La Grandia Part 10
Matthew Ryan Fischer
Maliq had never led men before and men had never followed. The van
doors opened and he was thrust out into the humid evening air, a front row seat
of a suicide charge into battle. The hotel was full of enemy men. Every
employee was working for someone. His men only had a few inside. Enough to open
a door and let them slip in through the kitchen. Hot and muggy outside, hot and
muggy inside. They would add an armband to their Grandia Bandung unforms so
they could tell friend from foe. As if there was time in the middle of a fight
to notice an armband. The white jackets would soon be stained with red. None of
his, if he was lucky.
They split up, one group down to the back halls, another through
the kitchen doors out into the restaurant. Maliq sped up. As soon as they hit
the doors, chaos would ensue. The waiters might not have weapons, but that wouldn’t
last. They front desk and the valets would all be armed. The men in the back
rooms would be armed. They needed to get across the lobby towards the
conference rooms.
The other group had it easier. The back halls would be employees
only and they could blend in longer, perhaps all the way to the service entrance
to the grand ballroom. But Maliq and his men would be out in the open. They were
the distraction. Feigning a frontal assault so the real attack might go
unnoticed one minute more. Every second he could give them might mean a greater
chance of success.
Maliq didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to be in charge of any of
these men. He had seen too much blood and too much death already. Success night
mean money and promotions. Right now, that meant nothing. Survival was all that
mattered.
He flipped tables as he went. No one following would have an easy
direct path. He had a hammer in one hand and a knife in his back pocket. Guns
were his last resort. Somehow for all their bluster, his bosses could only
secure pistols. He had an extra clip but that was it. The minute he started using
his supply, he was one minute closer to being trapped with no other options. And
a hammer could crack a bone or smash a face in, and he wouldn’t run out of hammers.
If surprise was on their side, the hammer would do well enough against the
first few opponents.
The restaurant was oddly empty. But Maliq didn’t process it until
he got into the lobby. The lobby was full of dead bodies. There was a dead gunman
at the door and dead and wounded drivers scattered about their vehicles outside
in the front drive.
His plans had gone horribly awry. Someone else had attacked the
hotel. And they had clearly lost. Maliq went for the automatic rifle that the
dead man at the door still held on to.
“What do we do?” asked one of his men.
Their first target was technically secure. They had made it in,
met no resistance and were minutes away from the conference halls. The mission
was infinitely more dangerous now and they had no idea who they were up
against, but technically success was within their grasp.
“We move on. Team two is counting on us and they have no idea what’s
happened here. We take the conference rooms.”
When the crossed the lobby, Maliq was careful to run in-between as
many of his men as possible. There was a balcony that overlooked the ground
floor and they would be an easy target. Perhaps whoever killed so many was
shooting from up there. A man on either side of him might be enough to give him
that extra second to get to the far hallway. He peaked up to the balcony but
saw no one. It meant nothing, but it made him feel better all the same.
As they reached the far hall and the doors to one of the
conference rooms burst open. A mob of men same spilling out, in the midst of
hand-to-hand combat. Maliq didn’t see any of team two or recognize most of the
men fighting, but he did spot Junko trying to clear a path for Yaz.
“Well,” Maliq said to his men, “here we go.” Hammer in one hand,
knife in the other, Maliq charged into the fray.
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