Rainbow Six: November Sun

05: "NOT MUCKIN' ABOUT"

Eliza "Ash" Cohen slung her R4-C assault rifle over her shoulder and jogged out of the armory doors and onto the neighboring outdoor airstrip. The rest of Team 1 followed: Montagne, Twitch, Thatcher, Nøkk, and Maverick.

Seamus "Sledge" Cowden was right behind her, and Team 2 was on his heels: Valkyrie, Lion, Rook, Doc, and Glaz.

Lieutenant Colonel Amelia Acevedo already had their plane, an unmarked Beechcraft C-12 Huron, prepared for takeoff. All twelve operators filed onboard, hurriedly stowed their gear, and took their seats.

Harry boarded last. Unlike his predecessor, Director Arnot, Harry preferred to travel to mission sites with the deployed teams. He wasted no time in pulling his headset over his ears, and his operators followed suit as Lt. Col. Acevedo eased the plane's twin engines to life.

"Everyone got me?" Harry asked, tapping one of his headphones.

Both Rainbow teams sounded off their confirmations, and Acevedo's voice crackled in their headsets.

"Griffon 2-6 is cleared for takeoff. Buckle up, boys and girls. We're wheels-up. We'll touch down at destination in approximately 90 minutes."

The plane soon gunned across the small runway and lifted off the pavement, and once Acevedo had leveled the craft at high altitude, Harry opened his laptop. "Intel coming at you now. Check your consoles."

Every seat was fitted with a state-of-the-art tablet directly linked with Harry's laptop and communications with HQ back at base. The operators quickly unsnapped their tablets from their docks, which had already been powered on.

"OPERATION: GREY FALCON" headlined a splash screen of an electronic mission briefing, organized neatly in a clean, easy-to-navigate format.

"Let's do it," Harry announced. "Follow along with me and we'll wrap up the briefing so we can get to planning. Now: the Russian Embassy in Brussels, Belgium is under siege by a well-equipped terrorist element. Assault rifles, hand grenades, radios and headsets. Police even saw an RPG. They've barricaded themselves in the eastern wing of the embassy. Local authorities have the perimeter surrounded, the nearby streets cleared, and have only now succeeded in establishing contact with the hostiles.

No demands were made. The terrorist leader stated they have over forty hostages in custody, and multiple bombs are on-site. They have informed authorities that any attempt to enter the embassy will be met with detonations. To demonstrate the seriousness of their intentions, one of the masked men walked outside, showed perimeter police that he had a bomb strapped to his chest, and detonated it. No officers or civilians were harmed." Harry finally paused and looked around at his team. "It was just to prove a point."

The operators all exchanged glances.

"They're not muckin' about, are they?" Thatcher remarked.

"Exactly." Harry adjusted his glasses. "Belgium has two DSU Intervention units on-site, backed by a local police, but a motion was made to approach Rainbow for help."

"Good," Ash nodded. "Nice when ego can be put aside so we can step in."

Helps that we've worked with Belgium before," came Sledge. "Operation Steel Wind, 1999. A Belgian embassy, ironically."

"Indeed." Harry swiped his screen. As he did, the screens on all the present operators' tablets reflected the movement, bringing up a series of photos. "This is the embassy. Street view." He swiped. "Aerial view, and another." He continued swiping through the images. "Interior, main lobby. Interior, security room. Offices on the first and second floors. Long hallways, lots of doors and windows. Emergency exits on all four sides of the building. Blueprints of the floor plans on final slide."

Nøkk straightened in her seat. "Get me in there," she said quietly. "Depending on their locations and numbers, I can slip in, set charges, neutralize the targets on a coordinated breach with the others."

"It's never that simple," Twitch murmured. She scanned over the blueprints methodically, memorizing layouts of ventilation shafts.

Glaz zoomed out on an aerial view of the surrounding streets. "Not many optimal perches overlooking the east wing," he mused. "That bank across the way, though... that might be a good position for overwatch - top floor window instead of the roof. Lower profile."

Valkyrie clicked her tongue thoughtfully. "What do we know about the hostiles, Six? Name? Nationality, leader?"

"Please, just call me Harry." The man smiled at his laptop screen. "Speak of the devil. DSU just forwarded this to me. Sending it your way. Take a look."

Rook's eyes narrowed. "Estimated ten to fifteen hostiles," he read aloud. "Ski masks and balaclavas. Urban camouflage fatigues. No demands as of yet. No identifying insignias."

"Man who made contact with authorities thought to be Russian," continued Doc. "That's it."

Glaz chuckled. "You know how those Russians can be."

"So we have fuck-all," Sledge grumbled. "Belgium knows we don't negotiate, aye?"

Harry peered at the man over his glasses. "They know."

"More offices on the top floor than the bottom." Ash tapped her finger on the second floor blueprint. "I like a rooftop insertion for Team 1. Look at those corridors. Touré lives for that shit."

Montagne smiled. "I like it, too. Sweep the top floor, move downward." He looked to Sledge. "Team 2 inserts ground level, cleans house, we catch them in the middle no matter what."

"Just watch that crossfire and we'll be good," came Doc. "Lot of variables on the table."

Thatcher shifted in his seat. "Have authorities cut the power yet?"

"Negative," Harry replied. "They're waiting to poke the hornet's nest... for now. Go over the floor plans. Memorize it like innocent lives depend on it."

A chorus of affirmatives answered him, and Harry turned his attention back to his laptop. "Anya, do you copy?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is the situation room ready to go?"

"Everyone is present, Harry. Comms are live and the War Room is ready."

The "War Room" was the nickname for Rainbow's in-house intelligence and communications headquarters. There, a small Crisis Team headed operations behind-the-scenes to assist Rainbow operators with their missions.

"Excellent. Begin recording all comms." The man tilted his mouth microphone and coughed before continuing. "Stating for the record: Director Six here, present for operation."

The voices of the senior members of the Crisis Team soon followed.

"Douglas Lilly, CIA liaison to Rainbow, present for op."

"Vince Vion, Rainbow Chief of Intel. I'm here."

"Kate Harvell, Comms and Logistics Officer. Present for operation."

Harry nodded. "Excellent. Let us begin. Kate, can you get me a line directly to the Belgian DSU commander on-site?"

"Yes, sir." Harry could hear Kate's fingers over the radio as they danced across her keyboard. "One Belgian Special Units commander coming right up, Harry."