Page 72 of Flash and Bang
“Good.” Snow turned back and they all watched as the LAPD evacuated the last of the spectators from the bleachers. Except for a few people on the field milling around the unlit bonfire, the school’s outdoor track area was virtually empty. The LAPD had done an amazingly efficient job.
Jarrett turned and exchanged a glance with Thayne. Thayne looked worried but he was as composed as he probably could be. “Be careful, Wolfe.”
“You too, Partner.”
Jarrett jogged away and he felt Thayne’s eyeson him until he disappeared behind the concession stand. He took the steps running up until he reached the top of the cement bleachers. The sun was high in the sky and even though it was only late afternoon, it was still hotter than hell. Under the Kevlar vest he wore, his ribs ached like a bitch and he was sweating like hell. Chang and Revilla deserved whatever they had coming for putting all these people in danger and Jarrett really hoped he’d be able to locate them through his scope once he took up his perch.
He jogged to the stairs leading toward the announcer’s box and took them up, climbing to the top where he’d have a birdseye view of everything and everyone on the field. There was a small ladder on the side of the announcer’s box and Jarrett walked up to it with the M24 slung over his shoulder. He reached out to grasp the ladder and lifted his boot, looking down to find the bottom rung almost automatically. The second that it took him to register the meaning of a tiny curled yellow paper at his feet was just one second too long.
Anthony Revilla stepped out from behind the box, lifted his rifle and slammed the butt of it into Jarrett’s stomach. His cracked ribs screamed and the blow knocked the breath out of him in an instant. He gasped, cried out, and doubled over as pain exploded over his body. No matter how hard Jarrett tried, hecouldn’t keep his footing and he crashed to his knees, brought down by one well-placed blow. When Revilla’s second blow to the back of his head landed, the ground rushed up to meet him and he fell face forward, losing consciousness that instant.
****
Thayne watched Jarrett’s progress as he climbed up the concrete bleacher stairs to the top. He watched him jog across to the center where the announcer’s box was and then disappear out of sight, probably going around to the side to climb a ladder and get on top of it. Thayne waited, watching the top of the announcer’s box for Jarrett to appear. A full minute passed and his attention was captured by Sarah as she walked up, speaking to him excitedly.
“They’ve found Chang.”
“Where?” Thayne asked.
“She’s over by the bonfire.” Sarah pointed and Thayne located her. She was standing next to the unlit bonfire, wearing what appeared to be a bomb vest and she was screaming at the top of her lungs, shouting about God’s wrath and how it was going to reign down on all unbelievers.
“You’ll burn in a lake of fire!” she screamed.
“Back away from her. Give her a wide berth,”Snow said in the earwigs they wore.“If you have her, take your shot, Evans. It’s a go! Take your shot!”
Thayne sucked in a breath, waiting for the retort of Jarrett’s rifle and when none came, he looked up to the announcer’s box. Jarrett wasn’t in his place; he should have been up on top by now. It was impossible for him not to be there. Thayne had taken his eyes off him for only a minute.
“Evans. Come in. Evans!”Snow said.“Something’s wrong. He’s not responding.”
Thayne’s heart pounded.Where are you, Jarrett?He took off in a run across the parking lot toward the bleachers. He knew Jarrett was in trouble. He could feel it in every fiber of his being. For Jarrett not to respond, if for nothing else than to say he wasn’t in place, it meant that something very bad was going on. Terror lanced though him as he reached the base of the bleachers. He began to sprint upward, taking the stairs two at a time as he climbed, shouting into his com unit the whole time.
“Jarrett! Come in! You’re making us all worried, Marine. Answer me!” he screamed as he climbed.
“If anyone has a shot, take that crazy bitch out!”Thayne distantly heard Snow in his earpiece.
“The breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it!” Suki Chang screamed.
Thayne ran and just before he reached the top, the click of a microphone and an amplified clearing of a throat rumbled out of the announcer’s box.
“The breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it!” a male voice echoed what Chang said. “I will meet the Lord today!”
Thayne stopped, recognizing Anthony Revilla’s voice coming out of the loudspeaker. That meant he was in the announcer’s box and if he was there, that meant Jarrett was down. He knew his partner would never allow that crazy asshole to speak if he were conscious. Stark terror washed over Thayne and he began to run again, heading for the box as fast as he could. When he was about thirty feet away, a massive explosion knocked him off his feet.
He put his hands over his head for a split second and then looked down to the field. Where Suki Chang and the unlit bonfire had been only seconds before, only a massive crater in the ground remained. It appeared that she had blown herself to smithereens, taking a chunk of the Olympic-sized field along with her. The bonfire must have been packed with enough explosives that had anyone beenclose, they would have been vaporized. From what Thayne could tell, there was nothing left of Chang except a whole lot of smoke and a gruesome stain on the ground. Car alarms blasted in the background but all Thayne could think of was getting to Jarrett before the same thing happened to him.
Thayne got back to his feet and raced toward the box, coming to a screeching halt as he saw Jarrett’s crumpled form on the ground outside the box. Inside, behind one of the windows, Anthony Revilla stood with his hand on the microphone button staring down at the scene below. He wasn’t even looking in Thayne’s direction. Thayne dropped to the ground and crawled the last twenty feet to Jarrett on his hands and knees. Jarrett lay facedown and Thayne reached out and rolled him, feeling for a pulse in his neck. His face was bleeding and he was breathing. Thayne spared only a second to thank God before reaching under Jarrett’s arms and hoisting him up to a seated position where he could bend and get his shoulders under Jarrett’s limp body. With tremendous effort, his ribcage screaming at him, he positioned Jarrett over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry and used his knees to push himself up into a standing position. It took every ounce of strength he had to carry Jarrett away from the madman who was screaming about fire and brimstone through thespeaker, completely oblivious to Thayne’s presence. He staggered under Jarrett’s weight but managed to get him about fifty feet away before Revilla’s final announcement.
“I’ll see your face in Heaven, oh Lord!” A second later, there was another massive explosion and Thayne toppled to the ground, rolling so that he took the force of the impact with his own body. Pain wrenched a scream out of him as the announcer’s box splintered behind them, sending shards of wood hurtling at him. He used the last of his strength to reach for Jarrett and covered him with his own body, taking the worst of the shrapnel in his back. He thanked his lucky stars they both made it through a second before collapsing over Jarrett and losing consciousness.
Epilogue
One week later
Thayne and Jarrett spent two days in the hospital after Chang and Revilla’s final attempt at obliterating a crowd of unsuspecting Fourth of July revelers. Had their plan succeeded, countless numbers of people would have died and been injured. Across the nation, the Freedom Brigade’s domestic terror campaign was brought down by the ATF, the FBI, and Homeland Security, assisted by local law enforcement. It was a harrowing week for the nation and everyone was reminded that it could have been so much worse.
In all the individual operations that were coordinated in the twenty-four hours leading up to the militia’s terror campaign, only three law enforcement personnel were killed when a bomb-wearing terrorist was able to set off an explosive vest before they were able to take her out. The terrorist turned out to be a twenty-year-old college dropout from Peoria, Illinois, who just wanted somewhere to belong and had found friends in an Atlanta, Georgia, militia. The two FBI agents and one local police officer who died left behind three spouses and seven children between them. Their funerals were covered by CNN and Fox News and they were given full military honor guards, while the terrorist’s body was left unclaimed by her family. Her name was intentionally left out of the news while the heroes’funerals were televised.
Thayne was lauded for saving Jarrett’s life when he picked his partner up and carried him away from Anthony Revilla before the young man could blow himself up in an attempt to meet his maker.