Perifidy

Chapter Twenty Two: Operation Scorched Earth Part Two (Cont.)

0700 Hours

February 25th, 2018

New York City, New York

Reinhalt Suites, Metropolitan College of New York

            Kade and ELa all but burst into the command center that the Dokkaebi, Echo, Maestro and Pulse had set up shop in one of the adjacent academic buildings to where the FBI and CIA had theirs set up.

"Did you contact eagles nest one and two?" Kade asked, throwing his coat over a nearby chair. Dokkaebi nodded, her and Echo rapidly typing away on keyboards and flicking through monitors. Several images suddenly appeared on the larger monitor in front of them. They were dressed in civilian clothes but it was obvious to everyone in the room that they were militant affiliates of some kind. The question was with whom they pledged their loyalty. Nokk was leaning against a wall, her arms crossed and face obscured by a deep hood.

"I watched them for a while. They aren't White Mask. Too casual. With the gravity of the operation they have planned, they wouldn't dare exposing themselves so openly. Likely private contractors," Nokk said. Kade stroked his salt and peppered beard.

"Private contractors for who?'' That's the question. Did either nest say anything about bringing on hired help?" Echo shook his head.

"Nope. They're doing their own background checks to find something that connects them to either the White Mask or a reason that would bring them here," he said. Kade stood, staring at the faces on the big screen. What he found strange was that they were all incredibly different in terms of race and ethnicity. An African American, an Indian, what appeared to be a Russian. Almost like Rainbow....suddenly, his eyes went wide.

"Son of a bitch!" he suddenly exclaimed. He pointed to Dokkaebi, Echo and Maestro. "Search all the cameras! Find exactly where they are right now. Pulse, Ela, Nokk, Alibi, you guys are with me. Bring sidearms. Subdue them and bring them back here. Try not to cause a scene. Overwatch, tell the nests what we're up to and to have units on standby keeping an eye out in the wings. If we don't gnab these guys now, they are going to fuck up everything and kill everyone here. Let's move." Kade commanded. Team Rainbow moved as fast as lightning, Nokk, Pulse, and Alibi grabbing their jackets and concealing their pistols while their newly formed overwatch team poured furiously over their screens, gadgets and gizmos.

Kade strode quickly across the snowy campus, his pea-coat and scarf billowing in the wind as he made his way towards the library. At this point he was convinced God, or some other divine being must have it out for him. He loved the Rainbow initiative and what it wanted to accomplish. He loved the resources and power it gave. What he couldn't wrap his head around was that ever since he'd joined, there wasn't one mission he was a part of where things actually went the way they were supposed to. It was like all the outliers that almost never happened had been turned on their head and were almost guaranteed to happen. He couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what he was doing wrong to attract all this cosmic ire. Of course, it was just a theory, but he couldn't wrap his mind around the conundrum. He felt his old service pistol cold against his ribs as it was pressed there by his shoulder holster. He hoped at least, with the cold, there wouldn't be too many students in the library.

He walked in, seeing that some of the FBI and CIA agents had already gotten there and started to discreetly escort any occupants towards the main doors and out of the building. Dokkaebi had wired herself into the university's surveillance system so finding the group of mystery people hadn't taken long at all. Kade couldn't help feeling some of that old anger rise. These people. They had no idea what they had just walked into. He walked briskly up the old, carpeted stairs, throwing aside the memories the sound of his shoes on granite arose. They were sitting at one of the grand tables. There were four in total. He strode over, the group seeming none too concerned about his presence. He pulled his pistol and let the barrel sit on the back of the Indian woman's neck. She didn't turn around.