Elite 3 Final Chapter

Winner’s Day

Early Morning

0600hrs

‘Good morning Islanders. Due to the power breakdown, we could not transmit last night and even if we do, most of you can’t listen in anyway. But here is the update. Pandemonium at Memorial Park caused by wild shooting but the Governor is safe and sound. But the Captain of the Police force is missing and has yet to return any calls. But we have a major event at the same time as the Memorial Park. A business conference among some dealers was hit by men unknown and the conference room at the prime hotel was destroyed. Official counts put the bodies count at more twenty five as some of the bodies are burnt beyong recognition. We will await more news later. This is Marilyn Lun, standing in for Tim Curry who is in the hospital for a heart atttack.’

At that moment Tim Curry was in negotiation with his lawyers on the final settlement of his contract with the Media. He is going to retire soon and become a writer. Its in the best of interest on both sides that he retires before he get them sued by the authorities for conducting unsanctioned interviews with terror gangs.

0707hrs

Sargeant Rebecca walked to the black van parked at the back of the hotel. As it was marked POLICE no one approached it until some one close to Rebecca peeked in. The officer called Rebecca that late night as she is one of the senior officers still on active duty and the Sargeant told her to drive the van to her place. Its now parked outside her house and she is examining it for evidence. She found a M230 with a

thousand rounds, three AA shotguns and four AK74’s and assorted clips of ammo. She closed the door back and made a call to her friend, and said; ‘ my boys’ left it there last night. We will take care of it now.’

Across the city, a convoy of cars was seen leaving the Governor’s house heading somewhere. There are about twenty five of them men in those seven cars, and the last car to leave was the Mercedes 500.

0945hrs

I looked through the binoculars loaned from Peter. The eight cars convoy arrived and parked discriminately around the yard of the mine that belongs to Metal Bullion Ltd. The workers were roused up and sent off in two trucks headed out of the mine. The mine is now empty of staff and workers except for thirty two armed men, including five armed guards of the mine. The mine layout is simple design with bare facilties.

Upon entering the mine area, there is the office cum lab building on the left and next to is the cantina for the workers and staff. There is a small house after the cantina which is the home for the cantina operator. Further down to the house is the workers’ quarter which is a two levels dormitory. Across the yard on the right hand side fro the entrance approach is the equipment store and workshop. Next to it is the processing plant where the ores are processed. Behind the processing plant is the two warehouses; ores and material warehouse. There is a guard house here and its occupied by the two guards and their dobermanns. All the structures are build with wood as there are plenty around here.

The tunnel to the mine is at the end of the yard. Yesterday, Melanie and Alicia ran along the processing plant and warehouse to get into the jungle. The only fencing is the at the front of the mines as the two sides of the mine yard are jungle.

The lack of guards is because the place is under the protection of the Governor hence no one dares to rob it or come here.

I had Rebecca cover the office and the staff quarters with her borrowed Steyr-Mannlicher SSG P IV sniper rifle ( short police version ) and a five magazine clip from the Evidence Room. Its was kept there for one long overdue case among other stuff she borrowed. Her beau, is the back up shooter next to her with the AA Shotgun retrieved from the van. Melanie is on my right covering the processing plant and warehouses with the M230. She can hardly missed with that heavy gun. We kept Alicia at home under heavy sedation so she will not turn up unexpectedely.

I am carrying my M416 with my last clip of the 100 bullets and a AK74 with a full load. I have attached a M203 on my M416 to give me more firepower. The Colt Cobra still stays in the ankle holster. I walked to the car and drove it the front entrance of the mine.

Melanie and Rebecca has been briefing me on the men at the mine. Five of them has taken the office as the base, while another five ran for the staff quarters. Another five went to the processing plant and five ran for the back to the mine. That leaves ten more standing in the yard, of which six is behind the SUV. Four of them including Mr Loman is standing in front of the SUV. Mr Loman is dressed in his golfing casuals; t-shirt and checked pants but instead of carrying a golf club, he is holding a AK74.

The gate was opened so I drove in to the yard. I stopped the car at about twenty five paces away from the SUV and got out.

‘Loman, where is Melanie and Alicia?’ I left the door opened so that it can act as a cover. I had the AK74 slung on my back, while I am holding the M416.

‘They are in the mine. Where is Celine?’ He is obviously worried about his daughter. If that was so, why did he send his wife the other day.

‘You don’t care about her. You sent your wife to kill her that day. So why the urgency now?’

‘She heard my call and took off before I could stop her.’ He is very agitated to reveal that to his men now, but she is gone and he is the boss now.

‘Show me Melani and Alicia, and I give you Celine.’ But Loman declined to do so.

I had enough of this game, so I told him; ‘I already have Melanie and Alicia. You are a liar and a cheater, Loman. Your daughter is alive and at her home. I send her back early today. But you are not going back but to join your wife in hell.’ I raised the M416 and fired at them. I got two of the guards and injured Loman in his left arm. But he got away behind the SUV. The replies from their guns came at on the car but I was running for cover to a nearby forklift.

I can see the ladies doing their part of providing me the necessary cover fire. I trained my M416 on the office block and fired off one round of the M203. The incendiary grenade flew into the office through the window and exploded in a big bang. The place staretd burning I loaded in the next round and fired at the processing plant. I can see the fire starting there as there could be flammable materials on the processing plant floor.

Then I raised myself to shot at the SUV to stall the vehicle from being driven out. I removed my empty clip and replaced with the standard 30 bullets clip. I shot at the men hiding behind the SUV and got another one in the shoulder.

1022hrs

I finally finished my rounds of ammo on the M230 and now I grabbed the AK74 to join Marcel. The processing plant is starting to burn as the flames spread, but I am on the way to the warehouses. I cam running towards it and saw two of the men trying to sneak out the back way. I shot them with the AK74 and keep on running. I came to the door where the men came out from. I looked in and saw the place is burning wildly now. I closed the door and moved the nearby box against it. It won’t hold long but may deter them from coming out.

I ran to the warehoue and saw the stockpile of raw ores. I found what I was looking for at the far corner. Its the drums of engine oil for the equipments. I moved towards it and took out the C4 block with the detonator. I set the timer for five minutes, enough time for me to run out. .

I turned to run and the bullets came whizzing near me. I turned to look at the shooter who was at the other entrance of the warehouse when his shot hit my right shoulder. The impact spun me around and I fell on the flooring. I tried to crawl up but the pain was excruriating unlike the one I had on the thigh years ago. I saw the man running towards me and I dragged my AK74 over to my side and fired from the prone position. The man caught my blast of bullets and went down. I half dragged and crawled myself out the warehouse, and just made it to the entrance when the explosion went off.

1036hrs

I looked at the scene before me; the office building is burning and the fire is spreading to the staff quarters. The SUV in the yard is bullet riddled and the processing plant is burning too. I heard the explostion at the warehouse and assumed Melanie is at work here.

Rebecca must be still shooting at the mine entrance to keep those men at bay.

‘Kingfisher’ I heard my name called. I signaled Rebecca to stop shooting.

It was an errie silence as the smell of burning woods and oils premeates the air aorund us. I can see the heavy thick smoke billowing above us but there is feel of death in the air. One of the men came running out of the processing plant with his clothes on fire. I shot him dead to end his torture.

‘Kingfisher’

‘Yeah.’ I replied.

‘Its me, Neelan. Loman Security Head. There is only you and me left. And I am proposing a ‘personal tag game’. Are you on?’ Neelan wants to draw on me one on one, as he was the open range champion before.

‘Okay. We step out on the count of three.’

I dropped the M416 and took up the AK74. I armed it and test the loading. It works fine.

One

Two

Three

I stepped out with the AK74 on my side facing downwards. Neelan did the same with his AK74.

‘Single shot?’ I nodded to his request.

‘On my call or yours?’ I shrug my shoulders as it does not matter who call as I am going to win.

‘Ok, on the drop of this stone.’ Neelan picked up the stone and tossed it high.  We both looked at its trajectory and as it starts to drop, we flex on our trigger finger. The moment the stone touched the ground, we rasied our weapons and shoot. Neelan’s shot hit me in the left side of my lower chest but my full blast caught him across the chest.

I cheated on the settings; I set it for full blast.

Neelan fell down backwards against the SUV bonnet.

The shot from Rebecca hit Loman in the side of the head as he tries to shoot at me from behind the SUV with the M1911. He was using the rear side of the SUV as cover to shoot but Rebecca caught him first.

I collapsed on the ground and lie facing up to the morning sky.

‘This is a senseless war, Marius.’

1044hrs

I ran up to him despite the pain in my shoulder and cradle him in my arms.

‘Don’t die, Marcel’.

He looked at me and smiled.

‘I ...don’t think ....so.’ and he slipped into unconsciousness.

I can hear the sirens in the background and I hoped it includes the ambulance.

There was a SUV coming in now, and I lost consciouness too.

Three players walked out the tournament with their prizes, but the fourth one of them was barred for life and kept in the box for good. The other players complained to the organisers but their complaint was rejected. The player in the box came out and struck the organiser in the face with the trophy.

So the tournament is over despite their win, they felt they lost more than the tournament. They lost a team player too.

Three days later

1118hrs

The final call for the flight was made, and the two passengers still looked at the Departure Hall doorway. The took their bags and walked to the final check in for their flight. They know that the last passenger will not turn up as the Kingfisher cannot live elsewhere except here on the island.

Kingfisher watched the flight board for the details. It showed his flight has just departed, and he missed it. Nevertheless, he walked up to the checkin counter and declared his luggage.

‘Thank you, sir. You may have a long wait for the flight. The departure gate is No.5 and have a nice flight, Mr Kingfisher.’

Mr Kingfisher picked up his boarding pass for the next flight on a longer route to the same city as the earlier two passengers, but he will arrive late by eight hours. He is family and he will make sure his family members are safe, by watching over them. They need not know he is there but he is there when needed.

The prices of the rare metals soared to new records as the new deposits are proven to be fake. More to it the fire at the Metal Bullion Mine has caused a spate of buying for new stockpile. The mine has been officially closed until further investigation into the mine and also on the company are completed on order of the President. Mr Loman the previous owner cannot be found for comment.

‘Good morning Islanders. This is Angela, your host for the natural wildlife of this island. Today, we will cover on the beautiful bird named Kingfisher.’

1534hrs

‘Mr President, Kingfisher just left on the flight off the island.’ The President of the Island put down the report he was reading and took off his reading glasses.

‘Good. We now can activate Operation Takeover. And bring me my afternoon tea.’

Note:

Kingfishers usually hunt from an exposed perch, when a prey item is observed the kingfisher swoops down to snatch it, then returns to the perch. Kingfishers beat larger prey on a perch in order to kill the prey and to dislodge or break protective spines and bones. Having beaten the prey it is manipulated and then swallowed.