Firestorm - 23. FS Chapter 23

“You twelve CUO’s, are now part of this team, we will split into three teams, with a Corporal and 4 CUO’s in each team, and for the next few days, you will be doing intensive bush training, that is usually done by full time army soldiers. Are you up to the challenge?” I added, “Staff yes Staff” all three Senior Cadets responded, “that is good to hear, right, I want you all to grab your kits, and bring them in here for now, then go and have some lunch.

When it’s time, join us for our afternoon briefing with the Cadet Commanders and other Senior Cadets” I replied and the CUO’s filed out of the room. “What do you think guys, are they up for this?” I asked as I looked at the white board, and I got a positive reply from all three Corporal’s. After a few minutes of chatting, we headed to the dining hall to get some lunch, where we found Angela and Tom in the kitchen.

As I approached the kitchen, Angela saw me coming, Tom was sitting on a chair in a corner, watching everything happening in the kitchen, while Angela was helping with serving the meals. ‘When you have finished in here, I need to speak to you and rascal” I said quietly. “Hey I’m not a rascal” Tom said loudly, with his arms crossed over his chest, and I chuckled. “Ok Tom, I need to speak to you and your mum after lunch” I responded, and Tom smiled. As I stepped out of the kitchen, I spotted the two strangers in casual clothes approaching.

“Staff Sergeant Benning, I am Corporal Banks and this is Kane, Military Police” one of the men said and they produced their identification, which I studied carefully, “I have been informed that you have something for us” I said cautiously, not 100% sure if they are really MP’s, and I glanced over to Angela, who looked a little worried. “Yes, we have some extra food supplies for you in the back of the car” one of the men replied,

I looked over to Mike Owens, and when I had caught his attention, I gave the field signal for enemy, which I saw the Corporals, and even the CUO’s recognised, and they quickly made their way towards us. “I do not know who you are, but you are not MP’s, as you may notice, I have 4 men and 12 cadets, who saw my signal and are about to surround you.

I suggest you get down on the ground, hands spread out and don’t try anything” I said, “Everyone hit the ground now, this is not a drill” Mike shouted, and everyone, including the kitchen staff went down onto the ground, leaving just the two strangers, Mike, the three Corporals and 12 CUO’s standing. Suddenly the two strangers produced large hunting knives from behind them, and flashed them in front of them, in a vicious manner.

“CUO’s stand down” I said, as soon as I saw the knives, and I saw the 12 Cadets stop and take two steps back, and remain standing. “Give me the lady and no one will be harmed” one of the strangers growled. “You know that will never happen, they are under my care, and will remain that way” I responded as I took two steps closer to the two men, not worried about the knives that they carried.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Angela appear near the doorway to the kitchen, and start walking closer to me. “No Angela, stay there” I said in a concerned manner, as she continued to move closer, and she stopped just short of me, and suddenly I felt the handle of 2 knives in my hand. “Please Angela, let us handle this, go back to the kitchen” I said seriously, to her, and she slowly backed away, till she was safely back in the kitchen.

I glanced over to Mike, who had a little smile on his face, which meant that he knew that I had the knives, and I signalled that I had two, and he nodded his head. “I repeat, give me the lady and nobody will be hurt” the same man growled again, as both of them took a step forward towards me and the kitchen, waving their knives around once again.

“I suggest you give yourself up, you are out-numbered” I responded with a little smile, as I revealed the two knives in my hands for the first time, and mimicked what the two strangers were doing with their knives, which pissed them off, as they charged towards me, using the knife to deflect his knife way from my body, I used the butt of the second knife to slam down on his wrist, making him release his knife, which slid towards one of the CUO’s, who picked it up right away, and handed it over to Troy Masterson, who was closest to him.

The other man charged me, and once again I deflected the knife away from me, and I used the butt of my second knife to hit the man hard in the kidney, making him to bend over in pain, and Mike rushed forward and grabbed the knife out of his hand.

After a quick signal, Marc took the two knives from my hand, and I was now face to face with the first man. “I repeat, lay down on the ground and spread your arms out, you are under arrest for entry in a restricted area” I said to the man, who suddenly punched me in the stomach, I wasn’t quick enough to avoid the punch, but I stood firm.

I hardly moved from the punch, even though it hurt a lot, and I gave a return punch in the kidney, which sent the man down on one knee, as he tried to recover. The second man approached me and I avoided his punch, and gave him a hard punch to the kidney again, which made him fall to the floor, and suddenly a heap of Cadets, landed on top of him.

With a smile, I looked at the first man again, “Do you give up yet” I said to the first man with a smirk, but he came towards me again, and we both deflected a number of punches, until I finally got a punch in, right in the lower ribs, changing from a closed fist to the palm of my hand at the last moment, for a harder hit, which worked, as he dropped to his knees in pain, and Marc raced forward from behind him, and pushed him forward with his foot, and another group of Cadets piled onto the stranger.

“Plastic ties please Chef” I shouted, and a few minutes later, we had the two stranger’s hands tied back as they lay on their stomachs, and the corporals and I lifted the two men to their feet, and marched them out of the dining room. “Mike, can you find out what happened to the real MP’s, and our real supplies” I said as we entered the reception area, and we sat the two men down on the floor against the wall.

I went back into the dining hall, “CUO’s I request your presence outside right now” I shouted, “Yes Staff Sergeant” came a reply from all of the CUO’s as they followed me out of the dining hall, “Sorry to interrupt your lunch, but we have two real MP’s missing, I need a search of all buildings in the compound” I said to the cadets, and they dashed outside to do as I requested.

About ten minutes later, one CUO rushed into reception, “We have found them Staff Sergeant, dazed, but they are ok, oh and they gave me these” the Cadet said as he handed over two sets of handcuffs, which Mike accepted and put them to use right away. “Ok, call off the search and return to your lunch” Mike said to the Cadet, as I went into the reception area, and picked up the office phone, and dialled the CO.

“Sir we have had an intrusion already, after Angela and Tom arrived, the MP’s were disabled, and locked away in a building, they are fine, just dazed. The two intruders tried to impersonate the MP’s when they entered the dining hall, and once I had signalled enemy to the Corporals and Warrant Officer, and they started to close in, the intruders, produced two knives, anyway the short story version is, they were disarmed, sat on by a pile of Cadets, and are now secured with plastic ties and handcuffs” I reported.

I heard the CO laugh, “I wish I was there to see that, job well done on disarming the two intruders Mitchell, I will send the police to come and collect those two intruders. Now after I spoke to you earlier, I sent another pair of MP’s to follow the first pair, they will be about 45 minutes behind the first lot, and I have informed the caretaker of their pending arrival, so they can be let in, they will have some extra supplies for you, I will hear from you tomorrow” the CO said and he ended the call.

“Mike can I leave you to watch over these two for a short while” I said to the Warrant Officer who nodded his head yes, and I motioned Marc, Troy and Amos to follow me into the conference room, where we sat down. “I hope that is the end of it, but I doubt it, those two are heavy muscle, hired to do the dirty work, and I bet they will be released from custody quickly” I said, just as there was a knock on the door.

“Come in” I called out, and two uniformed MP’s walked in and snapped to attention, “Sergeant Webb and Corporal King, reporting in Staff Sergeant”, the senior MP said, and I stood up and walked up to them and shook their hands, “At ease gentlemen, take a seat” I said as I returned to my seat. This is when a small box was placed on the table, and I smiled, knowing what was inside.

“Are you both ok?” I asked, “Yes Staff, a little shaken up, but fine” the Sergeant replied, “Right, we have a second pair of MP’s due to arrive in…” I paused to look at my watch, “any moment now, with extra supplies of some kind, and the CO is sending the police to collect Huey and Dewy” I said referring to the two intruders.

“With all the Cadets here, I want them to be protected as well, so this is what I am going to do, Angela and Tom will come with me to our undisclosed command post, that the Corporals and Warrant Officer, know the location. I want you both and the other two MP’s to take shifts to patrol this compound on a 24-hour basis, with two doing 8-hour shifts, I will be enforcing a night curfew at the compound, so as to ensure the safety of everyone.

If you don’t know, I am a highly skilled sniper shooter, I will be spending every night scanning the property from my location, looking for any movement, I will give you a VHF radio, that is to be in the hands of the two duty MP’s, and I will contact you on a regular basis, to ensure that you are ok, and to inform you of any movement that I may spot. I do not have vision for the whole compound, only about 70% of it, so I will do the best that I can, and the compound is out of my firing range, so you will have to deal with any intruders.

The three Corporals here will be out and about at night in the bush, so they will be a lot closer than I will be, and in constant contact with us, thanks to that box” I said, and Troy reached over to pick up the box, and he opened it, where he saw four SAS Satellite communications devices. Sergeant and Corporal, can I ask you to take over watch of the two intruders, until the police come to collect them, maybe find a building where they can’t get out” I said, and I waited for them to leave the room.

“Ok guys, you can try out your new toys” I said to the three Corporals with a smile, “these are SAS Satellite communications devices, they fit into your ear, and are very easy to forget that they are there. All you do is touch the device with your finger, and it activates, it also activates all devices in a 50-km region, and because they are satellite linked, there is no interference with terrain” I explained, as Troy, Marc and Amos looked at the devices, and placed them into their ears.

Amos tapped his piece and started to talk, which made the other two, to jump in fright. And I chuckled, as I picked up the 4^th ear piece and walked outside, where I found Mike speaking to the two real MP’s. When he was done, Mike followed me into the conference door, and as soon as the door was closed, I handed him the ear piece, and he put it in his ear, then frowned.

“Cut that out, it is not a toy” Mike shouted to the three Corporals, “Sorry sir, it’s just something new to us’ Marc replied, as he deactivated his earpiece. “Right, now that we have the Comm’s devices, let’s go and see what else the CO sent us” Mike announced and we headed outside and we found in the boot a large steal box, that was locked, and Mike pulled out a key from his pocket, and unlocked the box.

Mike pulled out a smaller box, which had “SR98 Ammo” written on it, and I smiled, “That would be for me, extra ammo for my sniper rifle” I announced, Mike then pulled out another box which had “Blaser Ammo” written on it, which I was not expecting, “Ok that is mine too, but I wasn’t expecting it, there should be a Blaser Sniper Rifle in there too” I added, just as Mike pulled the rifle out of the box.

Troy, can you go and get a jeep, so we can load this stuff into it” I asked, as Mike pulled out three F88 SA2 rifles, followed by a box of ammunition. “Those are for you three guys, we will keep them in the bird’s nest when not in use. It might be best if we get this metal box up there, so we have a secure place to store them” I suggested, and we returned the rifles and ammo to the box and relocked it.

A few moments later, Troy arrived in one of the jeeps, and we loaded the heavy steel box into the back, “Ok I will get one of the MP’s to come and guard the firearms, while we have our briefing, then we will get this lot up to the Bird’s Nest, and pick up my other sniper rifle on the way” I announced, as we headed inside again, with Troy staying till he is replaced to guard the jeep.

When we sat down in the conference room, I sighed loudly, and we were all silent for a few moments, until Troy entered the room, “The other MP’s have arrived, and they have another steel box, with nine Mark 3 Pistols and ammunition, one each for the MP’s and once each for us and Warrant Officer Owens” Troy announced as he sat down. “Well, it looks like the CO isn’t taking this lightly is he” I commented, just as Mike exited the room, when we heard the Cadets outside, and we followed, as we headed outside, where two MP’s issued each of us a pistol and waist holster, and three clips of ammunition, before we went to the inside parade hall for the briefing.

The Unit Commanders were gathered in one corner of the room talking, while the CUO’s and Cadet WO’s were standing in the middle of the room, wondering what their Unit Commanders are talking about, and all went silent, as soon as we entered and they noticed the holsters and guns. “Warrant Officer Owens, it is the view of all of the Cadet Unit Commanders, that you arrange immediate transport for all of us to leave this facility” one of the Captain’s said as they walked towards us.

“Not all of us Jim, some of us just want assurances that we will remain safe, during this week of training” the Unit Commander from my former school said. “Gentlemen, lets calm down for a moment, firstly we have spoken to Lt Colonel Harding a number of times today, the latest just a short while ago, he is fully aware of what is going on here. We have police on their way to collect these two thugs, and take them back to the city to be charged with unauthorised entry into a restricted facility, next as you may have noticed, we now have 4 Army MP’s here, and they are now armed as are we” I stated as I rested my hand on my pistol.

“Do you think that 9 hand pistols are going to be enough to keep other thugs from coming, and putting all these Cadets and ourselves at risk” the first Unit Commander that spoke earlier, said in an annoyed tone, “Gentlemen we have a lot more than that” Mike said with a big smile as he glanced at me for a moment.