Part 18
After they arrived at the parking garage, Spike shadowed Xander long strides
as he checked over the preparations. Spike still had a look of awed wonder
whenever he glanced at Xander. Xander was confused. Willow had done all the
work and yet Spike was looking at him like he had removed the chip.
Kelly’s truck slowly pulled onto the operations floor. Laura was in the back
watching over the cases that Kelly had rigged into a hammock style
suspension for transport. If Kelly had had his broadsword in his hand when
he stopped by the shop, Xander figured he would be missing his head by now.
‘How was I to know what he meant by ‘keep her out of the kitchen’?
Technically she wasn’t in the kitchen due to the whole ventilation issue.’
As soon as Kelly had arrived, Laura had bounced over to her boyfriend
brandish what she called a modified pipe bomb. By which, she said meant she
had experimented on the usual recipe and used a pipe with a much wider
circumference and packed in roofing nails with the homemade plastek. She
believed, if it worked, it would produce ‘one hell of a shrapnel effect’,
but it was untested. She had made half as many experimentals as the regular
ones and had filled similar transport devices in three other trucks with
Molotov cocktails, which for obvious reasons were being stored elsewhere.
Laura had said she wanted to wait for Kelly to really ‘cook’. That should
have tipped Xander off to the whole ‘kitchen’ analogy, but to tell the truth
he hadn’t really been listening to the little pyromaniac.
“Jonathan!” Xander, practiced at being heard over a din at the construction
site, summoned the young man for an update. “How are we doing?” He asked as
Jonathan jogged over and fell in beside Spike and him as they prowled the
perimeter.
Jonathan consulted his own clipboard and said. “We have the two phone
landlines, each roll to two other numbers. Cellulars are shot, you were
right something is jamming all radio and digital communications. We do have
two modified scanners, they’re picking up some activity on the upper 800
megahertz but it’s scrambled, we think it’s the target. Recon says there are
two unidentified observers one on the roof of those new loft conversion
units and one on the signaling tower. I know the tower is pretty far but
I’ve got three confirmed sighting. It would be a clear shot to the entrance,
but at that distance...”
“Anyone see a weapon?” Xander finally stopped looked squarely at Jonathan.
“Um... I... Yes on the rooftop. Not positive on the tower, the guy is
dressed in a work style coverall and has tools but...”
“But, what?” Xander prompted, attempting to hide his impatience.
“Xander, it’s after six, you really think the guys legit?” Jonathan scoffed.
“Well I’d rather not shoot him just ‘cause he’s pulling overtime.” Xander
said. Jonathan gulped and Xander reconsidered how he sounded. “Good work.
I’ll see what we can do. Anything else?”
“So far no one has gone into the school since you set up monitors this
afternoon. Gunn and that Angel guy when to check and see if some sort of
tunnel access is still available. You know about that right?” Seeing Xander
nod, he continued. “Kelly wants to know if they should mix up the big stuff
here, and Willow needs to talk with you.” Jonathan seemed to calm down a bit
as he spoke.
“How volatile is that stuff?” Xander frowned as he scanned the floor of the
garage. Along the wall, the explosives were being neatly stacked as far away
from the weapons as possible. They had far more explosives than firearms.
Their normal weapons, staffs, stakes, crossbows, and swords weren’t suited
for going up against the Initiative. ‘Where’s a demon when you need one?
Well, right beside me, duh.’ He gave Spike a goofy grin, completely out of
place with the fact that they were going to kill or be killed. It seemed to
rattle Spike as much as it did Jonathan.
“Err, ah, not at all actually. I... I think that’s what Willow needs to talk
to you about.” Jonathan stammered.
“Then tell him to start cooking. Where is Willow?” Xander clapped his hands
and Jonathan jumped.
“O.. over b.. by the triage with Mr. Giles.” He said.
‘So much for being calm.’ Xander thought. “Jon, you’re doing fine. We’re
doing fine. We have a plan.” Xander was surprised at how confident he
sounded.
“We do?” He asked
“We do. It’s all coming together. We’ll make it through this.” Xander
reassured him. The young man gave him a shake smile and headed back to the
operation/communication table.
As they headed over to where Cordelia and Tara had set up the infirmary
Spike ask, “What is the plan?”
“We play it by ear.” Xander laughed and kissed him quickly before hurrying
ahead.
~~~~~~~~
Willow and he hadn’t had a chance to talk after the chip removal. Xander had
left her with Spike while he took Tara to review the set up of the medical
supplies and the evacuation plans for the wounded. Kayla had shown up just
as they were leaving the store and shyly shrugged “I won’t be any use in the
front lines, but I did take a class in first aid.” Xander knew that just
walking in the door had taken more courage for her than he could imagine. He
made sure to give her a smile and hug before turning her over to Tara.
They had set up a make shift infirmary off the parking level in a room
containing the elevators and vending machines. Kayla was organizing piles of
blankets and first aid supplies, she looked up as Xander came in and offered
him a brave smile.
“All alone?” Xander looked around the room, he hoped they wouldn’t fill it
before the night was over.
“The others got called to a conference on the top floor; they’re in the
office. They said they sent for you.” She shrugged and gestured toward the
elevators.
“Go have Jonathan assign three people to run this place with you. Have
someone set up one of the coffee makers in here and bring in a couple the
cases of juice.” She nodded and headed out into the parking level.
Xander and Spike took the stairs up to the highest level of the garage.
Sunlight spilled into the east and west sides through the vehicle entrances,
but it was softening as the day faded to evening. They kept to the deep
shadows along the wall as they crossed, from a similar room near this floors
elevator bank, to the office behind the glass-enclosed cashiers.
Inside, Angel and Gunn pointed to details on the blueprints of the old high
school, updating the others on changes to the substructure and its
accessibility since it had been remodeled by explosives. The room fell
silent as Spike and Xander entered. ‘Oh come on guys, it Xander. You really
aren’t going to let me make all the decisions are you.’ He smiled weakly and
asked. “How’s it going?”
“It’s a tight fit, but we can get people into the school without going above
ground,” Angel said.
Simultaneously, Willow said. “That damn Rennie wants me to do a temporal
acceleration spell on his fertilizer bombs. Do you know how dangerous that
would be?”
Giles said,“Quite.”
Gunn scowled; Cordy rolled her eyes; Tara squeezed Willow’s hand; and
Wesley, thankfully, was the one person in the room not looking to Xander for
an answer.
Xander ran the fingers of both hands back though his hair in what was
becoming a nervous habit. Briefly, he wondered it the stress of his
lifestyle would cause him to go bald from it before that lifestyle got him
killed. “No Will, I haven’t a clue. Magic’s right up there with Math and
French in the things you’ve never really been able to explain to me. Is
there anyway to make it safer? We need firepower.”
“Well...” She worried her lip between her teeth and looked at Tara. Tara
gave her an encouraging smile and an almost imperceptible nod. “I think...
It’s still in the testing phase...” Xander tried to hide his shudder. “With
Giles’ and Wesley’s help I think we can set it all up ahead of time with the
spell set to activate on a password.” Now it was Giles’ turn to suppress a
shudder, he offered Xander a conspiratorial smile at the thought of testing
yet another computer programming technique meets witchcraft. “We may even be
able to rig a countdown to the spell so we have a chance to clear out before
everything blows up.” Willow offered a smile and a nodded at the end of the
babble. Xander really hoped it was him she was trying to convince and not
herself, but judging by Tara’s expression whatever Willow had just said must
be at least feasible.
“Okay, make it so number one. Now how stable is this backdoor and is their
any chance they know it’s there.” Xander turned his attention to Angel.
~~~~~
Since Angel had used his vampire mining abilities to reopen the tunnel
access to the school, they were reasonably sure that the Initiative did not
know they had breached the target. Even if the guy on the tower was one of
their lookouts they should be able to secure the library without him
reporting it. In a little under an hour the explosives were moved from the
parking garage and secreted about the school. A communication system was
organized between the school and the base and lines of defense were drawn up
and manned.
One minute they were alone, and the next the troops poured into the building
with eerily silent efficiency. Runners brought messages from the garage and
from closer to the school’s entrance. The fertilizer bombs were in place.
One word from one of their four magic users would start the detonation count
down. It might be overkill but if Xander died today he wanted the piece of
mind of knowing that the Hellmouth was buried under several thousand tons of
rubble.
Xander tensed. Impatient yet dreading the confrontation he felt Spike’s
reassuring presents against his back. Looking across the hall he saw Gunn
and Angel also primed and ready. They were the last line of defense before
the library. Willow, Tara, Giles and Wesley were inside behind the
barricade. He hoped it didn’t come down to Willow and Tara blocking the
assault with their combined power. He didn’t feel comfortable with the
Initiative knowing just what his witches were capable of; the girls lacked
the ruthlessness necessary to break free if captured by the organization.
As the first sound of a taser firing echoed down the halls from the only
stable entrance of the school, Jeff came skidding around the corner. Gasping
with his hands on his knees he didn’t even look up as he spoke. “We have the
snipers, one’s unconscious, one has a broken leg. Stripped them naked and
tied them up in the infirmary. Jon said reports are that thirty armed
assailants, three lab coated administrative types and one guy in restraints
were dropped off. We took the drivers and blew the trucks just before I
left; they’ve probably been striped by now.”
“Why are you taking their clothes?” Angel asked. ‘Oh sure look at me like
it’s my idea. Actually it not a bad idea, if we were doing something coverty
we could use the uniforms. I wonder why we are taking their clothes?’
“Laura said it was the only way to be sure they weren’t hiding weapons or
communication devises.” Jeff answered, and looked at Xander to see if that
was right.
The sound of explosive flashes announced that the Molotov cocktails were
being brought into play. Xander nodded to Jeff and said. “Have Cordelia
interrogate them each separately, if she can’t get any info she will at
least make them rethink their career choices.”
Jeff had just dashed off further into the dilapidated building when two
uniformed figures cautiously rounded the corner. Angel and Gunn body-checked
them in a move they must have spent nights choreographing it was so
beautiful. They pinned them to the wall using the commandos’ own rifles to
choke them.
Just for a second Xander was stunned then he said, “Well, well, well, Riley
Finn.”
Part 19
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