other customers and the cashier. As soon as everyone cleared the door leading into the employee area, Shaun locked it behind them.
“You all stay here.” Shaun pointed to the emergency exit behind him. “Unless a cop is on the other side of that door, you do not open it, got it?”
The woman nodded quickly. “Yes.”
Beside her, the man who’d tried looking out the window earlier gave Shaun a much more sober nod. “Yes, sir.”
“I am fu—er—freaking serious.” Shaun caught himself before the swear word made it all the way out, his gaze briefly landing on the toddler. “We don’t know who that shooter is. It could be someone you know. Unless a cop you know clears it, then for all your safety, that door stays locked.”
The cashier gave Shaun a firm nod. “We understand, sir. Thank you for your help and for what you are about to do.”
Zenko shrugged and jerked his chin toward the emergency exit, more than ready to get moving.
“It’s nothing.” Shaun returned the gesture, already shifting his weight toward the emergency exit. Zenko knew that look. His guy was ready to go. “Be safe.”
Zenko took one side of the emergency exit while Shaun took the other.
He reached for the SIG holstered at the small of his back and checked it.
He knew the damn thing was loaded because he’d checked it before they left the house, but habit and routine had him checking again.
“We work around the edge of the building and make our way to the rear door of the gun store.”
“Roger that.”
They gave Noble and the dispatcher a fast update, then they were ready for war. It might have been smaller scale than they were used to, but there was nothing fucking small about the danger waiting outside that door.
Shaun looked at Zenko. “You keep your ass safe, you hear me?”
“You too.” Zenko managed a smile he didn’t particularly feel. “On my mark.”
“Roger.”
“Go.”
Shaun moved through the doors much as he would if he were clearing a house in the sandbox.
Zenko stayed on his six, protecting his guy while keeping him moving forward.
They worked around the rear of the supermarket and continued behind the other buildings, following the U-shaped structure until they reached the gun store.
Shaun lifted his phone closer to his mouth.
“Ma’am?”
“Go ahead, sir.”
“Tell the store owner we’re coming through the rear door and not to shoot us.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.” Hold music played faintly through Shaun’s phone while they waited, the two minutes it took the dispatcher to come back feeling a hell of a lot longer. “Okay, you may enter.”
“Copy that.”