Page 82 of Operation: Silent Angel
“Ops, are you on the line?” Cooper transmitted.
“Roger that, Coop,” Yvette’s voice replied.
Hearing her voice, a smile came to Mac’s face and felt a sense of safety.
“Control, we are getting ready to make entry,” Cooper said. “Be ready to notify the local LEOs if we need them.”
“Roger that, Coop.” They heard keys clicking on the keyboard. “I’m tapped into the local 9-1-1 system.”
“Make entry,” Coop said and then drew his weapon. Mac’s was already held at his side.
Cooper stepped in front of the door and raised his leg. With a powerful kick, the door exploded open. Mac entered ahead of him, his gaze and weapon sweeping the inside of the vacant bar. A second later, the back door opened. Kegger and Ducky strolled inside and closed the door behind themselves.
Cooper jogged over to the oval bar, checking it to make sure no one was hiding within. The four men converged on the four closed doors on the north wall. The sign on one of the doors readLadies;on the one beside it,Gents.Cooper pointed to the first one. Mac opened it and pushed it inward from a kneelingposition as Cooper rushed into the space, weapon leading the way. A one-toilet bathroom. Empty.
Ducky and Kegger did the same with the second identical bathroom.
“My guess is storeroom and stairs up,” Mac said, pointing to the two remaining doors. There was a creaking sound from above. “Looks like Billy Lane woke up.” All four men’s eyes were fixed on the ceiling.
“We need him alive,” Cooper reminded everyone.
Kegger stood by the last door. “My guess is this one is the stairs.”
Cooper nodded.
Kegger dropped to one knee and slowly turned the knob, opening the door even more deliberately, silently. The other three men stood ready in a semicircle behind him, several out of the direct sightline if anyone was within. They all stared at the narrow staircase that rose up to the ceiling and a very dark, quiet space when the door was wide open.
Mac’s heart beat in his chest like it always did in situations like this. The adrenaline pumped through his veins, putting all his senses on high alert. Ducky took the lead up the stairs, followed closely behind by Cooper.
Mac tapped Kegger on the shoulder and pointed to the other door. Kegger dropped to a knee in front of the door and reachedhis hand to the knob. He turned it slowly. It was as he’d guessed, a storeroom. Rows of shelves ran across the room. Though there was a window in the middle of the room, its light was blocked by the many shelves and items stored on them, mostly bottles, creating a shadowy space.
Covering each other, the two men entered the room just as they heard Coop and Ducky engage someone upstairs with thuds on the ceiling. “Hands, let me see your hands!” Coop’s voice yelled.
“Where is he?” Ducky voices asked. They heard him through comms.
There were several more loud thuds from above, a body slamming onto the floor. The ceiling creaked, the telltale sound of someone running across it from one side of the room to the other.
“Got the target and a woman,” Coop transmitted.
Mac and Kegger finished their sweep of the storeroom. They stepped back out into the bar, and Kegger was the first to go into the stairwell. Mac followed. As he mounted the stairs, he was suddenly pushed from behind with a great deal of force. He crashed into the stairs, instantly feeling his back spasm and losing his weapon. Then a fist barreled into his back, knocking the wind out of him.
Mac had felt someone step between his legs as he was punched, so he purposefully made himself slide down so he impacted the leg. Even though his back ached, he pushed up from thesteps and plowed himself into the man who was there, who was preparing to punch him again. They both crashed to the floor. Mac turned just enough to get his hands on the man’s white, bearded throat.
“Police asshole,” he forced out.
Kegger, hearing the commotion, realized what was happening and was on them, his own weapon now trained on the old man. “Give me a reason,” he growled.
The man raised his arms in surrender.
“Can you secure him, Mac?”
“I’m not sure I can even move,” Mac answered. “Fucker punched me in my lower back, and every muscle is spasming.”
Kegger surveyed the situation. The two men lay crumpled in a heap at the base of the stairs. Mac's hands still gripped the older man’s throat. He reached a hand down to Mac. “Need a hand up?”
Mac groaned as he maneuvered so that, with Kegger’s help, he pulled himself up to his knees and off the man.
“Roll onto your stomach, old-timer,” Kegger ordered.
