Trained in room clearance and infiltration, the close combat team had closed on the rooms occupied by the terrorists, their movements obscured from the enemy by the noise of the heavy generators set up for the lights and TV crews. They reported that most of the booby traps had been cleared, five more minutes and they'd be ready.

"Shooter One to Command One, they have killed one of the hostages, threw her from the South East tower window where they'd been holding her. No clear shot, I do have them on thermal, two hits are probable. Five more are in the area but unreachable. Assault team is nearly in position. What are your orders?" Deputy Chief of Police Peters wasn't too happy, not happy at all! His boss, and best friend, was one of the twenty hostages inside. A botched raid on art treasures they'd thought at first, and the perpitraitors grabbed some of those attending a grand party thrown by the Mayor as hostages. When in fact they'd slaughtered over forty of the guests, some of the most wealthy and influential people on the Eastern coast! And then the lunatics had wired the building with claymore antipersonnel mines, and they'd a truck full of explosives in the basement: what the fuck was going on? The whole city seemed to be coming apart this weekened, and now this...Peters was an astute man, he hadn't achieved his rank because of his skin, he wasn't some racial milk sop, he had a degree in both Law and Psychology, and was an expert at getting the right people for the right jobs, and he knew John Neil was the right man in the right place.

"When you think all is ready, begin. Watch the friendlies, hm?" Just once he wish he could over come the "political correctness" bullshit and just say "kill all those bastards". He'd listened during the night to three people he knew being tortured to death. Criminals were one thing, these cult loonies just needed put down....

"Orders confrmed, sir" Blade changed to his own command channel. "We have a green light, people! Surveillance teams, anything to report? Patch it into command freq."

The various groups scattered around the high rise buildings gave the positions of the terrorists, or cultists or whatever they were. The art museum was surrounded by a small park, which meant the closest anyone could overlook the museum was 500 yards. But with some advanced technological items, a few borrowed from the FBI who were also here, observation and intelligence was possible.

Normally,the SWAT commander wouldn't be behind a rifle as he was now, instead he'd be in the conference room next door overseeing planning, but Blade had done as much of that as was possible and his own expertise would soon be vital. He'd won a silver medal at the Olympics for his marksmanship, and his rare skills were needed now. The .50 caliber sniper rifle could hit a saucer at a thousand yards, and punch through a foot of concrete, it's complex sight was totally computerized and the cost had raised tempers in the department, but now it's worth was proven. Through the walls he aimed at the murderer's heart...but then tracked his gun to the left, aiming at the broken window where the woman had been thrown to her death. His new target had been identified as the leader, and in his hand was some kind of remote detonation device. One of the things that would make this operation so difficult was that the terrorists had gas masks, these had been seen on a security camera, presumably they'd brought them to deal with the museum's tight and complex security systems, so tear gas was of little use, and would cause more problems in close combat than it was worth. The terrorists' plans had gone awry simply because a secret camera was installed inside the musem's master security room, with a direct feed to the local precinct house, specifically in case some smart cookies took out the guards and monitoring equipment. It was just bad luck the Mayor had been having a big fund raising event the same night. Half an hour ago the assault team had found the remains of many of the guests, chopped and hacked to pieces in the grand dining room, and that the place was boobytrapped and ready to blow. Up till then it had been assumed the intruders were just criminals, now they most definately were classed as "terrorists", and capturing them became totally secondary. Not that anyone wanted the media to know that. Couldn't shoot child murdering scum, now could we? Blade grimaced at the thought of those poor kids, invited to recieve awards for their artistic merit. He calmed himself by meditating on the precision of his task.