Rainbow Six: Bloodlines

"HOTEL CEUTA" - Chapter 4

     Jackal was paralyzed. He opened his mouth to speak, but could say nothing.

     The ghost's disfigured face looked down to its feet. It pointed to the elevator floor. Now, you can see. Now, you will know.

     Jackal struggled to speak. "F-Faisal? What-"

     Faisal's head suddenly cocked impossibly far to the side with a deathly snap. The lights in the elevator exploded in a shower of sparks and glass.

     Jackal fell back, shielding his face instinctively. Faisal was but a shadow, a silhouette revealed by the falling sparks in the elevator.

     The humming in Jackal's ears escalated sharply, causing the man to cry out. Every light on the fifth floor hallway sputtered with static, fading in and out, casting the corridor into an eerie scene from a horror movie.

     Faisal's ghost was nowhere to be seen.

     Jackal sat up. His ears were ringing, his hearing muffled. The world sounded like it was underwater. He unleashed a torrent of curses as he blinked his eyes furiously, trying to convince himself that what he had just seen was real.

     "Ryad."

     The woman's voice called from afar - somewhere from the past. Perhaps from a dream.

     "Ryad!"

     Jackal's vision started to clear. The buzzing in his ears began to soften.

     Footsteps racing behind him drew his attention. Still sitting on the floor, Jackal looked back to see Ying and Ash sprinting for him.

     "The fuck was that?" Ash hissed as they reached the man. "Are you okay?"

     Jackal stood shakily. He didn't answer.

     Ying peered cautiously into the elevator. Her eyes were wide. Sweat wet her forehead. "R-Ryad... who was that?"

     Still stunned, Jackal tried to steady his breathing. Ying's eyes searched his urgently for an answer to her question.

     Ryad's eyes widened behind his visor. "You... you saw him?"

     Ash clenched her jaw. "I saw it too... how did you know? You just started running. It was like you'd forgotten where you were." She paused, venturing a nervous glance back at the elevator. "I tried grabbing you to stop you, Ryad. You whirled around and... it was like you couldn't see me. Like you'd forgotten where you were."

     Jackal's mouth dropped open. "Dios mío."

     The trio stood in stunned silence. Jackal looked apprehensively at the shards of glass on the elevator floor.

     Now, you can see. Now, you will know.

     What had Faisal meant?

     A series of explosions sounded off, loud enough to reach their ears despite being many floors beneath them. All three operators jumped in surprise, snapping back to to the mission at hand.

     "Blue Team moving to assist G.E.O., ground level," came Mira over the radio. "Danger close. Repeat, danger close."

     We're on the way." Ash looked at the elevator hesitantly. "We'll discuss this later. Let's move."

     They hastily descended the stairwell to meet up with their companions, Thermite and IQ, who were with Red Team - Mira, Doc, Glaz, and Rook.

     As they neared the ground level, automatic gunfire could be heard, bounding off the walls and roaring through the hotel lobby.

     Jackal slowed to a stop at the door leading out into the first floor lobby. "I've got footprints." He switched on his scanner. After a moment, he shook his head. "They're ours."

     Ash knelt and readied her launcher. "We're at the stairwell entrance, Elena. Clear for entry?"

     "Fight just spilled into the basement!" called Rook over a burst of gunfire on the radio. "Lobby should be clear, but watch your asses. We're moving forward with G.E.O.!"

     "Hot breach from up top?" asked Ying.

     Ash nodded. "Julien, we're breaching topside."

     "Received," Rook responded quickly. "Get to the lobby elevator. Breach the hatch. You'll be behind them. No crossfire danger."

     Jackal tried to slow his breathing, summoning his training. He'd seen his dead brother's ghost. His entire life had just changed. He fought the full-on panic attack building up in his chest. Chills washed over him.

     The back of Ash's neck tingled. "Say again, Julien? Breach the elevator hatch?"

     "Is that a problem!?" Mira cut in. "Where the hell are you, cabrones? Get your asses down here!"

     "We're coming," Ash snapped. She sighed and looked at Jackal and Ying. "Elevator. Move."

     They rushed into the lobby, footsteps echoing off the marble tile, moving smoothly in formation while sweeping the enormous open area with their rifles. All was clear. At the far end of the lobby, two elevator doors waited. One was intact. The other had been blown open by an explosive, the metal door bent and twisted. The overhead lights hung loosely by some wires, swinging back and forth and flickering ominously.

     "Guess that one's out of order," Ying quipped nervously.

     No one laughed.

     They moved forward. Long volleys of automatic gunfire just beneath them made the floor reverberate under their steps.

     Muffled, panicked hollers and yells could be heard below.

     "We're right above them," Ying murmured.

     "Entering elevator," Ash informed hastily. "Hot breach, floor. Ten seconds."

     "About thirty seconds ago woulda been nice," muttered Thermite on the radio. "Take your time, though. We'll be here."

     "Fuck off, Jordan."

     Ying produced a Candela grenade. "Hope they've got their shades on."

     Jackal snorted. "Wow."

     "What?"

     "You always have to do one of those one-liners, Siu. You're like a bad Schwarzenegger movie."

     "There are no bad Arnold movies."

     Ash checked the safety on her rifle. "Focus, guys." She turned to them. "If... if anything strange happens, holler. Got it?"

     Jackal and Ying exchanged uneasy glances before nodding their agreement.

     Ash flashed a brilliant smile. "Let's go."

     She had just turned back to the elevator when the humming returned to Jackal's ears. It was overbearing. He felt as if the air around him was squeezing his skull. Pressure built up in his head, bringing him to his knees in pain.

     Ying knelt with him reflexively, cushioning his fall. "Ryad!"

     Jackal let his rifle clatter to the floor. Ying's voice sounded faint. He could barely sense she was holding him protectively.

     Ash slid to his side, her eyes scanning the lobby frantically for signs of trouble - searching for a ghost. She was yelling something. Jackal couldn't hear her.

     The humming stopped. Every light in the vast, ornate hotel lobby flickered before sputtering out completely.

     Ryad.

     Ash and Ying cried out as every light in sight burst into sparks. The windows of the hotel exploded, one after the other, raining shards of glass down upon them in a terrifying display of unseen power.

     Jackal's skin crawled when he saw the disfigured face of Faisal staring out at them from within the shadows of the ruined elevator.

     Now, you will see. The whisper was hoarse, a gasping breath.

     Frantic radio chatter lit up the airwaves, but Jackal heard Director Six's voice above the rest.

     "This is Six! Someone talk to me! What the hell just happened?"

     Ash and Ying did not answer. Instead, they unleashed a hail of bullets into the darkness of the damaged elevator shaft with a ferocious yell, teeth bared and eyes filled with fury.

     The dust settled. Ying's LMG finally clicked empty. The ghost of Faisal cocked its head, unaffected.

     Soon, you will know.