“What’s the situation captain?” asked my best friend Mike. I, along with the rest of the Seattle FBI’s RRU (Rapid Response Unit) were called in just a little over an hour ago after our captain informed us of a bank robbery in progress.

“We have approximately eight heavily armed men and thirteen hostages. The silent alarm went off at 3:45 so we can assume they entered in just before that. They’ve tried to destroy all of the security cameras but seemed to have missed one. From what we can tell, these guys are pros. Outfitted in paramilitary gear and armed to the teeth.” informed Captain Ruiz.

“Any clue as to who they are?” I asked just as Daniel–our tech guy-came bumbling up.

“Captain, I have a possible hit on of our bank robbers. We have a partial face recognition for one Jeffery McDonald. He currently has a warrant out for breaking out of prison about a month ago, along with seven other men.” Seven others? Could this crew be the same group that broke out? Quite likely.[/i]

“Breaking out of prison,” I said, “seems to me like these guys have nothing to lose-,”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Holy shit! We got shots fired from inside the bank!” exclaimed an unknown voice.

“Daniel, can you see anything from that CCTV?” asked Ruiz.

“No captain, the angle is all wrong and it’s not a rotating camera,”, explained Daniel.

“Alpha squad, get ready. We’re going in now!” I yelled.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing? You may lead Alpha squad but I give the orders around here.” protested Ruiz.

“With all do respect sir, if we don’t go in now more people will die.” I hated what I said next, “and I know you don’t want that on your conscious.” It was a low blow, but something had to be done. I could see his anger building up but he suppressed it.

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth, “but you and I are going to have a nice chat when this is over.” I nodded to him and sped off to get dressed. The RRU got the best gear available, and we were going to need it. Strapped with kevlar vests, various weapons, flash bangs, and other tactical gear, my squad emitted an imposing aura. Thumbing the green emerald pendant that hung around my neck for good luck, I noticed a small light glint from inside the gem. Weird. Must have been the light reflecting.

Seeing as my squad was ready, we began.

“Olsen, get up on the roof of the building across from the bank and get ready to cover our asses.” Our designated marksmen and only female on the team gave a tight “yes sir!” and headed across the street. As we passed the police barricade I could quickly see that going through the front door was not an option. We rounded a corner and entered an alleyway. A ladder was secured to the side of the bank and ran the height of the brick building.

“Daniel, is there an entrance on the roof?” I asked through the comm.
“Let me see, there’s a ventilation shaft…too small…Aha! A service hatch should be located in the far left corner and that will take you to down to the second floor.”

“Copy that.”

I began climbing the ladder and my squad did the same. As soon as everybody was on the roof we marched to the service hatch. Seeing that only a small lock was between us and the second floor, I pulled out my bolt cutters. It bit through the easily enough but Mike had to stop me from opening the hatch.

“Jamie, wait. If these guys are pros they’ll have all their bases covered, and will probably have men at all entrances.” seeing he had a point I pulled out a snake camera. Rodriguez -our demolitions expert- lifted the hatch just enough for me to sneak the tiny camera through. I looked at my PDA that was connected to the camera and saw that Mike was right: one man guarded this area with his back to the hatch holding what appeared to be a G36C assault rifle. Heavily armed? No shit!

“Okay Rodriguez. Open the hatch slowly and I’ll take care of our friend.” I said as I slipped a silencer on to the barrel of my MP5. He did as ordered and I slipped my upper body down as Mike held on to my legs to keep me from falling. I lined up the sights while nearly upside down and took the shot. FFFT! The shot ripped through his neck effectively silencing any screams as it tore through his vocal cords. Thankfully we were on the second floor, as silencers don’t completely mute the sound of a gunshot. Mike, Rodriguez, Thompson and I lowered ourselves to the floor and scanned.

“Clear,” said Rodriguez as he rounded a corner, “it looks like the rest of the men are down-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as an unseen force launched him back towards the wall, followed by the sounds of bones crunching. He slumped down dead as copious amounts of blood poured from the back of his skull.

“Shit! Mike, Thompson, get back! Rodriguez is down!” I yelled at them.

I almost made it back to my squad when what only could be described as a man born out of nightmares came into view. He was tall, about six foot five inches and built like a brick shit house. I had faced many enemies that were bigger than me, so this isn’t what made me stop in my tracks. Rather, a vibrant purple light that emanated from his eyes and hands. Through all this I hadn’t realized my pendant was growing hot, almost burning my skin. Mike turned the corner to see what had terrified me and yelled

“Fuck!” He pulled me back just in time as a bolt of purple energy flew from the mans hand and narrowly missed me. The heat from my emerald gem snapped me back into reality and I pushed the remaining members of my team into a large office room.

“Shit shit shit what the fuck was that!? How are we supposed to fight that!” demanded Thompson as we barricaded the door.

“I have no clue, but we still have weapons. We aren’t defenseless.” I reminded him, “remember your training!”

I turned to Mike, “See if you can find a way out of here. Thompson and I will guard the door.”

Mike took off in search of an escape route while I tried to reach the captain.

“God dammit, my comm isn’t working. What about yours?” I asked Thompson. He tried his but ended up with the same result. Why aren’t they working? None of us were hurt so there was no way they could be damaged. Just then my pendant burned hot again as a purple light seeped through the door crack and I instinctively jumped out of the way just as the office doors exploded. The explosion knocked me back about 15 feet. I half crawled half dragged myself to the back wall and tried to regain my bearings. Looking up I could see the entire office was covered in a thick cloud of smoke. Looking down I saw I thick piece of wood lodged deep in my stomach. Must have been part of the door from the blast. Well shit, doesn’t look like I’m getting out of this one.

I pulled out the pendant that my dad had given me for my 26th birthday last year. He had told me it was passed down to him by his father, and his father before him. Looking up once more I could see the purple glow of the man’s eyes and hands scanning the smokey room. I clutched the burning gem with my bloody hand. As soon as the gem came in contact with my blood it flashed a brilliant shade of green, and a strange mass took form of a girl in front of me. No, not a girl, a woman. A beautiful woman.

“Master!” she excitedly said with a pleased smile. Her happiness quickly turned to panic when she looked at my hand clutching my wound. Looking around, her eyes landed on the man walking around the room. A terrified expression painted itself on her gorgeous face. How I hated to see her scared. She grabbed my arm and spoke in a whisper.

“Master, you must wish us away from this place! When we are gone I can heal you.” What the hell? This is just my imagination running wild while I’m on the brink of death. There’s no way she’s real…..but what about the burning pendant?

“What do you mean wish us away?”

“All you have to say is ‘I wish I was in my home’ and I can take you there!” she exclaimed. Realizing I had no other options, I spoke the magic words. She gave a satisfied smile and before I knew it I was in my living room.

“Now say ‘I wish I was healed’.” I did as she asked and immediately felt a hot, searing pain where the wood fragment was lodged in me. The pain was to much for me to handle and before I passed out my last thoughts raced through my head.

I don’t want to die,

I’m too young to die,

I was going to get promoted,

At least I’ll leave this place looking at a beautiful woman. The last thought brought a smile to my face as oblivion claimed its newest victim

To be continued….