Episode 139

                "I've talked to the Almighty. He's pretty sure I'm going to get
                 out this alive, but he's pretty sure you're f@cked."
                                William Wallace, Braveheart

 

                “This is going to work a little bit different guys.” Arthur said as he stood around with his team. “This isn’t a warehouse or some farm house.”

                “No.” Vincent chided sarcastically. “It’s a friggin’ Police Depot.”

                “Smaller space, but the same number of guys.” Arthur continued, unabated. “We should expect twenty or so inside that fenced area.”

                “That fenced area also happens to include a lot of open space.” Lilah asked, looking at her leader. “They’ve got stacks and stacks of, of stuff. I worked construction one summer and I don’t even know what that stuff is.”

                “We are going to go over the west fence.” Arthur pressed on, the hardness of his voice getting everyone’s attention back on track. “That’s the one closest to the building. We will then proceed inside and take it room by room.”

                “Question.” Morgan said, raising his hand.

                “Yes, Morgan. You are our driver again.” Arthur sighed.

                “That’s not my question.” The former knight smiled sarcastically. “Arthur, have you ever been shot at?”

                The knight blinked. Yes.” He answered after a moment. “Earlier this morning.”

                “I mean, before that. I mean in close quarters.” Morgan clarified. “Have any of you?” He posed to the rest of the group.

                “A couple of times.” Vincent offered, holding up his hand.

                “The point, Morgan.” Arthur said, leaning over the trunk of the car.

                “The point is, I’ve heard that when a Brotherhood cell is connected with law enforcement, they usually don’t have a lot of Hand agents around. Now, I don’t know if this is true, but it’s a known fact that the reason the Brotherhood doesn’t use guns more than they already do is because of the Hand.” Morgan looked down the street at the distance police depot in the twilight. “Now, you’re talking about breaking into a police depot in Baltimore Maryland? We are still below the Mason-Dixie line. Those are rednecks.”

                “The point.” Arthur repeated, his patience waning.

                “That simply raises the likelihood that they have guns. Police depot plus rednecks plus underground cult society plus going to war equals likelihood of them having loaded guns really, REALLY high.” Morgan went on. “If you guys have never dealt with guns in a situation like this before, you are in for a real surprise.”

                Arthur looked at the three participating members, then back to Moran. “We’ll be fine.” He bit confidently, standing up from the car.

 

                Arthur threw his black trench coat over the barbed wire top of the fence and leapt over it without barely a step. Behind him, Jason got a running start and vaulted over. Vincent stayed back as Lilah ran, and then he finished the group, jumping over the fence as well.

                Arthur pulled his trench coat down and looked inside the windows. Only a few were still lit. “I think this is the major information sources for the Brotherhood.”

                “Would make sense.” Vincent said, looking around.

                Light.

                “Freeze!” Screamed a voice.

 

                “Idiots.” Morgan whispered as he leaned against the car, his head in his hands.

 

                Arthur turned slowly around to the flashlight that stood before the security officer. “Put your hands behind your head.” The officer said. But before he could finish the sentence, Arthur threw his hand out, a handful of dust flaring out into the guard’s vision.

                A fast rush and the giant black man grabbed the flashlight hand and punched the guard hard enough to knock him into the brick wall. The police officer hit the ground, blood spilling from his mouth. “Go!” Arthur shouted quietly to the three. Quickly, they moved towards the entrance at the edge of the building.

                With them out of sight, Arthur drew out his katana. A fast slice and he drove the blade deep into the officer’s body.

 

                The door opened slowly, letting the light break out into the twilight world. Inside, as his eyes got used to the light, he could see a small crowd of people, loading pallets of boxes. Vincent glanced back at Jason. “They look like they’re getting ready to move out.” The white knight said, at a loss.

                As they spoke, Arthur came around the corner, his katana in his hand. “Is everything . . .” Vincent started to ask when he looked at the katana. Splashed red, the steel blade dripped with the once-life it had touched. “That was a police officer, Arthur.” He said with a graven voice. “Was that really . . . Arthur, that was a bad idea.”

                “You knew the risks when you joined up.” The large man said, moving to the front. He looked through the door, then without even a word, opened it up, slipping nimbly into the building.

 

                The stereo button clicked and the speakers went silent. Morgan sat back in the driver’s seat, glancing over his shoulder in the general direction of the Police Depot. “I wonder how everything’s going?” He asked to no one.

                A loud barrage of gunfire punctuated his question.

                Morgan sighed. He turned back to the car, opening the door. “Okay. That’s it.” He said, grabbing up his Grosse Messer.

 

                By the time the former knight arrived within eyeshot of the depot, he could see the splintered knights as they tried to keep themselves hidden from the police workers who swarmed out of the building like ants. “Geez, guys.” Morgan lamented as he stopped by the tree line.

He looked around in the area, then got a running start right up to the gate. A fast swing and his sword cut through the metal fencing like it wasn’t there. The former knight kicked the fencing down enough for him to slide in.

                “Hey!” Shouted a guard, his flashlight falling on Morgan.

Morgan whirled around, throwing his sword at the man. The handle connected to the man’s chest just a second before Morgan kicked the guy in the face. The blow knocked him down to the ground, leaving him unconscious.

                Morgan picked up the man’s radio and clicked it on. “I’ve got them sighted!” He shouted in an accented voice. “Two of ‘em are over by the west-side corner. They’re trying to hop the fence!”

                “I’m by the west side corner.” Came a crackled response.

                “Then you should see ‘em. Go get ‘em!” He yelled. Then he bolted for the other direction.

                Skimming around the building, he came across two more workers, these two in true police uniforms. Morgan didn’t even slow down. He rushed right up to the first and grabbed the man’s collar. With a fast yank backwards, he shoved the man back up against the wall. Coming around the other direction, the knight planted his elbow into the second man’s face, knocking him down as he coughed up blood.

                Morgan turned back to the first cop, parrying the man’s arm as he tried to aim his gun. A fast punch to the man’s stomach revealed his bulletproof vest. A second blow to the man’s neck hit a nerve and knocked him out cold. Morgan turned back around to the second cop, making sure he was out, then he bolted on ahead.

                Just around the building, the large stack of metal tubes were stacked up on one another, forming a long stack of circular tubes, held tightly down with guy wires. Morgan looked at the wire closest to him and smiled.

                With the blade of the sword, the guy wire split like a guitar string.

                The gathering of police over in the west corner barely had time to look over as the aluminum tubes came crashing down onto the ground, collapsing on top of them. The loud banging of noise filled the area, rebounding off the trees on all sides as the fencing was knocked over like the police officers.

                “Come on!” Morgan yelled, standing up from his slice. He ran directly for the front gate, not bothered by the heavy metal chain before him. He came to a stop right in front of it and looked around. He saw the four familiar shapes running towards him, the police in the distance moving too slow. Another slice from his sword and the fencing was cut open just as easily.

                Morgan stepped through first, holding it for the others. Arthur was the last one out, but before they moved, Morgan stopped the leader of the knights with the blade of his sword. “These weren’t all Brotherhood guys, Arthur. Some of them were real police officers. You have just now brought down the fire on the knights.”

                “Now’s not the time.” Arthur bit, rushing on a head.

                “You’re welcome.” Morgan yelled at him as the knight rushed for the car. Morgan shook his head, then looked at the other three. “What?” He said.

                The three just stared in awe.

                “You, you, you . . .” Vincent tried.

                “Me, me, me.” Morgan answered back. He grabbed Vincent’s shoulder and pushed him towards the car. “Let’s go.”