This is a passion work. So, I would really appreciate it if you leave behind a review when you're done reading.
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CH23: FALLEN EAGLES.
"Let's end this." Korede Balogun said.
Now that all the remaining hostiles were trapped on the first floor, all they had to do was to take them all out and get the packages in one swoop.
That was easier said than done though. Out of the fifteen Haram Boys members that were originally present, four had died. One was killed with the Emissary's Bombmaker, while the remaining three were killed at the staircase. Four of the Emissary's men were also trapped on the first floor.
These guys were unlucky. The reason for them being forced upstairs had to do with the Haram Boys' inadequacy. If these four had been in their place, they would never have been trapped like this. Unfortunately, they were on the upper floors when the fighting started. By the time they got down, the Haram Boys members had been pinned in front of them. Hence, they also became trapped. So, there're currently 15 hostiles on the first floor.
Korede picked up the rifle close to Staff Sergeant Bayero's body. He signalled to Temitope and Fatima to go to the emergency staircase at the back of the building while the other team members kept the pressure on the hostiles.
First, he was worried the hostiles would use it to escape. Second, they could use that to flank them.
The duo made their way out of the building and went around back. They quietly climbed up the staircase. Temitope gently opened the door and they made their way in. Once in, they made their way towards the sound of gunfire. The hostiles were to their right turn. The four Emissary men were already making their way over trying to get to the emergency exit. The duo backed up a bit and took cover. Immediately the hostiles made the turn, they sprayed them with bullets. The four died on the spot.
The Haram boys were shocked by the sudden gunfire behind them that they stopped firing at the Bravo team members on the ground floor.
Taking advantage of the moment, Korede was able to shoot down two people. The hostiles backed away from the staircase in the opposite direction of Temitope and Fatima. They truly became trapped and had nowhere to go. They quickly found cover and waited to have a last stand with the Bravo squad. The team made their way up the staircase and joined Temitope and Fatima. The two groups had a shoot out but the result was a foregone conclusion. The Bravo team killed off all of them soon enough.
Actually, this battle could have ended in many different ways. For one, while the Haram Boys did not, the Bravo team had grenades. It would have taken just one to finish the battle quicker but they decided against that because they didn't want to accidentally damage the nuclear material canister nor set off the bomb. On the other hand, the Haram boys would have detonated the bomb but the trigger was with the Emissary.
The team walked up to the corpses and confirmed the kills. Korede and Mary secured the briefcases. They opened each one and confirmed their content. Korede opened the briefcases containing the meteorite and the nuclear material while Mary opened the briefcase containing the bomb. They were shocked to see the completed bomb but calmed down seeing that it was not armed. They were about to relax when…
A few minutes earlier
Alpha team chased after the Emissary. Master Sergeant Adewuyi was driving, Second Lieutenant Kunle Balogun-Keshinro was in the passenger's seat while Glory Oyakire and Boluwatito Oguntoyinbo were in the back seat. Master Sergeant Adewuyi drove wildly and they quickly had the two cars in sight.
As they got closer, the hostiles finally noticed them. The car behind decelerated a little so that it could keep Alpha team busy while the car which the Emissary was in could escape. The two cars side-rammed each other. When the hostile car approached again for another ram, Second Lieutenant Kunle Balogun-Keshinro opened fire and manage to shoot the driver. The car quickly lost control and veered off the road before rolling over.
The team ignored this and continued chasing down the Emissary. Hostiles from the car started shooting at them while the Alpha team returned fire. The chase continued for a few more metres when suddenly a helicopter with a mounted machine gun appeared. The gunner opened fire on the Alpha team. As bullets went flying, some caught Master Sergeant Adewuyi killing him instantly. The bullets also burst the car's front tires causing the car to crash and flip over.
The hostile's car stopped and the Emissary got out. He looked back at the crashed vehicle. Then, he noticed something. Second Lieutenant Kunle Balogun-Keshinro had managed to weakly crawl out of the wreckage. It took all he had and he could only lie weakly on the floor after he got out. Emissary recognised Second Lieutenant Kunle Balogun-Keshinro as the soldier that shot and almost killed him. Rage surfaced on his face. He took a pistol from one of his men and walked over.
Second Lieutenant Kunle Balogun-Keshinro saw Emissary walking over to him but he was too drained to move, not to mention, he didn't have a gun on him. The Emissary looked down at him but didn't shoot him immediately as he expected. Instead, he heard the Emissary say, "The other team should still be in that building right?"
Trepidation filled Second Lieutenant Kunle Balogun-Keshinro's heart when he heard this. He saw the Emissary bringing something out from his pocket. The device was not big or special, it only had a red button on it. The Emissary pressed it as he said,
"Now you won't die alone. All of you will die together."
After saying this, he shot Second Lieutenant Kunle Balogun-Keshinro in the head and walked away. He got onto the helicopter and it flew off
The button the Emissary pressed was exactly the trigger to the bomb Mary had opened. The bomb blew and the entire building collapsed burying everything including the Bravo team underneath.
Boluwatito regained consciousness. He found himself upside down in the crashed vehicle. He managed to drag himself out only to see the dead body of Second Lieutenant Kunle Balogun-Keshinro. He caught a glimpse of the helicopter flying away and pieced together what happened. He managed to force himself to his feet and checked up on the other people in the car. He found Master Sergeant Adewuyi dead in his seat but fortunately, Glory was still alive. He gathered every ounce of strength he had to drag her out and away from the car. In the next moment however, he collapsed.
That was how Operation Catching Fire ended. The Bravo team caught fire in the building while the Alpha team caught fire in a car.
[A.N: Please, don't forget to leave a review of the work to encourage me. Your opinion really matters to me.]
AUTHOR'S NOTE/ RAMBLINGS
How was it? Did you like the ending? Was it what you were expecting?
[A.N: Please, don't forget to leave a review of the work to encourage me. Your opinion really matters to me.]