| From: | James Dening james.dening@****.co.uk |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Knock, knock...Who's there? |
| Date: | Tue, 31 Oct 2000 16:26:14 -0000 |
>>>>>[+++++begin video
+++++POV: Operations Room
Bob puts the phone down. "She's on her way. Right, how
many of them?"
The decker, eyes blank, still hooked into the net answers,
mind still in the depths of the local police communications
network...
"Ummm......wow.....all of them, I think...."
Minnie bursts into the room. "What's happening?"
"They're moving on the Mansion, Dona - 'Star, feds, DEA,
and at least a company of that FRAG bunch."
Minnie grimaces. "Christ, that's blown it. Right, let's get
out of here. You, computer boy - activate the remote
dumps, and start the wipe protocols - the feds've been
dying to get their hands on this place for ages. Where
the fuck's Lynch?" she says, looking around.
"Over there, boss..." says Herve, pointing to a figure
slumped on a chair in the corner, hat pulled over his
eyes.
"Goddamn it, Lynch, wake up." she shouts, striding over
to kick him.
And he does, no fuss, no drama. One moment he's
sleeping, the next he's not. Simple as that.
"They're on their way then?" he asks, simply, brown
eyes looking up at hers.
She nods and starts rummaging through a weapons
rack in the corner, pulling out and discarding various
pieces of equipment.
"What the hell's this?" she says, pulling out a sword.
Lynch snags it from her hand and smoothly places it
into a worn leather scabbard over his shoulder. He
smiles at her, and starts loading up the rest of his gear.
"Right," says Minnie, "Let's get out of here. The teams
should be meeting us at the two airstrips. Bob, you're
with me - Herve, you're with Lynch."
Suddenly, a klaxon goes off. Minnie looks at a security
console in the wall. "Shit, they're here....Right, get to the
tunnel...."
"Dona, they're on the entry phone. Some guy named
Mallins, wants to speak to you." Herve stands by a
phone, hand over the mouthpiece.
Everything stops, and for a second, everyone watches
Minnie, even Lynch, to see what she will do. She
pauses for a moment.
"Right, Bob, Herve - get the evacuation started. All
important people out of the tunnel.
She walks to the console, and punches up the video
monitor of the main gate. A small army of uniformed
men wait in front of the gates, with a small group of men
clustered round the entryphone.
Minnie waves the room to silence, and toggles on the
speakerphone.
"Yes?" she says, curtly.
"My name is Director Thomas Mallins, of the Organised
Crime Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Who
am I speaking to?"
"Bully for you, Jack. What do you want?"
"We have business with Mrs Minnie Descabiere."
"This *is* Minnie Descabiere, so you tell me, what's
this 'business' that requires 200 cops and support
troops."
"We have a warrant for your arrest. Please instruct
your men to..." He's interrupted by one of the men
standing with him. This man has black uniform, complete
with helmet sporting opaque glass. He leans forward
and whispers something in Mallins' ear. Mallins looks
surprised and replies. The microphone catches muffled
words.
"..procedure....Possibly..........peaceful solution?"
The man in black answers again, this time emphasising
his point with a shake of his head, then turns and vanishes
into the crowd.
"Hey, Minnie..." comes a voice from the operations room,
to her left... Lynch is playing with a different security monitor.
Minnie shushes him, as Mallins, with possibly a faint trace
of embarrassment in his voice, turns to the entryphone again.
"Very well. Ms Descabiere, you have thirty seconds to exit
the building, alone, with your hands up and unarmed, or
we're coming to get you."
"Thirty seconds?? Have you any idea how *big* this house
is, Mr Mallins? Or did Ernang not include that in his
briefing of you and all the other little desktop warriors?"
Her voice drips scorn, and his colour rises slightly.
"Thirty seconds, Descabiere..." he spits out, urbane facade
slipping slightly, and he walks away from the entryphone.
The troops close in around the gate.
"Minnie, look..." Lynch is more insistent this time. He's found
some more troops - all dressed in the ominous black of the
FRAG force, congregated some distance along the outer fence
from the main gates and they're not waiting for a deadline. As if on
cue, the motion detectors on the perimeter squawk strangulatedly,
then fall silent, their civilian electronics no match for the milspec
EM gear carried by the FRAG troopers.
It's very quiet in the operations room, even as they watch the
FRAG troops deploy, and a tank of some sort manouevre up
the the front gate.
Herve speaks for everyone.
"Dona.....if you go outside....They'll kill you."
"I know, Herve, I know. I'm thinking..."
Lynch steps forward and takes her by the arm. "Minnie, I
know what you're trying to do, but your fight isn't here." His
voice is low but firm. "You have other things to do, more
important things. You have to leave. Now."
Reluctantly, she nods. "OK, Spanish Jim...where are you?
OK, there you are... Right, we need some time. Delay them
Anyway you can, and keep casualties down, but delay them.
We need to get out, understand?"
She turns to face the room in general. There's a strange
mixture - hardnosed lifelong recidivist gangsters rub shoulders
with college kids, picked for their expertise in the new technology.
But they're all Minnie's family. And, it's hard for her to leave them.
She looks round, gazing at the room of people, some scared,
some confident, all prepared to do their part so she can escape.
She doesn't know how the stories got out, but she knows that
they're all aware of what she's doing, and also, of the fact that
for her, at least...death is inevitable. It's odd, she thinks. They're
the ones who are staying to fight Ernang's lackeys, yet it's me
they're all pitying, even as I escape.
She's still thinking about the ineffable strangeness of it all as
Bob throws a jacket around her shoulders and steers her
into the tunnel, lost in her reverie.
+++++end video]<<<<<
-- Internal Monitoring <16:01:02/10-31-61>
Descabiere Mansion Security
