The world is cruel

July 29th, 2005

The original plan was to tie a contract deal with the embassy, then supply their troops at the eastern border. Marines had been stranded on the far desert for three weeks and could not advance without ammunition and weaponry. Callahan didn't like being ordered around to help some troopers that weren't even his clients, but it was a favor he could not deny. The DoD was sure to catch word of his involvement, and that's what he was fishing for.

Islamic fighters were constantly pushing in through the border, and American lives were lost every day, not to mention Syrian civilians that were caught in the crossfire. It was a disaster out there, and that was precisely why Callahan had to dig his teeth into the golden opportunity. But Fitzgerald had once again poked his nose where it didn't belong, what a difficult man he was.

When Callahan closed in on the embassy, he immediately understood what was going on. At first it appeared that the streets were just more crowded than usual, or there had been an accident. But the people were rushing towards him - well his car, and swinging around anything one could call a weapon; baseball bats, small handguns, pans and machetes. The arms dealer gave out a deep sigh and retrieved an untouched newspaper from the backseat pocket.

He found an answer to his question already from the second page, where bold letters stated: Arms Dealer Supports Massacre With Huge Weapons Deal. From the lengthy and sensational article, Callahan could make out some half-truths and the rest rumors that had no connection to him. Sources claimed that Callahan Co. was involved in the bloodbath taking place in Aleppo, and that the company was en route to sign a contract with the embassy to maintain weapons supply.

"What do we do?" Lancaster raised her brow at him after making sure all the doors and windows were locked. People were banging on the car with crazed faces, spitting at the tinted windows keeping them from sinking their teeth into the merchant's flesh. "Keep driving", He ordered, and the car moved on.

The paper had been out only for three hours, but there were already riots breaking out all over the city, and rebels had stormed multiple government buildings. The antenna had been broken so Callahan was robbed of his chance to listen to the radio, which drove him to agonizing boredom. The car moved impossibly slow, as some of the people were blocking the driver's view by climbing onto the windshield and throwing rocks at it. Nevertheless, they made it to the embassy gates in a matter of time, but there was no one to welcome them due to the crowd of people revolting around them.

Callahan narrowed his eyes and tried to get a good look of the other side. It can't be, you've got to be shitting me. He thought to himself upon noticing the three white cars parked right outside the main entrance. They had no hope of getting the embassy's aid in that situation, they would likely be told to beat it if they stayed still any longer. As a matter of fact the marine stationed beyond the gate was motioning his hand in a way that told the driver to leave. There was no helping it then, they really were in a tight spot.

"What's the word on the others? How far out are they?" He finally asked. Lancaster furrowed her brows, she knew what this meant. 5, She took out five fingers and shook her head. Five minutes was too long for them to remain there like sitting ducks and wait for the rioters to show them mercy. It was bad, bad indeed, not bad for his health but for his long-savored reputation as a friend of the people. He rubbed his overgrown stubble feverishly and muttered to himself about how his net revenues would surely drop if he got involved.

When two minutes had passed, the rioters had almost managed to smash through the left window. The glass wouldn't last another minute, let alone three whole minutes that it would take for the rest of the team to arrive at the scene. Callahan would have to make a tough call, but at that point it was a no-brainer. Lancaster turned to him from the front seat, question and urgency on her face. The clock was ticking. "It's no use, it's no use", The arms dealer fiddled with his lighter and took one last look at the window that was going to break in a matter of seconds.

He pointed his fingers at the hatch in the ceiling. Wasting no time, the soldier unlocked the safety on her firearm and opened the hatch, popping her head out from the opening. She started out with a few warning shots at the sky, but when it seemed to do nothing but aggravate the enemy, she fired at the ground. The ones hit with the ricochet screamed upon impact, yet only a few took the warning seriously and backed off, the rest still refusing to give up stoning the vehicle.

Unfortunately for both Callahan and those rioting, the man ramming the stone into the car window was too devoted to this task to care about the warning shots. The glass shattered, and he immediately reached his hand through the hole to try and grab onto anything he could get a hold of. But his efforts were in vain, and no more than two seconds later had his arm been severed by a rain of bullets.

The fire pushed the attackers back, leaving only a few on the ground clenching their pierced bodies in agony. The sound of gunfire and panicked screams filled the street and echoed all the way up to the market square and shopping street. Callahan tapped on the soldier's leg to let her know they were running out of time, it was only a matter of minutes before the police would arrive, and along with them, the yellow press.

The SUV took off as soon as a path was cleared, but the tires had been damaged in the process, which slowed them down quite a bit. While trying to shake off the riot, the car ended up on a remote dirt road two blocks from the embassy. Since they were no longer at the assigned location, there was no guarantee that backup would show up where they were and the worst case scenario was that they would get caught up in the riots as well.

"I don't like this city anymore", Callahan leaned back in his seat once they had made it to a safer road. His bodyguard returned the glance but didn't open her mouth, even though he knew she agreed, but she didn't see his petty sense of humor as worth amusing. In fact, most of his jokes were made under circumstances like that, where laughing seemed like the only reasonable reaction.