The black Sonata stopped in front of the police cordon. A young female officer came to the driver's door and knocked politely on the window. Lydia lowered the window and silently showed her service ID. The policewoman nodded gravely, turned to her own and gave the order for them to let the sonata through.
August sat silently in the back seat with Anita. The girl steadfastly kept an indifferent expression on her face, but her unnatural twitching movements betrayed her nervousness. The mercenary understood what she was thinking.
Stark blamed herself for the attack. If only she'd paid more attention to security, it wouldn't have happened and everyone would still be alive. She was partly right, but she was only partly responsible. The exhibition was secured to all accepted standards and even higher. The attack had been planned in advance and the terrorists were heavily armed, outnumbering the security staff at the expo not only in numbers but also in equipment. No one could ever have imagined that an ordinary exhibition with models and not particularly valuable samples would be raided in such a well-planned manner. Ordinary militants pursuing terrorist goals were not capable of such an attack.
August patted the red-haired girl on the shoulder. She flinched and turned away from the window.
"Don't blame yourself for what happened, no one could have predicted that this would happen.
"'Thank you,' Anita threw her arms around the guy gently, snuggling into his chest. - 'I'll come back later...
"No need. I don't take money for something like this.
Lydia got out of the car first and ordered the nearby policemen to shield the mercenary and Anita from the clusters of reporters. They didn't interfere and moved the more restive reporters away from the Sonata.
"I think Miss Stark should stay in the car. You see, these journalists are like mosquitoes," Lydia waved her hands in the air.
"Anita? - August asked, waiting for the redhead's answer. She took his hand and grinned cheekily, gaining confidence.
"It's not in my nature to hide.
The mercenary got out of the car first, helped Stark and walked towards the command centre. Ramlou walked ahead of them with confident steps, giving her ID card to all interested persons.
Holding August's hand, Anita was relieved. His strong shoulder was a mental pillar supporting her. With him, the pressure of everything going on was lessening and breathing became much easier.
The company entered the command armoured vehicle and Lydia began to ascertain the current situation. There were ten militants and twelve hostages in the building, six of whom were men. Apparently the terrorists had deliberately selected more men to get more space during negotiations.
There were stricter laws in the US for violent acts against male citizens. Given that they had already killed sixty-seven people, seventeen of whom were men, the militants were facing life in prison at best and the death penalty at worst. They had nothing to lose.
It was dangerous to storm the building, the hostages could be hurt. That is why a group of unarmed negotiators was sent to the terrorists. The militants were to be caught or eliminated during the hostage handover. No one was going to cooperate with them, their crimes were too serious for cooperation.
Cascades of fierce gunfire erupted from the street. Lydia and Augustus and a couple of SWAT officers ran outside. The shots were coming from a building surrounded by police.
"Captain Stacy, report the situation immediately! - roared into the walkie-talkie from the girl SWAT captain.
"The terrorists opened fire first... two of ours have been killed... one hostage has been killed! - hissed a distorted male voice from the walkie-talkie.
"Shit! Prepare for an assault! - commanded the captain to the officers around her.
The SWAT team spread out to the windows and other passageways into the building. On a single command from the captain, the enforcers simultaneously stormed the room. The gunfire intensified, and the explosions of SWAT's flash-bang grenades were heard.
The firefight went on for a couple of minutes, and then there was an explosion. A wave of fire engulfed the entire ground floor. Tongues of flame burst out of the windows. The policemen who remained outside lowered their arms and stared at the building flooded with fire. Fearless firemen with axes and crowbars ran past. It was pointless to extinguish the fire, they had to save the survivors.
August grabbed a crowbar from a passing female firefighter and ran into the burning house. He wasn't a hero, but when it didn't cost you anything, you could be a hero.
As he ran into the flaming doorway, the mercenary breathed in the hot air that scorched his lungs. Shouts could be heard behind him, apparently only now Anita and the others reacted to his actions. August was without special protection and without oxygen tanks. His body could withstand a few dozen minutes in such an extreme environment. That was enough time for him to run through the entire exhibition building from start to finish.
Dashing among the flames and smoke, the mercenary searched for survivors. Occasionally he encountered small groups of firefighters.
Pushing aside an obstructing board, the mercenary found the body of a Special Forces fighter beneath it. He lowered himself in front of it and touched the girl's neck, she had a faint pulse. Picking the girl up by her back and legs, August carried her outside in his arms. Gently laid her down on the road and checked her pulse again - it was absent.
"I hope there won't be any claims against me later... - said the mercenary, unbuttoned the woman's black jacket and lifted her T-shirt. Placing his hands on the woman's chest, he began to administer first aid. After massaging her heart, he bent over the pretty face of the black-haired young woman and touched her lips with his own, breathing air into her lungs. He did this several times until the paramedics on duty came running to support him, already beginning to provide professional medical assistance.
After making sure the girl was going to be alright, Augustus ran back into the building. He could try to find a few more people.
...
"Ha ha ha, I didn't come here for nothing. Our cameraman filmed the whole thing, didn't he? - the blond male journalist was grinning like a madman.
"Yes, look, the online live stream is so high! - the girl showed the live broadcast on her phone.
"Online has increased by almost thirty per cent! Ha-ha-ha, I'm going to get a nice bonus this month. Such a sensation! So, we need to urgently in all the headlines of our newspapers and on the Internet to post a post with the title "Man-hero, sacrificing his life to save police officers" and after the title of the first photo put the moment of their kiss! - The man's eyes were spinning frantically, he felt that he had just caught a real gold mine.
"It will be necessary to romanticise and sexualise the story as much as possible! - the girl waved her hands happily.
"That's right, more romance, drama and sexualisation. Girls love that! - agreed the cunning male journalist. - Come on, let's hurry up before the competition beats us to it!
"Yes! - his assistant jokingly called out and ran at full speed to the minivan.
...
"Ma'am, what's wrong? - Sarah jumped at the shrill scraping sound. It was as if some wild, dangerous beast was sharpening its claws against a tree.
"Nothing, do your job," Kingpin growled, not taking her eyes off her clipboard. One hand held the tablet that had cracked where her fingers and screen had made contact, while the other slowly slid down the table, leaving deep marks in the lacquered finish.
"'Mistress, please control your growing powers,' Sarah said carefully and nervously adjusted her glasses. What had managed to drive the Kingpin into such a rage? As her loyal assistant, Sara wanted to know, so spitting on caution, she decided to clear Vanessa's ashtray and discreetly peek at her tablet screen.
On Madam's screen she saw a colourful news headline "Hero Man Sacrifices Life to Save Police Officers" and at the bottom a breathtaking picture of a familiar man with an unconscious woman. On brief inspection it appeared they were kissing passionately, but if you looked closely, the man was simply giving the victim CPR and nothing more.
"Find whoever wrote this article and break her arms," Kingpin pulled the cracked clipboard closer to Sarah. - And do it within two hours.
"I will," the girl in glasses nodded nervously and headed out of the office. Just as she touched the doorknob, a voice came from behind her.
"Wait, I changed my mind, you don't need to do that. Just keep doing your job.
"Understood," Sarah nodded like a dummy again, not sure how to behave with a Mistress who was obviously in love with a man. After all, only a crush could be blamed for the strange behaviour of America's crime queen.
...
August has already taken out a third person. The medical personnel on duty near the exit of the building were swiftly attending to the injured. Not only one mercenary was carrying people out, the fire department was also working hard.
"We've already searched the entire ground floor, it's been too long, there's probably no survivors left. You don't need to take any more risks, we'll do the rest of the work," the firewoman said respectfully to August.
The mercenary watched as the burning building was sprayed with jets of water by the remaining firemen outside. It was helping to stop the fire from spreading to the upper floors, but it wasn't putting out the ground floor. It would take several hours to contain the raging fire on the ground floor.
A total of thirty-five people were rescued from the building. All of them were members of the assault team that had entered the building after the firefight had started inside. There were fifty people involved in the assault, and there was still a group of hostage negotiators.
"You're right," August nodded. His expensive suit was burnt through and looked more like rags hanging here and there. - I'll make one last run and go to rest.
"Are you sure you don't need an oxygen mask or at least a fireproof suit? - The firewoman asked worriedly.
"I can manage without it, as you can see.
August entered the burning building again. He could already orientate himself normally in it, so he went straight to the places he hadn't been yet. Sometimes a nasty smell of fried meat hit his nose. Not all the people could be saved and some of them died in the explosion or suffocated later, or maybe they were killed long before the explosion. In the fiery chaos there was little time to think.
"Is anyone here!? - A faint male voice came from under the rubble from somewhere below. No one had looked into this part of the burning building, it was too far from the epicentre of the explosion and fire. No one would have thought a man would be here.
"I can hear you, where are you? - August walked towards the sound, picking through the rubble as he went.
Talking to the man, the mercenary was clearing the rubble under the stairs to the first floor. The man negotiating with him was underneath it, piled up with all sorts of junk. Removing the last interfering metal plate, Augustus saw a grey-haired man in his fifties beneath it. His hands held out in front of his chest and face were slightly burned. Beside him was a small slit to the outside, apparently it was the only reason he hadn't suffocated.
"Captain Stacy? - The mercenary recognised the man as a police officer familiar from the news headlines, as well as Gwen Stacy's father. There was no telling how reality had turned out here, but doing a favour for a possible future heroine was a good thing. In any case, he went into that firehouse to be a hero, not for any gain, but simply because it cost him nothing to save a couple of lives from the flames. Here suddenly his heroism turns into a possible gain, wouldn't any man in his place be happy? To get something, even if it wasn't particularly useful, as a reward when you weren't expecting any payment for your work.
"My legs are crushed, I can't feel them," the man coughed, looking at his saviour. He was a guy of about twenty or twenty-five, pleasant, exotic-looking, wearing a burnt-out expensive suit. - I can't go on my own, leave me alone and call for help.
"Captain, if I leave you here for a few more minutes, the passageway to you will be blocked. Don't worry, I can pull you out," Augustus smiled, and with one hand he lifted the heavy beam holding Stacy's legs and with the other he carefully pulled the man out from under the rubble. - Grab hold of me and hold on tight.
The policeman didn't argue any further and with the help of the boy climbed onto the man's back, holding his arms around his neck. August, holding the captain, strode towards the exit, trying to avoid the most dangerous areas. His body might be able to withstand it, but Captain Stacy's body didn't have the same qualities as his. He didn't want Gwen's father dead, so he took a roundabout way out of the building, through a window.
Picking a couple of medics out of the clusters near the casualties, he got them to turn their attention to the unconscious Stacy.
Firefighters continued to move in and out of the burning building, but they found no more survivors inside. Too much time had passed and even if anyone had managed to survive the explosion, the fire that had broken out had taken away any chance of rescue.
After a couple of hours, the main fire in the exhibition building was extinguished. Firefighters, armed with fire extinguishers, suppressed small pockets of flames in hard-to-reach places.
When the fire was finally extinguished, the police and various specialists from different agencies entered the building to carry out a detailed investigation. August was let inside without too many questions, everyone had seen him run into the fire dozens of times and save people. It was no understatement to call him a true hero.
Journalists, already sensationalised, closely followed the actions of Stark's bodyguard and made some notes in their notebooks or filmed him on camera. The Internet was already running provocative headlines with his photos, which in different manners described his participation in the rescue of people from the fire. The most popular was a photo with the moment of his "kiss" with an unconscious girl from the special forces.
All the news on the Internet with August's participation gained a lot of popularity around the world and quickly got on the top lines of news sites. But that was only the first day, the news was still gaining popularity, the real excitement will begin tomorrow, when full-fledged articles with a huge number of various photos will be written.
Today has made August famous all over the world and increased his internet fanbase, which previously numbered only a few tens of thousands of people. Over the next few weeks, August's official fan site will grow by hundreds of thousands of people, setting a record of one million officially registered users.
...
Paramedics were pulling burnt corpses from the ashes and dragging them outside. The corpses outside were carefully covered with white cloth, and forensic specialists from the FBI were making identifications and forensic examinations to determine the cause of death.
August wandered inside the burned building. Staring into the horrors of what had happened. His head seemed to be filled with lead and all background noise was gone. Only a deafening silence remained. His gaze stopped on the dead young family. A man, a woman, and a couple of children. Their corpses were mangled by the fire, the paramedics hadn't had time to pick them up yet.
Slowly Augustus' gaze shifted from the dead young family to the half-melted coin at his feet. He bent down and picked it up, examining it closely. The image of Lincoln had melted slightly, smudging the face of the former U.S. president. Now instead of a face he had a blank space, without any distinguishing features. If you ignore the external damage to the coin, it was the most ordinary one-cent US coin of the two thousand and fifth year of issue.
Tossing the coin into the air, August deftly caught it and flipped it over.
"Head or tail? Head means I've won," the mercenary muttered to himself as he tucked the coin into the inside pocket of his burnt jacket.
All the corpses had been pulled out. Not counting the missing bodies of the militants, the total number of people killed in the attack was one hundred and twelve - police officers, civilians and hostages. Twenty more people were listed as missing, their bodies could not be found at the scene of the fire.
The mercenary walked out of the building and saw Anita sitting on the charred steps. She was watching the paramedics with a hard stare as they carried and stacked the corpses outside. There were more and more of them every minute.
Augustus sat down next to the girl and silently put his arm around her. As he walked around the burnt building, he unwittingly came across piles of shell casings. 7.62 by 51 mm, the standard adopted by NATO, used in a wide range of firearms. In the past, he had come across shooters who had used guns with the same ammunition and were well equipped. Perhaps there was some connection between those gunmen and the terrorists? After all, the corpses of those gunmen were missing just like the corpses of the gunmen who attacked Kingpin in the park.
The mercenary was no saint or hero. He had his share of cynicism, mercantilism and selfishness, just like every ordinary person. He never liked to do anything for nothing, especially risking his life, but not liking it didn't mean not doing it. That coin tossed on the ashes helped him make up his mind. The cent he found went into payment, and the mercenary accepted the contract.
Notes:
"Heads or tails" is an American mini-game operating on the principle of "heads or tails". The head refers to the side of the coin with the president, while the tail acts as the reverse side.
***
patreon.com/posts/124888009