In the chopper, the mood was somber. Sergeant Lorenzo yelled over our earpieces, “Apparently this bastard intends to hit a concert around 20:30 to 21:00 hours. Based on the details we received, it is an 800 capacity stadium, so depending on the type of entity we are up against, that’s at least several hundred dead. But it’s not going to get that chance. The bands have been pulled and the audience evacuated. The Guard is on site as we speak wiring the building to bring it down should that prove necessary.”

I really was not thrilled about going into a fight in a building set to explode: that sounded like the least fun thing I could possibly imagine.

Lorenzo continued, “The Guard will maintain a cordon around the building, with the help of the local police. If the entity gets out they will provide additional fire support. To that end, we will also have two Apaches gunships in the air at all times. If it tries to fly out of the building their job is to bring it down.”

Oh, that was interesting. I had not heard of any nation being able to engage the angels airborne yet. Part of me wanted to see how that would go down, though I imagine we’d be on the losing end as usual.

“When we arrive, our equipment and heavy weapons will already be there. They left ten minutes before we did. You will arm yourselves and take up positions inside the building at different levels. Corporal Stone will take his fire-team and deploy them for maximum field of fire. The rest of you will deploy to the vantage points I will provide you with upon landing. Our job is to catch this bastard in as many arcs of fire as we can while keeping ourselves out of them. Also, there will be claymore mines placed where the Seers believe the thing is going to make its incursion. We will try to keep it within the kill zones of that ordinance.”

His evil grin returned and I could tell he was relishing this. “Remember,” he continued, “These things are damn fast so they’ll try to zero in on your position probably from the moment we start this show. Under no circumstances do you stop shooting that bastard, am I clear?”

“Yes, Sergeant!” we all shouted. Claire, Kemi, and I comprised Stone’s fire-team. We would be with him. Of all the faces in the chopper, his was the most relaxed, his large frame just resting back against the chopper’s hull.

The view over Charlottesville was lovely. I had not been to the city before now. It seemed sad that my first experience there would be blowing part of it up.

Kemi leaned over to me and shouted over the roar of the chopper’s engines, “You excited yet?” She was grinning.

Managing a smile, I gave her a thumbs-up. I was excited. My anxiousness had ramped up since the moment we were called in. As we neared Charlottesville I was even more on edge. I didn’t know if it was my senses, or if this was just what happened when you were so terrified you could not think straight. Terror was not something I was really familiar with.

“We are going to be the first ones to kill one of these bastards,” she yelled, smiling like she was talking about seeing a movie before her friends had the chance, or catching some expensive clothes on sale. I could appreciate the sentiment, but I didn’t know if now was really the time to be so overjoyed.

“Let’s celebrate after we get out of there,” I shouted back.

She laughed. “Don’t worry, you just watch. You’ll see. We’ll get the fucker. He won’t know what hit him.”

Our chopper touched down in the parking lot of a large circular stadium, the kind of place that hosted all the gigs I could never afford. We could see the Guard and police cordon from the air; the red and blue lights flashed out into the night. Piling out of the chopper, we followed Stone to the supply center.

“Put on a suit of that body armor they’ve brought,” Stone said as we entered the tent and saw the piles of equipment carefully laid out for us. “I’m told it’s years ahead of anything else that’s seen use.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Claire said as she picked up her suit.

When we were finished, we looked like a black-clad swat team, though our armor was more high tech. The armor was thick but the padding was designed to not impact our mobility, leaving us the ability to move unfettered. Black plates of some sort were on the chest, back and limbs. It was a bit too big for me but with some strap tightening, I got it to more or less fit. I sure as hell was not going to face an angel without something on. Wearing this stuff I felt like a knight.

Our rifles were there, with several spare clips of the HEIAP ammunition. “You could probably buy a car with the cost of the ammunition we are going to shoot at this thing tonight,” Claire joked.

“Try a house,” I corrected. This shit was expensive.

I strapped on the extras: my sidearm, grenades, and assorted pieces of kit I would probably never touch in this encounter but were standard issue. When we were finished, Stone pulled out a folder and leafed through the papers Lorenzo gave him earlier.

Scanning the map, he turned back to us. “Claire, I want you in the left side L seats. Kemi, since you have the greatest mobility, I want you up in U, in the nosebleed section. Pick a place where you have the best view of most of the stadium. When it shows, move to the best vantage point you can before opening fire.”

“What about me?” I asked.

“Delaney, I want you in… right side O seems like a good place.”

“What about the rest of the squad?” I asked.

“They will be deployed by the Sergeant to provide the most coverage.”

I nodded. What else was there to say or ask? This was happening. My stomach churned in fearful knots as we stepped back out onto the parking lot. We moved over to where the rest of the squad was checking their gear.

“All right people,” Lorenzo yelled, “This is it. We are going inside there to kill us some alien motherfucker. I want you to all stay on your toes. Do not take any risks you don’t have to, just make sure it’s dead when we are done. Do you hear me?”

“Yes Sergeant!” we all yelled back.

And then, without a look back, we stormed into the building to take our positions.

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