Flashpoint Braddock's Daughter

Coliseum Shooting (part 2)

"We've got an active shooter. He's here."

"Those are targeted shots?" Greg asked over the headsets. "He's here," Ed repeated. "He's watching." 

"Sam, Lauren. What do you got?" I was still looking around trying to find where the shooter was hiding. "Ricochet mark on the South end. Could be above us, could be below us," dad said looking through the scope on his gun. "Didn't see any muzzle flash," I added. "He's in our blind spot," dad concluded. Spike started listing all the places where our guy could be hiding based on our location and the details that we gave them. Greg added that they couldn't see anything on the camera ball. "We need to regroup and contain. Take this piece by piece," Ed said before mom chimed in. "Sarge the owner of the rifle was at home."

"Then who is firing on my team?" He sounded annoyed and I couldn't blame him. I didn't like having my friends being shot at either. "It's his hunting rifle. Said that someone must have stolen it. Claims to not know it was missing."

"And you believe him?" Greg asked. 

"Ex hockey player, a hockey coach... his rifle goes missing?" 

"You know what we call that in the police business?" Greg questioned. "Hinkey?" Mom said more of a statement rather than an actual question. Boss confirmed and continued, "Let's interrogate him." 

"Uniforms are bringing him in." Just then, there was a voice coming over the intercom system in the building. "You are trespassing. Leave the building immediately. I repeat you are trespassing. Leave right now." 

Well, at least we knew he was here and he did us a favor by coming over the intercom. There was only one place where he could do that from. After Spike broke it down on the map, he and Greg went to check it out, "Eddy we're going up there."

"Ed, you can get there from the South, but you've gotta be careful. It's a long corridor that's exposed," Spike added after Greg. Ed copied that and said that he and Wordie were on the way. Dad mentioned that we could cover them all since our guy might still be in the room and we could see it through a window. With that, the two of us moved up to a better vantage point. 

"Ed you at the door yet?" Spike asked, Ed, confirmed that the door was shut and told Sam and me to keep watch. Once we got to a better position, dad posted up and rested his gun against the railing while I just held mine looking through the scope. The rest of the team entered the room. The guy was gone and had cut the wires so we couldn't use them to talk to him. "Who the hell is this guy? Thoughts?" Greg asked annoyed again. "Young voice. Sounds under 30," I said. Dad mentioned how he thought there might be a military connection since the guy mentioned a unit. "Or he knows we're the SRU," I said watching the area. "IR is a pretty sophisticated device for civilians."

"Okay Jules, let's look into any recently returned Vets," Greg said. "That's a pretty wide net," mom said with a bit of a sigh. "Cross-reference guys with criminal records." Just then, Ed's phone started to ring. "Boss, are you calling me?" He asked looking at his phone. "What? No." Ed answered the phone with a "Yeah?" We couldn't hear the call, only what Ed was saying. "I'm glad you called, it's Ed Lane-" It sounded like he was cut off and then he put the phone down. "That was him. Where did you leave your phone?" Ed asked. "On the table at the command post." 

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." 

"There's only one way in there," dad said. "We had uniforms on the doors," Wordie added. "Let's go. Let's go. Move it." Ed ordered and we all rushed to the post. We all arrived that the same time. Greg asked the officers if anyone had walked through the door in the past five minutes and was told that nobody had. "What does this guy walk through walls?" Greg and another officer stood at the door, holding the handles while the rest of us stood at the ready with our guns up. They opened the doors and we entered quickly. We all searched the room. Wordie got out a sensor that could show us if he touched anything and found a handprint on the wall. We closed in on the door together and opened a secret compartment. "Down the rabbit hole," Greg said. "Spike?" Ed asked and Spike confirmed that there were no rabbit holes on the floor plans. 

"Alright, he's got the upper hand. He knows this place inside out."

"We're gonna need more intel or he's gonna spend the afternoon using this place as a shooting gallery," Ed said looking around a bit. 

"When I was a kid, the usher used to tell us about hidden rooms and passages. Mostly retired guys took the job so they could see the games for free. If anybody would know, it would be them." Wordie said and Greg got mom to find someone. "We should follow his trail before it cools," I said stepping closer to the hole. "It's a confined space. We don't know where it goes," Dad said in instant disapproval. "Yeah, but it's either that or we sit around waiting for someone to show us the dets."

"I'll go with her," Leah said in an effort to ease dad's worries. Ed said alright and told us to make no unnecessary risks. I nodded and took the lead through the hole. We walked through the hall cautiously. "Spike I got a door on my left, anything?" I whispered and he told me that I was still off the grid. We neared the corner and I pulled out my mirror to show me what was around. "Deny, defeat and rise." I read the wall. Wordie told me that was the victory wing. "It's the dressing room."

"I'm not even a hockey fan and I've got chills," Leah said. Just then, something was thrown right in front of me and it started sparking. "FALL BACK! GO GO! HURRY!" Leah ran back through the hall and I followed close behind her holding my arm behind me. "Don't let it touch you! Go!" I yelled as the team shouted at me to tell them what was going on. "Water! Get water now!" I screamed running still. Right as we got through the hall and back to the room, it was pure panic from everyone. Dad yelled for everyone to hurry with the water while I stood there yelling the same thing. Finally, we got the bucket and I dropped my arm into it seeing the smoke rise. "You gotta take this off," Dad said helping me take off my vest. "What the hell is it?" Greg asked. "It's phosphorous," I said grunting still in pain. 

"Who gets their hands on that?" Greg stepped closer to me and Sam. 

"A lot of people get it from the black market. But white phosphorous..." Spike answered.

"Afghanistan, leftover from the war with the Russians," Dad said. "So this guy is military," Greg confirmed taking his hat off in frustration. Dad grabbed my arm from the water and looked at it. "It didn't break the skin. You're gonna be okay." He put my arm back in the water with a sigh of relief. "And if it had?" Greg asked. "It would have gotten into the bloodstream and damaged her organs," Spike said. The room was tense, and I was in pain. What else is new. I finally heard mom saying my name over the headsets, "Lauren!"

"Yeah, I'm here," I said still breathing a bit heavy. "Come back to the truck, you're done." She sounded panicked. "No, mom I got this. I'm fine. Not even a scratch." I had to finish this. I started the call in here, that's where I'm ending it. After a bit of talking, she relaxed and dad told both her and me that I wasn't going to leave his side the rest of the call.