A decision is needed

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

A digital tone sounded, filling the small space, “Bob, he’ll see you now.”

Bob rose from his chair, “We’re on” and headed for the door, Daniel followed him into a massive office. Opposite the door stood a massive antique desk, behind it sat a man in his late fifties Daniel estimated. He looked exactly like you would expect a banker to. He wore a business suit, the coat hanging behind him, sitting in only the vest. As they walked in the man looked up but did not smile.

“Mornin’ Byron.” Bob offered.

The man simply dipped his chin, “Bob”, just an acknowledgment, nothing more, “What’s on your mind?” He asked, then diverted his attention to some papers on his desk.

“Have you seen what’s going on outside?” Bob asked.

Byron motioned to one of several TV’s hanging on the wall to his right, “Of course, it’s all over the news, looks like more of the same.” When he finished speaking he looked up as a tolerant father would at a child demanding his attention.

“You’re wrong about that, it’s not more of the same, this crowd is bigger and getting closer to the building, I think we should take some preemptive action.” Bob returned, then crossed his arms over his chest, he was not about to ignored.

Byron rocked back in his chair and let out a sigh, “And what would you have me do, it’s a job for the APD.”

“We need to call off the staff for the day, close the building.”

Byron practically leapt from his chair, “Are you out of your damn mind? You know what that would do to our business?”

“What business? Everything is shut down because of the attack, you don’t need all those people here if this riot is THE riot, call off the staff, I’ll secure the building and we can wait for this to all blow over.”

Byron’s face jerked into a sneer, “You don’t have to tell me about the damn attack! I have agents from the FBI and the SEC crawling up my ass with a God damn magnifying glass”, he looked at his watch, “as a matter of fact they should be here any minute, besides security is your job, that’s what I pay you for.”

“All the more reason to shut the building, get everyone out of here and security is my job and I’m telling you what needs done, if you choose to ignore it that’s on you”, then Bob had another thought, “besides if the building is empty for the most part and the **** hits the fan around here I’ll be able to make sure you get out of here without trying to wade through a couple thousand people.”

Byron stood there for a second considering the last point, if the **** did indeed hit the fan the only person he was worried about getting out here was his. He looked up at Bob, then at Daniel.

Jutting his chin in Daniel’s direction he asked, “Whose that?”

Bob looked over his shoulder at Daniel, “He works in IT and is my contact with them during this little incident.”

Byron looked at Daniel, “You the one responsible for ****ing my network up, making the Judas of the entire banking world?”

Daniel stood there stunned not knowing what to say, his mouth was dry and he voice refused to work. Finally Bob came to his rescue, “No, he’s the one that pulled the network down from the outside world, he’s the one that saved whatever ass you have left.”

Byron shot Bob a look, “Fine, we’ll shut the building, Tiffany will take care of getting the emails out” he paused for a moment and pointed at Bob, “you do not leave this building though, not until I do.” Byron leaned over and pressed an intercom button on his desk and asked Tiffany to come in. “Now if you gentlemen don’t mind I have **** to do.”

Bob didn’t reply, simply turned and grabbed Daniel by the arm and headed for the door, they passed Tiffany in the anteroom, “Sorry.” Bob said as he passed her. She looked at him confused, “For what?” Bob smiled, “You’ll see and make sure you get out of here as soon as you can too.”

Tiffany was still looking confused as the two men left the room. Daniel followed Bob to the elevators, not the freight elevator they took up, but the private car for the man in the big office. Bob waved his prox card at the reader by the button then pressed the now illuminated call button. Daniel just stood there not saying a word, he was still choking on his tongue.

When the car arrived and the doors opened they were greeted by four men in blue blazers with FBI emblazoned on them in big yellow letters. Bob stepped aside as the men exited, nodding at them as they passed and quickly ushered Daniel into the car. Once inside Daniel let out a long breath, running his hands through his hair.

Spinning around to face Bob she half shouted, “Dude, why in the hell did you take me up there with you?”

“What, you scared to swim with the sharks?”

Daniel just shook his head, then his phone vibrated, taking it from its cradle he looked at, “Nice, looks like I get to go home.”

Bob leaned against the wall watching the numbers tick by on the display over the door, “You’re not going anywhere.”

Daniel jerked his head up, “Why the hell not, I’m on the list here, says I don’t need to come in, since I’m here I think I’ll leave.”

“Let’s go to my office and take a look at things.”

The mob on the monitor was not the same one he saw earlier. Daniel was shocked at what he saw. There was line of police in front of the bank, all decked out in riot gear, shields, helmets and gas masks. In the center of the road was a burning police car, several piles of burning tires and dumpsters full of flames. A figure erupted from the crowd of rioters wearing one of the masks from V, a flaming trashcan over his head. He ran towards the police in an effort to hurl the can of fire.

As soon as he crossed the center line of the road, marked by the plies of burning tires the man crumpled and fell to the pavement. In the bottom right corner of the screen a police officer was racking a shotgun, the spent shell of a less than lethal round bouncing on the pavement. At the same moment a phalanx of officers rushed forward, the officers in the front holding the shields up to deflect the bottles and rocks pelting them. Just as with the Roman Legions, the second row officers held their shields over their heads, blocking the missiles landing on them.

They covered the man in the road as additional officers in the rear grabbed the stricken man and pulled him back to the police line. The line of rioters surged forward but were immediately turned back with streams of pepper spray from fire extinguisher canisters.


“Holy ****.” Daniel said as he watched the scene unfold.

“That’s nothing, just wait till it’s live rounds they’re using.” Bob replied.

“Bob, you want us to lock down the building?” Andy asked from his console.

Bob scanned the various cameras, “Yeah, everything on the ground level, send out an email telling everyone to take the pedestrian bridge to the garage.”

“Done.” Andy replied.

On a couple of the monitors the large gates began to lower. If Bob had his way they would have remained down but earlier in the day Byron had insisted they be raised. Now he wasn’t even going to bother to ask, the building was being getting locked down. Daniel’s phone vibrated, he pulled it off to check the message.

“Where are you!?” Malcolm’s signature was under it.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Teague closed the phone and let it drop into his lap as his head fell back onto the couch. He let out a long breath that was half groan half regret. Coming back to the moment he pulled the cover off the back of the phone and removed the SIM card. Sitting up he tossed it into the fireplace and watched as it disappeared in the flame. Crossing the room to where his pack sat beside the door he reached into it and took another card out and inserted into the phone.

He’d only been here for two days and it was time to move again. The ambush happened three weeks ago, he thinks it’s been three weeks and he since then he hasn’t spent more than four days in one spot. Everyone involved in the ambush had been on the move just as he had. The ambush had been a spur of the moment mission, while they had been looking for a chance to make a stand the roadblock just fell in their lap. As soon as contact was broke at the scene they immediately separated into smaller cells. These smaller cells continued to breakup until every militiaman was on his own.

Each person was left to their own devices with one simple goal, don’t get your ass caught. In this manner no one knew what the others plan was, unless of course you ran you mouth. The three militia members caught so far were members of the same cell that. They made a group plan and discussed it in detail with one another. When the first of them was apprehended the other two fell like dominos. In their plan they all agreed not to be taken alive, “from my cold dead hands!” was the unanimous cadence shouted by the three. In the end only one of them even fired a shot, for which he immediately shot multiple times in return.

Teague’s plan was a little more sophisticated, he actually had a network of people in place to help him. Not that they knew why they were doing the things he asked, but he’d known them all for so long that when he called they answered. The network he was relying on was so far removed from him that if the Fed’s did ever manage to put it together he would already be long gone. So far everything had worked out, he was already in Arkansas and this next ride would get him into Alabama. Once in Alabama it wouldn’t take too long to make his way to Atlanta, he just hoped his cousin would let him crash at his place.

***

Daniel looked at the phone and grunted, Bob looked over and he showed him the message. Bob snorted and took the phone. Daniel watched as he typed a reply, Been sent home, all nonessential personnel have been furloughed today, he sent the message and handed the phone back. Daniel took it and snapped it back into the cradle, giving Bob a smile as he did, “What now?”

“Let’s go get a coffee.”

Daniel nodded and the two of them headed for the door. On the way out Bob said, “Andy call me if anything happens.”

“Sure things boss.”

They took the elevator down to the level with the pedestrian bridge. The little coffee shop was located inside the building where the bridge connected and they ordered a coffee before the two ladies working there shut down. They took up a seat at one of the high tables where they could watch as all the employees left.

“How bad do you think it’s going to get out there?” Daniel asked.
Bob took a sip of the coffee before replying, “Dunno, it may blow over or they may try and burn the damn city down. Either way I didn’t want the building full if try.”

Daniel nodded and looked out across the small mezzanine area where the shop was located. It opened up onto into the large foyer of the main lobby, the open space there continued up for one more floor. From where Daniel sat he could see the windows on the front of the building, though at the moment all he could see was the back of the large security shutters covering them. The sound of Bob’s Zippo popping open caught his attention and he look back just in time to see him light a smoke.

“Are you freakin nuts?”

Bob blew out the smoke, “What, who’s going to complain?”

“Still, you’re not supposed to smoke in the building.”

Bob flicked some ash into an empty creamer cup, “Aw come on, you’re also supposed to pay your taxes on time, wait thirty minutes after eating before you swim or eat red meat, come on man you can’t be that big a *****.”

Daniel’s back stiffened, “I’m no *****.”

“Calm down there John Wayne, just ****in’ with ya.”

Daniel sipped his coffee, who the hell did this guy think he was anyway?

Daniel’s phone vibrated, Malcolm again. I am leaving now, you need to be here in the morning.

Daniel jumped up from the chair startling Bob, “What?”

“Malcolm’s headed down here now, I don’t want him to see me let’s go.”

“I ain’t worried about him, let’s finish our coffee.” Bob shook his head and took another sip.

The elevator bank was only twenty or so feet away and he was able to hear the ding announcing the cars arrival. With nowhere to go Daniel ran around the counter of the coffee shop and crouched down. Bob was laughing at him as he did. Malcolm came around the corner of the elevator bank and saw Bob who was still laughing. He walked over and stood on the other side of the half wall that enclosed the café area.

Bob simply sipped his coffee, never acknowledging the other man’s presence. After a minute or two Malcolm got irritated, “Why are you still here Bob, I though everyone was told to leave.”

“Actually the email said all nonessential personnel were sent home, I’m essential.” Bob replied with a smile.
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[unseenone]

A decision is needed

“You know you aren’t allowed to smoke in here.” Malcolm replied in an attempt to get the upper hand.

Bob’s response was to light another one up, he inhaled deeply while looking him in the eye then blew out three perfect rings into the air. When he finished he smiled at Malcolm, “So sue me.”

Malcolm walked off in a huff, Bib smiled at himself, it wasn’t every day you got to **** someone off so easy. Daniel waited behind the counter, not wanting to chance a look and get spotted by Malcolm. Bob left him there for a couple of minutes before he finally said, “Coast is clear.”

Daniel peered over the counter with one eye, looking the café over. The only person he saw was Bob, sipping on his coffee and smoking. Cautiously he stood up and walked around the counter, still looking for Malcolm. Finally making his wat back to the table he took a seat across from Bob.

“What’d he say?” Daniel asked.

“Who?”

Daniel lifted his hands off the table, “What’da you mean who?”

Bob laughed, “Don’t worry, he’s got no idea you’re here.”

Malcolm look down at the crowd below the bridge as he crossed, they looked ****ed. One guy, young black kid in a grey hoodie looked up, locking eyes with him. The kid was shouting something, no way he could hear it up here, Malcolm just stared back at him. His apparent indifference sent the kid into a rage, he tore the red bandanna from his face and began to scream, then in a final act of defiance he gave Malcolm the finger. Malcolm just shook his head and continued to the garage where he took the elevator up to the next level where he was parked.

He was digging around in his pocket for his keys when he stopped in his tracks. He stood there for a moment, certainly he wasn’t seeing what he thought he was seeing. But there sat Daniel’s Jeep in his usual spot.

“Son of a bitch.”

That little ****, sure he was good at his job but he was the biggest pain in the ass. The thought passed through his mind that if he wasn’t so damn good he could terminate him, but then he knew deep down that he couldn’t do half of the stuff that Daniel could, the kid really was good. Malcolm hit the button and the locks popped open and he was heading down to the exit.

When he got to the exit he was forced to stop, there was a big gate blocking the exit. One of the security officers approached the him on the driver’s side, he was surprised as he never saw the guy until he was almost at the window. Malcolm put the window down as the guy got there.

“Can I get out?” Malcolm asked.

“Hang on a sec” the security man keyed his radio, “got one ready to exit, is it clear?”

The radio crackled with a reply, “Uh, yeah, looks alright, there’s one guy out there but he looks ok.”
“Alright, open it up.”

The big steel gate rattled and groaned as it began to rise, Malcolm and the security officer watched, once it was high enough for the car to clear the security officer told him to go ahead. As Malcolm pulled out he looked to his right checking for cars, then his windshield exploded. Shocked is not the word for what he felt, suddenly someone was at the passenger door, trying to get in. Malcolm looked over and saw a young black guy in a grey hoodie with a red bandanna over his face, he was pounding on the glass and screaming. Malcolm was stunned he didn’t know what to do, shock prevented him from moving.

“Go go go!” The security officer was screaming, the kid at the window ignored him, or maybe he didn’t even notice the man.

Malcolm looked in the rearview mirror at the security officer who was frantically waving for him go, then he looked to his right and he gasped. A sea of people were pouring around the corner of the garage, it looked like those videos of the tsunami that stuck Indonesia but instead of water it was people. Looking to his left the kid was still there, he dropped a pack off his back and pulled a metal bar out of it. With the bar he took a batters stance at the window.

A series of pops went off in rapid succession and the kid fell to the floor of the garage, the security appeared at the window, “Dammit man, ****ing go!” he shouted while holding his pistol on the stricken man. Finally Malcolm floored the gas and took off. The security officer keyed his radio, calling for the gate to be closed immediately. The crowd on the street was still running towards the open gate. The gate began to lower and the security officer back peddled into the garage, weapon still drawn with an eye on the gate.

Bob looked at the message that was marked urgent, “Need you up here now. Andy.”

“Come on, let’s go back to my office.” Bob said as he stood up, dropping the butt of a cigarette into the empty cup.

“What’s up? Daniel asked.

“Don’t know, but I bet it ain’t good.”

Bob watched the video for the third time, he simply couldn’t believe what he was seeing. On the screen beside the one playing the recently recorded video was the live shot of the camera outside of the garage. The crowd out there was still growing, two cars parked on the other side of the street from the garage were already on fire. All manner of objects were being thrown at the building. Several people were using the post of a street sign to batter the gate.
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[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Okay, okay, OKAY already!!!

Bob reached for a radio sitting in a cradle beside Andy, picking it up he spoke into it, “Tommy, soon as you can I need to see you up here.”

The reply that came back was distorted by the sounds od banging on the metal gate, mixed with shouts made it almost inaudible, “You gonna send someone else down here to relieve me first?”

Bob thought about it for a moment, “Andy pull up the front of the building.”

An exterior view of the front of the building filled the monitor before him. It looked like most of the people out there had moved around towards the garage, at the moment things were quieter out there.

Bob keyed his radio, “S1, S4.”

“Go for S4.”

“Go relieve S3”

“Roger that, on my way.”

Andy spun around in his seat, “Want me to call 911?”

“Not yet, let’s see what Tommy has to say first, not like they’d come right now anyway.”

Daniel pointed to the screen, “Looks like they’re already on their way,”

Bob looked up as Andy spun around. He quickly brought up a monitor to the center of the screen. In the bottom left corner of the screen the top of the metal gate of the garage exit could be seen along with part of the crowd gathered there. On the top half of the screen the Atlanta PD, in full riot gear was forming up. A skirmish line was already formed and they were advancing one step at a time, banging their batons on the top of their shields. The crowd paid them little attention.

“****, Andy call Carlos and tell him what’s going on.”

Daniel looked at Bob, “Who’s Carlos?”

“He’s a LT with the Atlanta PD, good friend of mine, I need coffee, anyone else?”

“Yeah, I could use some.” Daniel said.

Daniel followed Bob into his office, “See if you can find a cup.” Bob said as he blew stale ashes out of a cup on his desk.”

Daniel was standing beside the coffee pot, going through the various cups scattered around it. His face looked as ill as he felt looking into some of the cups. He was certain some of these would be of interest to the CDC.

“Found lots of cups, you got a clean one anywhere?”

Bob was wiping his cup out with his tie, “Look under the counter, should be some Styrofoam cups under there.”

Much to his relief Daniel found one cup still in the plastic sleeve and made himself a cup. The liquid was dark, really dark, like it had been on the burner all day. Bob poured a cup without a second thought and took a long drink. He looked up to see the security guard from the garage standing outside his door.

“What the hell happened?” Bob asked.

Tommy ran his hand across his face, “I’m sure you already saw the video, what was I supposed to do, let beat the guys brains in? If the dumb **** would have just drove off it wouldn’t have happened, but he just sat there looking all stupid.”

“Yeah, we saw the video, but you gotta know that killing one of them is just going to make things a lot worse out there.” Bob said, shaking his head.

“I know, sorry, but I couldn’t let that dumbass get beat. Who was that ass hat anyway?”

“His name’s Malcolm, head of IT security.” Daniel said.

Tommy looked at him, “You mean that guy was in charge of the department that caused most of this ****? Those people are rioting out there because they can’t get to their money or use their damn food stamps, and I saved his ass, ****, if I’d a know that I would’ve stepped back and watched, it’s IT’s fault this **** is getting worse.”

“Careful there Tommy, Daniel here works for that man.” Bob said.

“Don’t worry, I think he’s an ass hat too and for the record there were already riots before the whole bank holiday thing.” Daniel said.

Andy stuck his head into Bob’s office, “Bob, Carlos on two.”

Bob walked around his office and fell into his chair, paused for a moment looking at the phone, then picked it up, pressing the button for line two at the same time.

“How’s business Carlos?”

“Markets peaking, what’da need Bob?”

“I guess you know things are a little hairy down here right now.”

“Yeah, the riot guys are out, we should have them cleaned out soon, they’re bringing in a sound cannon right now, that should run ‘em off.”

“Good, it should make it easier for you guys to get to the crime scene.” Bob shook out a smoke and lit it, there was a pause on the other end.

“What crime scene?” Carlos asked.

“We were evacuating the building earlier and one of our people was attacked by someone in the mob.”

“I’m sorry about that Bob, but right now we just don’t have the time to deal with that.” Carlos was getting irritated with this trivial situation considering what was going on right now.

“That’s not the issue, one of my guys shot him.”

“Are you ****in’ serious, dammit Bob.”

“Look, I got it all on video, it’s a clean shoot.”

“Where’s the actor?” Carlos asked in exasperation.

“That’s the real problem, he went down just outside our security doors on the parking garage, the crowd down there is beating the **** out of the door and we can’t see the body now.”

“****, what exit, I’ll see if we can get it cleared out.”

“It’s the north exit, you’ve got a riot squad just down the street from them now, if your guys can push ‘em down the block we can get in there.”

“You aren’t getting in anywhere, just stay out of it, we’ll get with you later. I’ll see what I can do about getting them cleared out, then get back to you. Keep your shooter onsite, he can’t leave.”

“10-4 Carlos, let me know if we can help.” Bob said just before the line went dead.

Bob hung up the phone and looked up at Tommy. “How’s it look?” Tommy asked.

“He’s ****ed, you should be alright, go get a drink, take break.”

Tommy nodded and left the office. Daniel waited until he was gone to comment on how casual Tommy acted after shooting someone. Bob told him Tommy was a vet that spent six tours in Iraq and the Stan, he’d killed before.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Now that things are getting back to normal, here's a new piece.



For the next several minutes they watched as the APD tried to push the crowd back. Volley after volley of teargas was fired into the crowd, many of which were thrown back. Riots and unrest have been going on for so long that many people were now coming out equipped with their own gas masks. While their numbers were low, they made up the front line troops in the gas war with the police.

The police would deploy gas and rush the mob, the riot would fall back a bit, regroup and surge towards the officers who would deploy another round gas as they fell back before regrouping and charging the rioters again. It was essentially a stalemate, neither side really had the upper hand. While both sides were constantly being reinforced, the police had the advantage in equipment.

“Holy ****, what the hell is that thing?” Daniel asked as large hulking vehicle came into view.

“It’s about to get really interesting.” Andy said as he guided a camera on the behemoth, zooming in as he did.

Bob chuckled, “Yeah, unless they got scuba gear they aren’t going to stand in front that thing.”

The riot squad parted to let the truck pull through to the front of their line. The appearance of the thing sent the crowd into a renewed fervor, jumping up and down and throwing everything that they break loose at the officers. Once the officers were organized they began to move forward, keeping pace with the truck. Initially the crowd began to fall back in anticipation of what the truck may do. When nothing happened, except for the officers gaining ground, they decided to stand their ground.

Once the crowd stopped falling back the water cannon opened up on them. The effect was profound and immediate.

“Holy ****!” Daniel shouted as two men with bandannas over their faces were rolled ******* over teacup by the force of the stream.

“Oh yeah, that got their attention.” Bob said as hit a cigarette.

The water cannon was having the desired affect and the crowd fell back farther down the block. The truck was finally in front of the exit of the parking garage. It pulled over towards the door and stopped parallel to it in the street. The doors on the rear opened and some officers quickly exited, running the couple of feet to the roll up door.

“There’s Carlos.” Bob said.

Andy was already swinging the camera around so they could look down on the scene. What they saw was Carlos standing there looking around, no body was in the frame. Carlos pulled a cell phone from his pocket and started to dial.

“****.” Bob said as his phone started to ring.

“What’cha see down there Carlos?”

“There’s nothing here, no body, no blood, nothing, you sure he went down?” Carlos shouted into the phone over the chaos surrounding him.

“I’ve got it on video, he was down, that cannon probably washed away any blood that as there.”

Across the street from the bank’s parking garage was another parking structure. This one served several businesses on the block and was open to the public, using those little kiosks to pay by entering your space number. Shorter than the enormous garage across the street, it was only two stories.

Suddenly the camera on the garage exit flickered and another view took its place. Bob looked at Andy wondering what the hell he was doing when he the video feed explained it in a flash. A group of people were running across the top deck of the garage towards the side bordering the street. Carlos was saying something to him on the phone when Bob cut him off.

“Carlos, on the roof behind you guys, there’s people moving in on you guys!”

“What?” Carlos shouted back.

“On the roof of the other garage!”

On the screen they watched as the people made it to the edge of the parapet wall, they watched with horror as they lit molitov cocktails.

“Behind you, look up, you’ve got incoming!” Bob shouted back.

On a small image they watched as Carlos finally caught on to what was happening, he was shouting at the other officers and pointing up at the garage just as the flaming missiles came over it in a slow arch. The officers began to run for cover, taking up positions behind the truck, between it and the bank’s security door.

“Son of a bitch!” Bob shouted as he headed for his office.

Andy and Daniel were watching the camera feeds when Andy quickly zoomed in on a figure, he was moving in a low crouch to the wall, it wasn’t until the camera had zoomed in enough that they were able to see the AK 47 he carried.

“Bob, one of ‘em’s got a gun!” Andy called out.

Bob came out of his office holding an AR in each hand, a OD bag slung over his shoulder, Daniel was wide eyed.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Bob thrust one of the rifles into his hands, “Follow me”, then snatched a radio from the charger on Andy’s console, “keep me informed on what’s happening.”

“10-4 boss.”

Bob headed for the door and paused just outside it looking at Daniel, “You coming or not?”

Daniel simply nodded and followed him out the door. In the elevator Bob told him what his plan was. They were going to go to the top of the their parking garage which would overlook the one across the street. He would call Carlos and ask if they needed their help suppressing the group on the roof. Daniel didn’t say anything, just nodding his head.

As soon as they exited the elevator and headed for the pedestrian bridge to garage Bob was on his phone. “Dammit!” he shouted when Carlos’s voicemail picked up. He tried two more times on the way to the top of the garage with the same result.

Making it to the edge of the garage he was able to look down and see Carlos and some of the other officers taking cover behind the truck as molitovs broke on the other side of it sending thick clouds of black smoke swirling up, causing Daniel and Bob both to fall back.

“Bob, what do you want to do?”

Bob didn’t answer, he tried his phone again, this time Carlos answered, “Carlos, there’s a guy with an AK on top of that garage!” Bob made his way to the edge and looked down, this time he could Carlos.

Daniel was looking down on the garage across the street and could see everyone there. The man with the AK was peering over the top of the wall at the officers, then the officers launched teargas at them.

“You guys need to get the hell out of there.” Bob said into the phone.

“Were ****ing trying, you see all the damn fire?” Carlos shouted back.

“Yeah I do, look up.”

“What?”
“Look up dumbass.”

Bob was looking down when Carlos leaned away from the building to see him.

“What the hell are you doing up there?”

“When I saw the guy with the AK I came up here in case you guys needed some help.”

“We don’t need any help, I told you to stay out of it, are you armed?”

“What ****ing good would I be if I wasn’t?”

Daniel hit Bob, “Gun!”

Daniel’s warning was immediately followed by a volley of shots, causing both men to jump. The riot police on the road began to scatter, looking for anywhere to take cover. At the same moment, almost as if it had ben coordinated, a couple dozen flaming tires came rolling down the road towards the besieged officers. From below the AK was answered with return fire.

Bob looked over to see Carlos firing a handgun, Daniel was looking at the shooter across the road, he could plainly see the man, he looked at Bob who was looking down at Carlos, then at the Stag in his hands and charged the rifle.

“Carlos, you want us to take him out?”

Two officers were down in the street, Bob watched as Carlos looked at them, then at shooter who saw him and switched his fire to the back of the truck.

“Carlos, dammit, we can take him out!”

“Take him out, shoot, shoot!” Carlos shouted into the phone.

Bob looked up at Daniel as his rifle barked, Daniel fired round after round about a half second apart. Bob looked across the street to see the shooter sprawled on the ground. Another person tried to grab the AK and Bob dropped his phone and quickly engaged him, felling the man with two shots. The others began to try and take cover. A milk crate full of cocktails was sitting just far enough back that Bob was able to put rounds into it, spraying the flammable liquid in a wide area.

Bob ejected the mag in his rifle and dug through the bag, pulling out another with red tape around it, jammed it into the rifle and began firing at the spreading pool of gas. The tracers streaked across the street, on the third round a ball of flames and thick black smoke erupted.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Both men stopped firing and stood there watching the smoke rise. The others on the deck across from them were running for the exit, rounding the corner and heading down the ramp, out of site. Bob was brought out of his trance by the sounds of shouting on the road below. Looking down he could officers helping their fallen to the truck. The crowd had fallen back farther down the block, probably as a result of the gun fire. Carlos looked up and gave Bob a wave, he waved back just as Carlos climbed into the back of the truck and shut the door. It quickly started to move, heading back the way it came.

Daniel was still just standing there gawking at the scene across the street from him, at the man he just killed. The man was sprawled out, like someone in the middle of making a snow angle. He was jarred back to reality by his phone ringing. At first he didn’t notice it, the vibrating is what finally got his attention. Plucking the phone from the clip he looked at it and was confused. He shook his head and looked again, it was his home number on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Daniel?”

“Yeah, who the hell is this?”

“It’s Teague.”

“Teague?”

“Yeah, your cousin.”

“How the hell did you get in my house?”

“The door was open, hope you don’t mind that let myself in.”

Daniel had to think about that for a minute, he was certain he locked the door, it would stupid to go out and not lock it.

“Uh, yeah, sure, what are you doing in town?”

“Just bumming around, thought I’d drop in and see ya, when you coming home?”

“Don’t know, things are a little… weird at work today.”

“I bet, been watching the news, looks like the ****s hit the fan downtown.”

Daniel looked back across the street, “You have no idea, just hang out, I’ll call you when I head home.”

“Cool, I’ll be here, drinking your beer.”

Daniel ended the call, hoping there was somewhere he could buy some beer on the way home because he damn sure was going to need a drink after today.

“Who was that?” Bob asked.

“My cousin, just came into town.”

“He sure picked a ****ed up time for a visit.”

“Yeah, well he hasn’t never been real bright. We grew up together, spent all our summers together tear assin’ around the woods, ya know, just being kids.”

“Let’s head back to my office.”

When they walked in Andy was replaying the video of the shooting, he caught on to what was happening and trained a camera on the top deck of the garage. Daniel glanced at the screen, then looked away, the scene playing over and over in his head as bad enough, he didn’t need to see a live action replay. Bob walked by without noticing the video. He went straight to his office, Daniel followed him. Bob leaned his rifle by the door in his office, Daniel did likewise.

Bob snatched a coffee cup from his desk and looked into it, dried coffee crusted the bottom of it. He wiped it out with the tail of his tie, then set it down on the desk and repeated the process with another. Opening the bottom drawer of his desk he pulled a bottle of Johnny Walker blue label and poured two fingers in each cup, handing one to Daniel.

Daniel took the cup and looked into it, at the little brown bits floating around in the amber whiskey, **** it, he thought and tossed the Scotch back. He followed it with a hard exhale and looked at Bob.

“Damn that’s good, thanks I needed it.”

Bob tossed his back and bared his teeth, he looked like a werewolf. Picking up the bottle he poured another in each cup, “You need another.”

Daniel didn’t even hesitate this time, though he only downed half of it in the first swallow, actually taking a moment to savor it. He motioned with the cup at the bottle, “Must be nice having that in your desk.”

“Conditions are what you make ‘em”

“I guess, couldn’t pull that off downstairs.”

Bob smiled as he lit a cigarette, “Who’s going to search me?”

Daniel looked out towards Andy, sitting at his console, the video of the shooting was gone and he was panning the exterior cameras around.

“Wonder how things are going outside, I’d like to get the hell out of here if I could.” Daniel said.

“Let’s go see.”

At the moment the street was relatively clear, the mobs had dispersed, fighting tear gas and clubs is one thing, taking bullets was more than most of them bargained for.

“How’s it look Andy?” Bob asked.

“Looks like the animals have returned to their cages for now.”

“Bob I’m going to take off, I’m sure your cop buddy will want to talk to me, I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Bob stared at the monitor for a moment, rubbing his chin then looked at his watch.

“Go ahead, go home, you too Andy.”

Andy spun around in his chair, “You sure boss?”

“Yeah, you two get gone while the gettin’s good.”

“What about you?” Daniel asked.

“Me? Oh, I’ll stay here and keep an eye on things, there’s still guys in the building so I’ll be alright.”

“Alright, I’m outta here.” Daniel said.

Andy leapt from his chair, “Me too.”

“Before you go Daniel, come in here.” Bob said as he walked into his office.

Bob opened the top drawer of his desk and took out a business card and handed it to Daniel, “If you have any trouble, I mean any with the cops, give them this card and call me. Call me before they get to you if you can, this time don’t ****in’ forget.”

Daniel looked at the card, Lt. Carlos Delgado Atlanta Police Department. Complete with office, fax and best of all, cell phone numbers.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Okay, her is the first part, more tomororw.

WR, send me PM, I have a guy that does them charp.


Daniel looked at the card, Lt. Carlos Delgado Atlanta Police Department. Complete with office, fax and best of all, cell phone numbers. He stuck the card in his pocket and headed for the door.

“Hey, when you coming back?” Bob asked.

Daniel stopped at the door and scratched his head, “Dunno, do I even need to come back?”

That caught Bob off guard, he shrugged his shoulders before replying, “Well ya got me, just keep your phone handy in case I need to get in touch with you.”

Andy and Daniel left the office and walked down to the garage together. Andy was parked on the first floor of the garage and Daniel’s Jeep was on the top floor.

“Be safe.” Daniel said as they headed for the stairs.

“You too man.”

Andy headed down and Andy went up, taking the stairs two at a time. When he came out of the stairs on the top deck he went over to the wall and looked over the side at the street, the street was empty, like creepy empty. Daniel hopped into the Jeep and headed for the exit, tires squealing as he wound his way down through the decks. Andy was already gone and the security door was closed when he got to it. As he approached it the door began to open, he knew Bob was up there watching the cameras, he stuck his arm out and waved at the camera as he pulled through and onto the street.

Daniel was very nervous as he drove towards home, remembering his last ride through town. To try and calm his nerves he turned on the radio. The radio blared news, telling about the riots downtown. The shooting made was not mentioned at all, he thought that was a little odd, but then without the media being able to move around the streets it wasn’t too surprising. He couldn’t take the constant talk of riots, looting, shootings and general mayhem depressed him and he switched to the MP3 player connected to the stereo.

He wasn’t in the mood for rock and settled on Mumford and Sons instead. Before the first song was finished he saw the entrance to his apartment complex ahead and relief washed over him. Pulling into his spot in front of his building he shut off the Jeep and sat there for a moment, looking around and listening. He was nervous as all hell, not there was any obvious danger at the moment, it was simply becoming a way of life.

Before getting out he dug around in his bag and found his flashlight. With the light in one hand and his pocket knife in the other he got out and headed for his apartment. As he went up the stairs he had the key ready and stuck it in the deadbolt as soon as he reached it. Daniel quickly opened the door and froze in his tracks. He was staring into a giant black hole, at least it looked giant from where he stood.

“Oh, sorry dude, didn’t know it was you.” Teague said as he lowered the pistol.

“*******, you scared the **** outta me!” Daniel shouted.

“Sorry bro’, it’s a little scary out there right now.” Teague replied as Daniel stepped past him into his apartment. Teague stepped out of the door and looked around before closing it.

Daniel went straight for the fridge, he needed a beer. Pulling one out he opened it and took a long drink, downing half the bottle. When he lowered the bottle Teague was standing there. Daniel set the bottle on the counter and looked at Teague.

“What the **** man?”

“Sorry dude, you been out there? It’s ****ing scary.”

“If you only knew.”

From the back of the apartment a voice called out, “Is it safe?”

“Who the hell is that?” Daniel asked.

“****, forgot, yeah, come on out.” Teague called out.

Daniel leaned forward to see who was coming and saw Christy as she rounded the corner.

Her face lit up when she saw Daniel and quickly moved towards him, “Hey babe, I’m so glad you’re here!” She shouted as she wrapped her arms around him.

With a beer in one hand and Christy’s arms around his neck, Daniel looked at Teague with raised eyebrows.

“She jus’ showed up bro’.”

Christy pulled back, then quickly leaned in and kissed him.

“I was worried about you, the news is saying there was shooting downtown near your office, is everything ok?” Christy asked as she looked him over.

“Yeah, I’m fine, let’s go sit down, I’m beat.”

The three of them went into the living room, Daniel sat on the couch and Christy fell into it beside him. Teague flopped into the chair, putting his feet up on the coffee table. While he wasn’t bothered by Teague’s feet on the table, the number of empty beer bottles on it did. The TV was on and a local news anchor was going on and on about the violence downtown.

Daniel squeezed Christy’s thigh, she looked up and smiled, “I see you’ve met my cousin Teague.”

She smiled back at him, then looked at Teague, “Yeah, I came by, he answered the door when I knocked.”

“Yeah, I was really lucky he dropped by since I left the door unlocked.” Daniel replied, then looked over at Teague as he took another pull off the beer.

“What? You really need to pay more attention, especially right now.” Christy replied.

Teague just smiled, “Indeed.”

“Well, what brought you out to Atlanta?” Daniel asked Teague.

“He’s wandering.” Christy replied.

“Wandering huh?”

“Yeah, just wanted to get out of Michigan for a while, figured I’d better do it now before there’s nothing left to see.”

“That shouldn’t take long considering the way things are going right now.” Daniel replied.

“How’s everyone doing up there?” Daniel asked.

Teague looked at the floor, “Good, everyone’s good.”

“Hmm.” Daniel replied as he finished his beer.

“I’m starving, you got any food?” Christy asked.

“Hell, I don’t know, take a look and see what you can find.”

Christy jumped up, “You guys hungry?”

Teague rolled his head on the back of the chair, “Starved.”

“I could eat something.” Daniel replied.

Christy headed for the kitchen, Daniel watched her leave, once she was out of earshot he sat up on the couch, “What are you doing here, really?”

“Dude, I told ya, just wanted to travel a little.”

“Really, that **** up there didn’t have anything to do with it did it?”

“What ****?”

“Dude, don’t even try to play with me, you know what I’m talking about.” Daniel fired back.

Teague quickly sat up in the chair, “I didn’t have anything to do with it, sure some of my friends did, but I wasn’t there.”

“Mmm hmm, I figured it was something like that, all that antigovernment crap you use to spout off.”

“You guys want a burger and some onion rings?” Christy called out.

“Hell yeah!” Teague called out.

“Sounds good babe.”

Teague leaned towards Daniel and tried to whisper, “Dude, she is hawt!”

“I heard that.” Christy shouted, her back to them at the stove.

Daniel smiled, “The problem is she knows it too.”

“Hey, I heard that too, watch it mister!” Daniel looked over to see her pointing a spatula at him.

Daniel smiled and Teague let out a loud laugh.

“You know I love ya babe.” Daniel said.

Christy’s back was to him, watching the burgers on the stove, “Whatever!”

“So you really didn’t have anything to do with it?” Daniel asked.

“No, I told you, I’m just on vacation.”

“Cool, let’s find something to watch, how’s those burgers babe?” Daniel shouted.

“Burned if you keep it up.”

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Carlos sat at his desk with his head in his hands. All the riots lately have taken a lot out of everyone, now things were going to a whole new level. Roberts and Andrews were in the hospital with gunshot wounds, things were definitely getting serious. The fact that all weapons were now outlawed made no difference, most people didn’t turn them in, certainly not the typical gang banger. Hell, even he didn’t put all his on the forms he had to fill out as a law enforcement officer. They said he could keep his, but Carlos didn’t trust the government anymore than the people currently burning down the city. The only difference between him and the rioters is he wasn’t ready to start lighting fires, yet.

Another officer walked by him and paused, “Hey Carlos, they’re gonna be alright, word from the ER is neither of them had serious wounds.”

Carlos looked up, “Thanks man, that’s good, real good.”

The other officer quickly moved off and Carlos looked at his desk, it was mounded with paperwork that needed done but he just didn’t have the energy or give-a-**** to do it. Under the new laws, the use of the rifle in the riot changed things in the entire dynamic of how the city would deal with them from now. The first thing the APD did was to call the FBI and tell them of the shooting of two of their officers. Now in addition to the state investigation into the shooting there would be a federal one as well, but that was above his pay grade and other people had to worry about that. He knew thought that at some point he would probably be interviewed by the FBI and the GBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

His phone rang and Carlos picked it up without even thinking, “Carlos”.

“Carlos, this is Richard Folsom with the FBI, I’m on my way down, can you hang out till I get there?”

Carlos rocked back in his chair and looked at the ceiling shaking his head, “Yeah sure, how long till you get here?”

“My team will be there in about fifteen minutes.”

“Rubbing a hand through his hair he replied, “I’ll be right here, got nothing better to do right now.”

“Thanks”, came the terse reply before the line went dead.

Carlos hung up the phone then rocked back in his chair, “Well ****!”

“What’s wrong?” A female voice asked from behind him.

Carlos spun around to see detective Nora Fitz from the vice squad, “Some **** from the FBI is on his way down here to interview me I assume.”

“****? That’s a little harsh isn’t it?” She asked with a smile.

“No, he’s a real ****, some guy named Richard Folsom.”

“****” Nora said shaking her head, “That’s damn funny.” She added as she walked away.

***

Daniel, Christy and Teague sat and ate the hamburgers and the homemade potato chips Christy made. Teague was stuffing a couple in his mouth, his head slightly back, looking at her, not only was she hot but the girl could cook. The TV was on CNN, footage of riots from all over the country flashed across the screen. The ticker at the bottom slowly crawled across the screen with other news facts. The NYSE had been shut down at 1:00PM when the circuit breakers kicked in due to excessive losses. In California police were looking for whoever attacked a Girl Scout campout, killing three young girls.

“What’s going on at work, it must be crazy down there?” Christy asked between bites of her burger.

The question caught Daniel off guard and he almost choked on a mouthful of potatoes, recovering he looked up, “Ah, yeah, you might say that.”

Christy and Teague both sat there looking at him, waiting for more, when he didn’t continue Teague said, “And?”

“And, what?” Daniel replied.

“What happened?” Christy asked.

“Nothing, nothing really, just the same stuff you see there.” Daniel said pointing at the TV.

Teague looked at the big screen, “More than I’d want to deal with, that’s part of the reason I left Michigan.”

“Me too, I haven’t been anywhere near downtown.” Christy said.

Daniel looked over at Teague, “Yeah, some bad **** up there huh.”

Teague stared at the screen, “Yeah.”

“How long is Teague staying here?” Christy asked.

“I don’t know, how long are you staying here?” Daniel asked.

Teague just shrugged his shoulders, “I guess till you kick me out.”

“So you’re leaving tomorrow then?”

“Daniel, that’s not very nice.” Christy fired back.

Teague just laughed and Daniel followed suit, “He can stick around, I don’t care.”

After finishing their burgers Daniel said he was tired and wanted to go bed, Christy said she’s go with him and Teague said he was going to stay up and watch TV for a while. Daniel went to a closet and got out extra blankets for Teague and threw them at him before heading to bed.

Teague was sleeping with his face wedged into the joint between the arm and the back of the sofa sound asleep. He opened his eyes, was it a noise? Laying there seeing only the fabric of the couch he listened. Knock, knock, knock, resonated from the door, very loudly and with force. Teague bolted upright, his blanket covering half of his head. The knock came again, he jumped up, looking around not sure what to do.

Looking back at the door he called out, “Who is it?”

After a brief pause came the reply, “Agent Richard Folsom with the FBI.”

Teague’s mouth fell open and it took a conscious effort on his part not to **** on himself. For a moment he didn’t know what to do, quickly crossing the room he pulled his pistol from his bag and checked the action. Moving back to the door he looked through the peep, there were two men outside. That struck him as odd, if the FBI knew he was there they would send the same SRT team to kick in the door as they did everyone else.

“What do you need?” Teague called out.

“Is Daniel here?”

Teague jerked his head back, looking at the door. Daniel, they wanted Daniel? “Uh, yeah, let me get him.”

Teague headed for Daniel’s room, stopping by the bathroom he shoved his pistol into the center of a stack of towels on a shelf over the toilet, then went to opened Daniel’s door and opened it, Daniel and Christy were laying there, and Christy slept commando.

“Dude, the FBI’s here.”

Daniel was asleep when the door opened, all he heard was FBI and here. Sitting up in the bed rubbing his eyes he asked, “What, who?”

Teague was half leaning into the dark room holding onto the doorknob, “The FBI is at the door asking for you.”

“What, the FBI, for what?” Daniel asked as he got out of bed.

“How the hell would I know.”

“What’s going on?” Christy asked as she sat up, covering herself with a sheet.

“The FBI’s here babe.” Daniel said.

“The FBI, for what, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”

The knock sounded from the door again. Teague looked over his shoulder, “Dude, you better go find out what they want.”

“Yeah, I’m going, I’m going”, Daniel said as he pulled on a pair of shorts.

“I’m gonna grab a shower.” Teague said as he headed for the bathroom.

Daniel walked past him and headed for the living room as Teague went into the bathroom. Closing the door Teague leaned against the door trying not to lose it, looking at the stack of towels he reached in and pulled the pistol out, looking at it. Looking around the bathroom he knew he had to find a place to hide but still have it handy. The obvious places would be searched and he about to just stick it under the sink when his eyes fell on the toilet.

Gently taking the cover off the tank he laid his Rock River 1911 into the bottom and replaced the cover. He quickly turned on the water, making it exceptionally hot and got into the shower. He was so nervous all he could do was stand there and stare at the curtain in the direction of the door.
Read more at http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=243659&page=752#CwH4MGyLkIEkwj1x. 99

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Daniel turned on a lamp by the sofa as he headed for the door, the looked through the peep. Two men in blue windbreakers with FBI in yellow letters were standing there, obviously annoyed. They looked up simultaneously as he opened the door.

“Sorry, I was still asleep.” Daniel said.

“I’m Richard Folsom, this Chris Collins, can we come in?”

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck, “What’s this about?”

“What happened at the bank yesterday.”

“Oh, that, yeah, come on in.”

The two men followed him in, Daniel flopped onto the sofa, threw his feet out on the coffee table and crossed his arms over his chest. Agent Folsom took a seat in the chair, the other one just stood there looking around.

“Who else is here?” Agent Collins asked.

Daniel looked back over the sofa, “Yeah, my girlfriend an my cousin.”

Agent Collins looked back towards the bedroom, “Where are they?”

“She’s back there, I think he’s in the shower, so what can I help you guys with?”

Agent Folsom set out a notepad on the table and flipped through some pages for a moment looking at the notes intently. Looking up he asked Daniel to tell him what happened.

“I guess you’re asking about the shooting?”

“That’d be a good place to start.” Folsom said with a nod.

Before Daniel could start Christy came out and sat down on the sofa, moving away the blankets Teague had left scattered over around. Daniel looked her, then back to the agents.

“This is my girlfriend, Christy.”

The two agents nodded, she smiled and looked at Daniel, “What’s going on?”

“Daniel’s about to tell us.” Collins said, everyone in the room looked at Daniel.

He went on to describe the events on the roof of the garage, the molitov cocktails, the man with the rifle, the shooting of the two officers and finally of the LT with the APD asking for their help. When he finished he was leaning forward on his elbows looking at the table. Agent Folsom took notes as he spoke and flipped through the notebook he relayed the story.

“You shot someone?” Christy asked with a little shock.

Without looking up from the notebook Folsom asked, “Who fired first?”

The question caught Daniel off guard, “Uh, the guy with the AK.”

Looking up Folsom asked, “No, you or Bob?”

Daniel fell back into the sofa, letting out a huff, “Um, I think I did, Bob was on the phone with the cop.”
Folsom nodded his head, flipped through the notebook, made a note on another page then closed the book. “Well, your story lines up with Bob’s.”

“Am I in trouble or something?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t see any problems right now, you guys were backing up the police at their request so you’re good for now.”

“He’s taking an awful long shower isn’t he?” Agent Collins said, stepping towards the hallway to the bathroom,

Daniel and Christy both looked back towards him, “I guess.” Daniel said.

“Why don’t you check on him.” Collins said.

Daniel shrugged and stood up and headed for the bathroom. He rapped on the door, “Hey man, you still alive in there?”

The door jerked open, Daniel jumped back a bit, bumping into Collins who was standing very close behind him. Teague stood there with a towel wrapped around his waist, drying his hair with another.

“What’s up?” Teague asked.

“Ah, nuthin’, just wanted to make sure you didn’t drowned.” Daniel said as he headed back to the sofa.

Teague followed him into the livingroom with agent Collins right behind him. Teague went to his bag in the corner and bent over, opening it up. When he bent over his towel fell to the floor. Christy let out a little giggle. Teague looked back at the agents who were not the least bit amused to be staring at his bare ass. Teague picked the towel and wrapped it back around himself, collected his clothes from the bag and straightened up. He held the clothes up and smiled, then headed for the bathroom to get dressed.

“I’ll be in touch if we need anything else.” Folsom said as he headed for the door with Collins in tow.

Daniel followed them to the door, thanked them for coming and said he would cooperate in any way he could. After shutting the door he could hear Collins, “That kid’s a smartass.”

Teague was in the bathroom with back against the door, leaning on the vanity for support. He was laughing so hard tears were running down his face, the only thing keeping the sound in was his hand clasped over his mouth.

***

With the building empty Gene took up his preferred post while at work, in his small office in the bowels of the building. He felt at home in the engineering spaces of the giant place. Sure it wasn’t like being onboard ship, but it was as close as he could get. Asleep with his feet up on the desk when the phone rang he nearly fell out of the chair, what was left of his tuna sandwich resting on his chest falling on the floor. After flailing about for moment to regain his balance he answered the phone.

“Engineering.”

“You awake Gene?”

“Am now Bob, thanks, what’s up?”

“I knew you’d still be here, you plan on going home any time soon, things are quiet outside right now if you want to bail out.”

“Nah, I’ll just stay here, no reason to go home.”

“Well, come on up to my office, we’ll have a drink.”

“Sounds good to me, on my way.”

“Say Gene, you still hiding that illegal .45 in your desk?”

“He he, of course I do.”

“Bring it with you then.”

Gene found Bob at his desk, one foot propped on it. In hand was the omnipresent cigarette, in the other he cradled a glass of scotch, only this time it was in a clear tumbler. Gene fell into a chair across from him. Bob leaned forward and slid the bottle and another glass across the desk, Gene quickly poured himself a little more than two fingers of whiskey.

Taking a sip of his whiskey Gene asked, “Why you still here, why not go home?”

“Same reason you’re still here, nothing to go home to. Already have two ex-wives, don’t need another.”

Gene laughed to himself, “Amen to ex-wives, mine divorced me as soon as I retired, so long as I was in the Navy and stayed gone a year at a time we were happily married.”

“Hung around to get half of that Navy retirement huh?”

“Yeah, damn bitch.” Gene replied laughing. “So what the hell’s going on around here?”

Bob laughed filled his glass and gave Gene a run down on what’s happened, telling him about the riot and the shooting. When Bob wrapped it up he dropped his butt into an empty cup on the desk and refilled his glass.

“Damn, you killed him?” Gene asked as he leaned out for the bottle.

“I guess, they drug him off the deck so I don’t know for sure.”

“Where’s Daniel, getting’ drunk someplace?”

With a chuckle Bob replied, “yeah, probably, I am.”

The phone on his desk rang, Bob looked over at, then drained his glass.

[Gena.KY]

A decision is needed

My thought is ....
AA has just been giving us little snips at a time & a long time between snips. That is the way I read it. If I had read it once finished, I may feel differently about it altogether. I'll get back to you on that.

[Kailani Kealoha]

A decision is needed

I think it would be best to stick to the GH series for now. It would be better to introduce it as a new series once this one has been completed.

[angeryamerican]

A decision is needed

I know this story posts slow, I just do not have a lot of time to write at the moment. I'm thinking of making a change that could change that though.

As for book 3, soon maybe. I got a lot of messages from people saying they were copying the posts and pasting them into a word doc. They do not realize that it is all copyright protected material, real copyright in the Library of Congress so it opens up some issues for me that I'd rather not deal with.
So we'll have to see, if I do it, it will be here and not on SB.

I probably will for you guys though, just wont make it public knowledge. If someone stumbles across it that's fine, mainly for you booger eaters.

[Gena.KY]

A decision is needed

Us booger eaters salute you!!!! We may even understand that you have a life....but does that stop us from giving you hell???? HELL NO!!!

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

reposted from SB original post-- thank you.

[unseenone]

A decision is needed

Daniel hung up the phone and looked at Teague and Christy, “I have to go back to the office.”

“What, why?” Christy asked.

That was the FBI agent, he said I needed to back there and go over what happened.”

“Dude, you want to go out in that?” Teague said pointing at the TV.

They were watching the news and things in Atlanta were getting out of hand again. News of the shooting had found its way to the media who were now reporting on it, though they had it wrong. The story the news media was putting out was that the police had shot to rioters in downtown, there was no mention of the two officers that were wounded. This news set off the already unsettled masses in the streets.

Atlanta wasn’t the only city having trouble, cities across the nation were in the same shape, having exactly the same troubles. Several reports of exchanges of gunfire between the police and rioters were all over the news. The incidents of shootings of both police and rioters was increasing, both sides were escalating the use of violence. The fact that the banks were still closed, EBT and debit cards were not working and no one had access to cash unless they had it on hand was combining with the rise in violence to create the perfect storm.

“I don’t want to stay here, can I come with you?” Christy asked.

Daniel looked away from the TV, “You guys wanna come with me, it’s certainly safer than it is here.”

“I do, Teague, you coming?” Christy asked.

“Sure why not, let’s go see what the belly of the beast looks like.”

Unlike his last trip to the bank, this time Daniel wasn’t stopped by the police. There were plenty of them around but they seemed far to occupied to mess with the three of them. Daniel called Bob and told him he was on his way in, that he was told by the FBI agent to come back.

“Yeah, I talked to the **** too, I’ll be waiting on you, when you come in pull into the underground section, I’ll open the gates for you as you pull up.”

“Thanks Bob, by the way, I’ve got my girlfriend and cousin with me, they didn’t want to stay at my place.”

“The more the merrier.”

Daniel was sitting at the entrance of the garage as the gate rolled up when Teague shouted, “Holy ****!”

Daniel looked out the window, down the block to see a squad of riot police running before a massive crowd of rioters. The officers were in full on, every man for himself retreat. The three of them sat there transfixed on the scene. They watched as one of the officers was drug down by the crowd, like the slowest Zebra in the heard. He set upon by the swirling mass of people, it wasn’t long before one person held his helmet aloft, then other pieces of the riot gear began to appear, hoisted like trophies.

“Get your ass in gear!” Bob’s voice blared from an intercom mounted on a pedestal at the gate. Daniel’s head snapped around to see the gate was open, he floored the Jeep and was in the garage in a flash, the gate immediately began to close. The rioters were more than a block away, but Bob wasn’t taking any chances.

Daniel shut the Jeep off, though he couldn’t tell as the engineering space he was parked in was so loud it didn’t miss the sound of the Jeep. He was looking back at Christy in the mirror when there was a knock on his window. The sudden knock caused him to jump in his seat, looking out he saw Gene standing there, the broad smile on his face hidden with those whiskers.

Daniel stepped out as Teague got out of the passenger side, folding his seat for Christy to extricate herself from the rear seat.

“Scare easy?” Gene asked.

“Not usually, thanks for the effort though.”

“Bob was afraid you’d get lost, sent me down here to make sure you didn’t get eat by the hogs.”

“There’s hogs in the building?” Christy shouted over the din around her.

Teague started to laugh, “no it’s an old saying, went to do **** and the hogs eat ‘im.”

The explanation didn’t clear the issue for her, “So there’s no hogs?” she asked looking around.

Gene let out a laugh and led the trio through a door and to a freight elevator. On the tenth floor they changed to one of the public elevators to get to Bob’s office. They found Bob where Daniel left him, sitting at his desk, cigarette in hand. Daniel looked around the office, looking for the agent.

“The ****’s not here yet.” Bob said.

“What do they want, what are we supposed to do?”

Christy and Teague stepped into the office, interrupting Bob’s answer, he looked Christy up and down with raised eyebrows. He quickly stood up and offered her his hand, “Hi, I’m Bob.”

Christy smiled and introduced herself, then looked around the dark cluttered office. She was just about to sit down when the lights went out for a brief instant before coming back on. Bob looked up at Gene who nodded and left the office.

“What was that?” Daniel asked.
“Andy, what’s up?” Bob called through the open door.

Andy shouted his reply, “Power’s out, we’re on generator power now.”

Bob excused himself, to Christy and stepped out. “See anything out there?”

Soon everyone was in the outer office looking at the monitors. In full HD they were watching the chaos on the streets outside the bank. In the short time since they arrived the mob on the street had moved up the block, past the bank and were constructing barricades in the streets. More fires were now burning, piles of tires that threw up huge clouds of thick black smoke. Across the street from the bank buildings were being looted. Andy was panning the cameras around and the view on all sides of the bank was the same, they were completely surrounded.

“Hmm, this doesn’t look good” Bob said, then turned to face everyone, “we may be here awhile.”

“What do you mean by that?” Christy asked.

Bob pointed to the monitor, “You want to go out there?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine here, they’ll get the power back on soon and the police will push them back.” Daniel said.

“How long will the generator run the building?” Teague asked.

“I don’t know, when Gene gets back he can answer that.”

The phone in Bob’s office rang, he stepped into the office and answered it, after a few moments he returned.

“Was that Gene?” Daniel asked.

“No that was one of the security guys, he said the folks outside were raising hell on the security shutters.”

“They can’t get in here can they?” Daniel asked.

“Well, I mean, it’s possible, but not likely.”