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—Atlas to Auden
ATLAS
“Team one,” I said into the microphone over my face. “Do you have eyes on the suspect?”
“No,” the team leader for team one, Kaden Michaels, said. “There’s a coat rack covering the majority of the window in there.”
“Team two?” I asked.
“Negative,” the team leader for team two, Bastian Haynes, grumbled. “My side has a filing cabinet.”
I cursed under my breath, and the negotiator, Elise Pearson, looked over at me from her perch against the back wall of the SWAT bus.
“I have eyes on two of the suspects through the north skylight,” the sniper for team one, Numbers Messer, said. “The caller said there were four, correct?”
“I have five in the room total,” Fatima Serna, the sniper for team two, said. “If I could get the shooter to go three feet in the direction of the window, I can take the shot.”
“Fatima,” I called. “What does the suspect look like?”
“White male, fifties, tall, black t-shirt, black pants, black shoes. Blond hair. Bloodshot eyes. Looks inebriated AF.” She answered in only the most professional of ways.
The old SWAT team leader, Scott, had hated Fatima. He didn’t like that there was a female on his SWAT team, and he certainly didn’t like that she was young. He also didn’t like how she was like all the GenZers and spoke her mind, didn’t give a fuck who she pissed off, and cared more about her personal wellbeing than someone else’s.
Truthfully, GenZers got a lot of flak for their work ethic, but Fatima showed none of the more negative attributes.
“Numbers, do you confirm?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “He’s passed by the skylight a time or two, but since the hostages are on the floor right under the opening, I have no shot.”
I fisted my hands.
“The kid’s getting restless,” Kaden Michaels said urgently. “He’s running…”
A shot sounded, and my heart stalled in my chest.
I squeezed my eyes shut and whispered, “Please tell me that…”
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
“I can’t tell,” Fatima said, sounding horrified. “I can’t see the kid.”
“No visual,” Numbers sounded just as sick.
“Kid’s okay,” Bastien breathed.
A rush of relief filtered through the entire team.
“We’re moving,” I said as I bailed out of the truck.
“Boss,” Elise said.
I looked up at her. “What?”
I didn’t mean to snap at her, but she flinched anyway.
“Watch his eyes,” she said. “The ex-wife says his eyes twitch weird when he’s about to hurt her.”
I nodded once, thinking I’d need to apologize later for my attitude, and headed out.
